When at their best, a good closing gift serves as the capstone to a fruitful journey in a way that is heartfelt, helpful, and memorable.

Finding the perfect gift can be nerve-wracking. You want to balance between spending too much or too little, too personal or too generic, too highfalutin or too practical. It seems like there are a lot of ways to go wrong!

Below are some ideas that will delight your clients and get your post-closing relationship off on the right foot!

List of Closing Gift Ideas

The Ultimate Move-In Package

I personally like the practical stuff.

The assorted move-in essentials gift basket is everything they need to make it through their first night in the home while their furniture and belongings are still in the U-Haul in the driveway.

Ideas for your package, which you should be able to keep under $100, include:

• toilet paper
• paper towels
• paper cups, plates, plastic utensils, and napkins
• trash bags
• (branded?) candles with candle warmer or lighters
• fire extinguisher for the kitchen
• Lowes gift card
• drinks and snacks
• cleaning supplies

The essentials package is also easy to order in advance and have a stock of closing gifts on hand.

Personalize it with a personal letter from you mixed in with all the goods.

The First Supper

Whenever I move into a new home, I christen the home with our first meal: ordering Dominos pizza.

That might not be everyone’s idea of good dining. But doing something similar for your home buyers might be nice.

Get them a gift card for delivery. A perfect, low effort meal they can enjoy at the end of a busy day moving.

Maybe consider a DoorDash gift card so they can get takeout from another local restaurant.

Service with a Smile

The first month in a new home is hectic and stressful. Smoothing that period over can go a long way.

Consider what services they may need during that time and pay for them. Some examples:

• lawncare
• interior designer
• HVAC service
• professional house cleaning
• pest control treatment

You might even want to consider purchasing a home warranty if one wasn’t worked into the transaction. This blows up the $100 limit. But it has the added benefit of giving you peace of mind. Their first year should go more confidently and smoothly and a latent defect will be less likely to tarnish the good feelings.

Stick a Bow on It

One thing I started to do late with my buyers was stick a bow on the home before closing. It included my brand logo on the front of the bow.

I don’t know if it is cheesy but I really liked how it turned out, and so too did my clients, it seemed. It was a nice way to welcome my client to their new home!

Alternatively, you can try a wreath.

Framed Blueprints or Drawing

One of my favorite ideas, especially apt for new construction buyers, is a framed blueprint of the home.

Alternatively, you can have an artist from somewhere like Fiverr do a drawing or watercolor of the home (just provide one of the listing pictures). Add a high-end frame, maybe including a tasteful callout to your brand.

You can use a service like Shutterfly or Etsy to put these kinds of things together. Voila! You have a very personalized gift. And it’s thematic and memorable!

Old City / State Maps

Here’s a site with a bunch of old maps!

You can purchase and frame them for your clients. The perfect piece of art for a study.

Smart Home Tech

This goes into the pricier side, but might be ideal depending on the type of clients you have.

Getting a Nest thermostat, Amazon Echo, Hello Alfred, or Ring doorbell is a way to quickly upgrade their home.

Introduce Your City

Introduce your new homeowners to their new hometown with some light reading assignments.

Get hyperlocal with it! If you’re in a big city, find a book about your part of town.

Another advantage is that you are often patronizing local writers and those protecting your city’s history.

Adjusting to New Latitudes

Especially if they are in a new area or climate, they may not even know the kinds of things they’ll need for their yard, home, or car. What’s the worst part of your area’s outdoors that you can help them avoid?

• snow shovel and tire chains
• portable yard canopy for shade in the sun
• swampy bayou bug zapper (or more environmentally friendly mosquito equipment)
• gift certificate to a car wash to keep off the ocean salt and dehumidifier for indoors
• garden hose and sprinklers

Knives and Cutting Boards

Cutco has been so successful at promoting its knives as closing gifts that it has become a cliche and considered perhaps unimaginative.

But they meet essentially all of my criteria for a good closing gift.

They’re branded prominently, useful, and should last forever.

Related, personalized cutting boards are another classic house warming gift for many of the same reasons.

You can get one in the shape of your home state, like this one for Texas. If you are a Wyoming agent, then you’re already good to go with a square one!

Key Ring

Go Local!

As the local expert, give your clients a head start on experiencing the best your area has to offer.

Hopefully you have a list of worthwhile local attractions. Obviously having a mix of unique gifts you can tailor to your client might be a good idea. Some ideas that come to mind:

• tickets to the local amateur theater
• local water park pass for the family
• drive-in movie theater tickets
• a local winery tour
• surfing/skiing lessons
• sightseeing bus tour
• a dinner at the finest area restaurant

Homeschooling

Get your new home buyers and education with a book about homes!

I’m fond of practical books like those above, but there might be alternatives depending on your style, like a coffee table book featuring the homes of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Related to the home maintenance theme, a gift card to Lowes or The Home Depot is a closing gift favorite.

Games

How about some yard games to celebrate their new, grassy backyard?

• bocce ball
• croquet
• cornhole

You might consider getting customized games of your home town, like your town’s own Monopoly game!

Don’t Forget the Kids

Qualities of a Great Closing Gift

• Durable Goods. A meal or home supplies are nice and often the most helpful. But they won’t be around in three years when your client is trying to remember your name. Instead, something like a branded fireplace tool set or set of steak knives will last forever.
• Branded. Speaking of branded, giving them steak knives won’t keep you top of mind if your name or brand is nowhere to be found. Even things like home essentials baskets deserve to be branded to make it special and part of the seamless, branded experience you are delivering. Some online resources warn about overbranding, but I disagree. Your entire customer experience should be heavily branded, in my opinion, and the closing experience no different. And plenty of agents and brokerages have managed to turn a brand into a style.
• Personalized. This is a relationship business. Getting to know your clients and matching the gift to their personality and interests is an extra win. Go the extra mile and get gifts personalized with their names on it.

A solid home gift can also make a very shareable social media moment. Imagine your buyers and sellers sharing pictures of your tasteful gift display awaiting them at their home!

A Good Closing Gift Budget

$100.

I am 100% sure you can absolutely rock the socks off a closing gift on $100 or less (probably less!). Hopefully I have some convincing ways to do just that below.

If you want to stretch that budget to $200, or maybe a rule like 2-5% of your commission check, that is fine, too. I don’t think it’s necessary, however, to deliver a complete and satisfying customer experience.

Luxury agents may feel it necessary to boost the budget for particular clients (like a $30,000 vacation). But that’s not necessary to deliver the quality experience clients will remember and share.

Don’t forget, your real estate closing gifts are deductible!

Investors

Investors aren’t usually the types to be super impressed with your closing gifts.

But a token of appreciation can still go a long way in a relationship.

As you are hopefully in it for repeat business, find something that you can turn into a tradition, celebrating each close. A cigar or their favorite alcoholic beverage.

Sellers

Don’t be bashful about trying some of the above gifts for buyers but for your seller’s new home destination.

But closing gifts for sellers are trickier. Unlike buyers, their circumstances can be more varied. And often they are moving. They may not even be in town still, and probably don’t want to figure out where to pack your picture frame gift.

You can also gift digital subscriptions to services that most folks can use, like:

• Disney+
• Audible
• Hulu
• Spotify
• Netflix
• Blue Apron
• MasterClass

These are the kinds of a gifts a seller can take anywhere.

Your Seller’s Buyer

Don’t just get a gift for your seller. You have an opportunity to make an impression on the new homeowners – the buyers!

Obviously this can get a little tricky. Buyers’ agents may not appreciate anything that smells of you trying to poach their relationship by giving their clients gifts.

But there are nice touches you can do for a buyer that don’t cross that line.

Consider getting some branded bags and swag to put the new homeowner’s home accessories in. House keys, garage door openers, warranty paperwork, a thank you letter, and more. Leave it in the bag with a few goodies and on the kitchen counter!

Gifts to Avoid

• Alcohol. Not everyone imbibes, and some religions forbid it altogether. Still others struggle with temperance and don’t need you derailing that train. I think the best idea is to just avoid alcoholic gifts like a bottle of wine unless you know your clients’ drinking habits well.
• Anything that Goes on a Calendar. Don’t do anything that obligates a new homeowner to anything. You want to be taking things off their plate, not putting things on it.
• Physical Items for Sellers. Your seller is perhaps moving, or already moved. In the former case you are adding an item to their load when they may already be packed, and in the latter you are mailing possibly a chunky item wherever they are now. The best seller gifts are digital.
• Clutter. I’ve seen a few agents suggest doing box subscriptions, where your clients will get a gift box every month. That is a nifty idea to keep them remembering you for months after the closing. But it strikes me as a lot of little stuff they may or may not use. I personally feel like you’re either cluttering their house or giving them stuff they might throw away. I’d be wary of this as an option.

Closing Gift Services

There are companies and services built to help you the closing gift process.

Conclusion

No closing gift will make up for a bad experience.

And a good experience won’t be derailed by a bad closing gift.

The most important thing real estate agents can do is focus on the process, smoothing the rough edges of the real estate transaction, and be an educated and competent advisor.

But taking small moments to delight your customers with the unexpected can mean the difference between a good experience and a great one. A solid closing gift is one such invaluable opportunity.

Updated June 20, 2023; Originally published September 4, 2020