We recently purchased a home in another town. The local Realtor (broker) was extremely helpful, straight-ahead, honest, and a tough little cookie. She helped us to get an unexpected VA loan, negotiated the final picky fix-ups, and the bottom line price.
When the purchase was concluded, SHE gave us a $100 Home Improvement Big Box card.
Yes, she made money on selling us the new home.
AND she has also managed to sell my relatively unimproved condo (with waterfront views) at a very good price, and speedily, within a month. So, yes, she will be making money on this sale.
Is there an “etiquette” or “protocol” method for expressing our appreciation for all she’s done? We are not best buddies or BFFs, sooo …
Again, she will also be making $$$ on the sale of the condo.
Should we give her some kind of gift? On top of the $$$ she has earned?
Ideas? We close on the condo sale in less than a week. Thanks to all.
My wife is a Realtor…she usually buys “closing gifts” for her clients when they close on a new home, a nice gift for their new place. But it’s not at all out of the question for one of them to buy her a gift to express thanks for a job exceptionally well done, a tough situation handled, etc. Generally it’s a bottle of wine or a little gift basket or something…nothing exceptionally expensive because, as you noted, she IS making money on the deal; but more a token gift of thanks.
I lived at my parent’s house for a few years after college. They ended up moving across the country, and sold the place. I had a decent home gym, and was moving into a small apartment complex. We gave the gym to the Realtor, since she expressed an interest in it. She got a nice gift, and we didn’t have to deal with it.
About a year later, when I was ready to buy a house, I used the same Realtor. After closing, she gave me a nice housewarming gift of a matched set of dishes/cups/etc for 4.
Parts of my story probably aren’t typical.
We gave our Realtor a picnic lunch, i.e. a basket with cheese, salami (or something similar), a decent bottle of wine, bread, some fruit, etc… It was a pretty good spread IIRC. He and his wife seemed to appreciate it.