What to get your realtor after closing

No. Your agent was paid at closing, out of the sale. Nobody expects a thank you gift for a realtor at closing, and no good agent thinks less of a client who does not send one. If anything, the etiquette runs the other way: agents give closing gifts to buyers and sellers, not the reverse.

People still ask what to get their realtor after closing, and for good reason. Buying a home is a big deal, and the good agents earn some gratitude along the way. The 10pm calls. The fourth showing on a Sunday. The counteroffer that saved the deal. If your agent did that, a gift is a nice thing to do. It is not a required one, and it does not need to be big. Nobody wants a $200 present from a client who just emptied their savings on a down payment.

One rule if you are wondering what to give your realtor at closing: nothing at the table. Closing day is paperwork and wire transfers, and anything you hand over gets carried out with the folders. Send it the week after, when the dust settles and it is the one thing in their mail that is not a bill.

Ask any agent what the best gift for a realtor is and you get the same answer. A review with their name in it, and their name in a friend's ear the next time someone is buying. It costs you nothing, and it is worth more to their business than anything you could wrap.

Do the review first. Then decide whether you also want to send something you can hold.

• Write a review on Google, Zillow, or wherever they asked. Be specific. "She answered on a Sunday night" beats "great agent" every time.
• Refer them. When someone at work mentions moving, send your agent's number. That is the gift.
• Tell their broker. A two-line email to the office manager goes on the file and gets read.
• Say yes to the photo. Agents post closings; if you are comfortable holding the keys for a picture, that helps them more than a candle.

There is no rule for how much to spend on a gift for your buyer's agent. The answer is less than you think. Gifts for realtors from buyers and sellers tend to be the same three things, and agents receive a lot of them in a year. What stands out is not the price. It is whether the gift is about them, or about the house you bought together.

Under $25

A handwritten card, on its own, is underrated. Agents keep these in a drawer for the bad weeks. A bag of good coffee or a small gift card to the shop near their office also works. Wine is fine if you know they drink and you pick a real bottle, but every agent gets wine, and it is gone by the weekend.

$25 to $75

A restaurant gift card near their office, so it actually gets used. Something for the car, because agents live in it: a good phone mount, a charger, a seat organizer. A plant for the desk. And a framed portrait of the house they found you, which is the one gift in this range that is about the deal itself. More on that below.

$75 to $150

A gift basket looks generous, feels generous for about a week, and then it is crackers. Baskets are what agents send clients, and every agent knows exactly what one costs delivered. Dinner out on you is nice, but it is a certificate in an envelope. If you want to spend here, spend on their business: a session of professional headshots, or a year of a tool they already pay for.

Over $150

Do not, unless this is a long relationship. Some brokerages have gift policies, and a large present makes a good agent uncomfortable. If you feel that grateful, refer two friends instead.

What to skip

Anything with their name engraved on it: cutting boards, tumblers, "Realtor of the Year" mugs. Most lists of unique gifts for realtors are the same mug in a different font. Anything with your gratitude printed on it, like a plaque. Alcohol you are guessing at. Cash, which reads wrong and which some offices do not allow.

Most gifts for realtors are generic for a simple reason: you do not know your agent that well. You know one thing about them for certain. They helped you buy this house. That is what a portrait is about, and it is why it works where a basket does not.

Doorstep Gifts makes a framed 8 × 10 illustration of a home from one photo. Ink and watercolor, framed in black, red oak, or white. It costs $79 all in, with free shipping anywhere in the US, and it can go straight to their office. The photo can be the listing photo still sitting in your inbox from the showings, or one you took from the curb the day you got the keys.

Why it lands as a gift for a real estate agent: agents keep the houses. An office wall is a record of closings, and a framed portrait of one is a small trophy for it. It is not something they already have four of. It is about the thing you did together, not about their taste, so it is never presumptuous. And it does not run out. No wine to drink, no crackers to finish, no candle to burn down.

How it goes: upload the photo and the first proof comes back within two business days. Look it over, ask for changes if anything is off, as many times as you want, at no charge. You pay only when you approve. It arrives five to seven business days after that, at your door so you can hand it over with a card, or at their office.

The trade-off is that it is not instant. If you closed yesterday and want something in their hands by Friday, this is not that. Give the review now and let the portrait follow. A gift that arrives two weeks after closing lands better anyway, because by then the flowers from everyone else are gone.

If you are an agent reading this and wondering what to give your own clients, it is the same product from the other side: a portrait of the buyer's new home. See closing gifts for real estate agents, or read what agents typically spend on closing gifts before you decide.

Not every present for a realtor comes from a client. If you are the friend, the parent, the partner, or the broker, the occasion changes and the advice mostly does not.

New agents

Someone you know just got licensed. Skip the mug that says Realtor. Useful beats cute: a portable phone charger, a real business card case, a gas card, a good notebook that lives in the car. Or start a tradition. When they close their first deal, send them a framed portrait of that house. It is the one closing they will talk about for the rest of their career, and it belongs on the wall of whatever office they end up in.

The holidays

If you are a past client, a holiday card with one line about how the house is doing is genuinely welcome, and it reminds them you are around when a friend needs an agent. Add something small and consumable if you want: good coffee, a box of treats for the office. If you are family, the car and coffee category from above still applies, and a portrait of the home they are proudest of selling is a gift they will not get from anyone else.

Birthdays

A birthday gift for a real estate agent is whatever you would get a friend, because that is what they are. The job does not need to be in the gift.

Any agent

Gifts for male realtors, gifts for female realtors: the answer does not change. Agents are agents. The car, the coffee, the review, the house. Do not reach for a gendered gift you are guessing at. Reach for the one thing you know for sure, which is the house you closed on together.