Let me preface this by saying that I realize a gift is not obligatory in any way, shape or form, but given that they are somewhat customary in real estate transactions, I'm kind of annoyed.
H and I closed on our new condo on Thursday. We moved in yesterday and there was a gift from our realtor waiting for us there. It was a bottle of champagne and two gift certificates for custom-made dress shirts at a nice tailor. Okay cool, I'm a lawyer and H likes nice shirts. So I send our realtor a text thanking her for the gift and telling her we are excited about the shirts and she writes back: "Yay!! Men's shirts only unfortunately but I figured (H) would like that gift!" Uh, thanks? I guess I'll just enjoy looking at him?
I'm particularly annoyed because I did 99% of the work with respect to this transaction, I am the only one who dealt with our realtor through the entire process, and frankly (and not to sound like a bitch) but I am by and far the primary breadwinner which she knows. We went to law school together and she used to work at my law firm before she went into real estate. Why not get us a gift that we could both enjoy?
I know it's petty but it has really rubbed me the wrong way and kind of soured my opinion of her.
Let me preface this by saying that I realize a gift is not obligatory in any way, shape or form, but given that they are somewhat customary in real estate transactions, I'm kind of annoyed.
H and I closed on our new condo on Thursday. We moved in yesterday and there was a gift from our realtor waiting for us there. It was a bottle of champagne and two gift certificates for custom-made dress shirts at a nice tailor. Okay cool, I'm a lawyer and H likes nice shirts. So I send our realtor a text thanking her for the gift and telling her we are excited about the shirts and she writes back: "Yay!! Men's shirts only unfortunately but I figured [H] would like that gift!" Uh, thanks? I guess I'll just enjoy looking at him?
I'm particularly annoyed because I did 99% of the work with respect to this transaction, I am the only one who dealt with our realtor through the entire process, and frankly (and not to sound like a bitch) but I am by and far the primary breadwinner which she knows. We went to law school together and she used to work at my law firm before she went into real estate. Why not get us a gift that we could both enjoy?
I know it's petty but it has really rubbed me the wrong way and kind of soured my opinion of her.
It's probably something that the tailor gives the real estate company to use as gifts to drum up business.
Gifts are common in real estate transactions? I think we just got a hearty handshake.
This is what I was thinking. We didn't get jack when we closed on and moved into our house. Granted, our realtor is a closer personal friend of ours, but still. I got a hug and a congrats. And we paid her too.
If this was meant to be a thank you for your business gift for the huge commission she just earned, she fucked up. I can see being annoyed with this. I would not ignore the customer who undertook most of the effort, were I the realtor.
If this was meant to be a thank you for your business gift for the huge commission she just earned, she fucked up. I can see being annoyed with this. I would not ignore the customer who undertook most of the effort, were I the realtor.
Agree. Just the champagne would have been a better gift.
I'm guessing she got this as a gift from a custom shirtmaker whose house she sold to at some point in the past, and she pulled it out of her gift card drawer to give to you. I kind of doubt she went searching for a men-only gift, but that is the end result, so yeah, weird.
Then again, our gift from our realtor was a set of clunky wood coasters that looked like they were designed - and manufactured - in 1983, and a few of her business cards to hand out to referrals. The coasters did commemorate a first for us, in a way - were the first item in the donation pile at our new house. lol.
This is strange on her part. It sounds like she had a gift card laying around or an arrangement with the tailors. It's definitely odd and I would be annoyed.
The gift cards were definitely meant as a realtors gift - they have her name and brokerage firm logo printed on them. I think she got them as a promotion from the shirtmaker for free or at a discounted price.
I agree that it would have been better to just stick with the champage rather than exclude me, though I still would have thought she cheaped out had she done that. This was a pretty expensive property and she got a huge commission.
Wait, real estate agents give the home owners a gift? I never knew this!
If anything, I would think it'd be the other way around. Granted I've never bought or sold a home, but aren't the real estate agents the ones that do a lot of the work?
Maybe the incentive of getting a gift might make me actually consider buying a house sooner rather than later lol. Mindblown!
Enjoy your champagne
Lol, yes, the real estate agent did a lot of work and was rewarded to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for it.
That being said, I did give her and our RE attorney nice bottles of wine as a token of our appreciation.
Post by LeggsBenedict on Sept 29, 2013 14:06:47 GMT -5
So I checked, and our Realtor usually takes the client out for a nice meal, which we didn't get. But that in and of itself is the true gift, because she is my MIL. lol.
I would be annoyed as well. Well, depending on the kind of champagne. What is it?
When we closed on our house, our realtor gave us a very nice bottle of Cabernet, a set of 4 wine glasses, and a $200 gift certificate to a local high end furniture store. The GC was given to her by the store to get more people in the door. I would think this is similar to how your realtor obtained the gift card she gave you.
We also got a gift card to a local restaurant from our mortgage company.
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