To the untrained eye, gifts given on closing day might appear to be nothing more than nice gestures, but savvy real estate agents know the true purpose behind them: boosting delight, ensuring loyalty, and driving more referrals.

When you’re new to real estate, it’s not always inherently easy to know what kind of gifts to give to buyers—but don’t let that stop you. Your clients will never be more enthusiastic about working with you than when they finally sign the paperwork and walk away with their new house keys in hand.

To ensure the growth and future success of your real estate business, it’s incredibly important that you take the opportunity to connect with your clients on a deeper level before your work with them comes to an end. One of the easiest ways to leave a lasting impression with happy clients is by sending them on their way with a gift.

Here are 25 brilliant closing day gift ideas for home buyers that you can choose from:

1. Handwritten Thank You Card – A handwritten thank you card is one of the easiest gifts you can give to your clients on closing, and to be honest, it’s the least you can do. Home buying can be an emotional rollercoaster for a lot of people, especially when buying a home for the first time. When the dust finally settles and your clients come up for air, you want to make sure you’re at the top of their mind. A handwritten thank you card is a simple way to remind your clients that you were there with them for the entire process and that you actually care about them (and not just the money you get).
2. Movie Tickets – To help your clients take a load off and unwind from the stress of buying a home, consider gifting them movie tickets to a local theater. It’s a great way to help encourage them to get out and explore their community or neighborhood. If you really want to impress them, make an entire date out of it by also including a restaurant gift card and money for a Taxi or Uber to help them get from one location to another throughout the night.
3. Local Membership – Another great way to help your clients celebrate their new home, neighborhood, and city is by giving them a membership to a local venue in town. Depending on what their interests are, you could gift them a zoo membership, theater membership, concert venue membership, science or historical museum membership, state park membership, or any other local attraction that you think they’d be interested in.
4. Subscription Box – When you’re a new homeowner, there’s nothing more exciting than getting packages delivered to your new address. Subscription boxes are one of the most creative ways to keep your past happy clients thinking about you month-to-month. With an endless amount of options to choose from, it’s important to get to know your clients on a deeper level in order to pick a box that matches their interests and hobbies. For example, if they like dogs, go with BarkBox. If they have young children, consider a KiwiCrate. If they value skincare, beauty, and makeup, go with BirchBox.
5. Custom Sign – Custom signs are an easy way to get your buyers excited about their new homes. The best place to order custom signs online is probably through an artist or vendor on Etsy. Etsy is a community of business owners and artists who sell handcrafted goods. To see a few examples, click here.
6. Holiday-Themed Gift – Another great way to loop back around with your past clients is by waiting to send their closing gift until the next holiday comes around. Christmas, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and 4th of July are all great times to send gifts to your clients. If you really want to go the extra mile, try finding out which holiday is your client’s favorite to celebrate each year, then make a note to send them a gift to arrive on that day.
7. Return Address Stickers – Return address stickers are fairly simple gifts, but they get the job done! Most new homeowners can’t wait to send out their first pieces of mail from their new address. To make it even more exciting for them, buy them a stack of return address stickers to use on envelopes. You can buy personalized return address stickers on sites like Shutterfly, Vistaprint, Tinyprints, or Paper Source.
8. Key Fob – Another simple gift to send happy clients off with is a personalized key fob to go along with their new set of house keys. It’s an easy way to remind your clients of their time working with you each time they go to unlock their front door. You can order and personalize key fobs on Etsy or Zazzle.
9. Restaurant Gift Cards – I mentioned it briefly in the second idea mentioned in this blog post, but I thought it was worth mentioning again. Everyone loves gift cards to restaurants. To help your clients get out on the town and explore the shops and neighborhoods around them, give them a few gift cards to some of the top-rated restaurants in town. If you don’t already have your own recommendations in mind, use a site like Yelp to find the most well-liked restaurants in any area.
10. Board Games – Remember those times your client mentioned how much they want space to entertain? What better gift to accompany their new home but a board game they can enjoy with friends? A nice set of board games is a great way to encourage your clients to invite more people to their new home (people who could very well be your next client!). For top board games, see this list on Amazon.
11. Home Depot or Lowe’s Gift Card – A home improvement store gift card is something every new home owner will appreciate having. No house is perfect, which means your clients likely will have a few projects to work on once they move into their new home. To go above and beyond for your clients, do a little research to find out which store is closest and most convenient for them to travel to from their new home.
12. Local Products Gift Basket – A basket of foods and products from local shops is the perfect way to help welcome your client into a new area. Spend time pairing what you know about your client (their interests, likes, hobbies, etc.) with products that feature businesses they can visit again once they get settled into their new home.
13. Stocked Refrigerator – This is a classic idea, but always sure to impress and delight. It’s simple: just have the refrigerator stocked by the time your client moves into their new home. The key to making this idea successful and the way to really WOW them is to customize the refrigerator based on what you know about your client. For example, if they’re health nuts, fill the refrigerator with fresh produce and flavored waters. If they love watching sports, fill it with beer, meats, and other appetizers they can munch on during the next game. If they have a new baby or are expecting, fill the refrigerator with ready-to-go meals that they can simply pop in the oven and enjoy with little to no effort.
14. Wine & Glasses – Make your client’s closing day memorable by gifting them a bottle of sparkling wine or champagne and glasses so your client won’t have to unpack to toast to the new house. Target and other similar stores have inexpensive champagne glasses that will add a nice touch but won’t break your budget.
15. Sporting Event Tickets – Just like the restaurant gift card idea mentioned earlier, sporting events give new residents a reason to get out on the town and feel connected with their new city or state. Lots of teams have special packages for sale that include tickets, drinks, and food at the stadium. Note: make sure to find out ahead of time which sport or team your clients prefer to watch or cheer on.
16. Moving Truck or Locksmith – Another great gift you can give to your client on closing day is a coupon for a moving truck rental or locksmith. It’s likely that your client will require one or both of these services, as most people don’t own their own storage trucks, and many wish to change the locks throughout their new home as soon as they move in. When selecting a service provider, look for local businesses that you can partner with on a long-term basis for all your clients.
17. Fresh Coffee & Tea – There’s nothing better than drinking a nice hot cup of coffee or tea the morning after you move into a new home. As an agent, you can improve this experience for your clients by gifting them a basket of fresh coffees and teas from local shops around town. To find the best coffee and tea shops, search Yelp, Facebook, or Google Places.
18. Smart Home Tech – Everyone is talking about and using smart home technology these days. To truly delight your customers, find out if they might be interested in adding some sort of smart home feature to their home once they move in, then surprise them by buying and installing it for them ahead of time. Examples include a Nest thermostat, a Ring video doorbell, smart lighting, a mobile-connected garage door opener, or an entire smart home hub. To learn more about your options, read our blog post on smart home technology for real estate.
19. Plantable Flowers or Garden Seeds – If your clients are buying a home with a yard, consider gifting them plantable flowers that will return season after season, or send them off with a variety of seeds that they can use to start their first garden. For ideas, click here.
20. Yeti Cooler – For sports fans or clients who plan to do a lot of outdoor entertaining, consider buying them a Yeti cooler. They are incredibly popular right now, and made to last a lifetime.
21. Landscaping Tools – Landscaping tools are also a great gift for first time homebuyers who will have to start their supply from nothing. Again, if you think your clients will need to do a fair amount of landscaping once they move into their house, set them up with a landscape starter kit that includes a shovel, garden gloves, weed puller, garden hose, sprinkler, and anything else you think they could use on their property in particular.
22. Baby Gear – For expecting parents, provide them with baby-related gifts that they can use in their home. Examples of helpful products include diapers, wipes, changing tables, baby-proof products like outlet covers and stair gates, high chairs, and plastic spoons and bowls.
23. Moving Day Survival Kit – Most people get so eager about getting into a new house that they inadvertently pack away essential items that could be beneficial during a move. Be a hero by putting together a moving day survival kit for your clients that includes things like extra packing tape, snacks, gloves, first aid bandages, water bottles, hair ties, sunglasses, sunscreen lotion, and multi-tools.
24. Cleaning Service – Many home buyers will want to hire a professional to clean carpets and scrub down a house before moving in. Knowing this, you can gift these services to your clients ahead of time to show them that you care about the first experiences they have in their new home. Instead of having to worry about cleaning, help your clients spend time creating special memories in their new home instead.
25. Yard Games – Finally, delight your clients by leaving fun and entertaining yard games on their lawn to find when they move in. You can find a list of popular yard games here.

One Final Quick Note

Before wrapping this blog post up, I feel that it’s important to note that gifts are not meant to be advertising material for your real estate business. No one wants a keychain with your face on it. If you worry too much about using gifts as a way to get referrals, it will come across in your gifts and your clients will notice. Instead of being obvious about it, focus your energy instead on really getting to know your client and providing them with a meaningful, personal gift that illustrates to them how much you care. If you can do that, the referrals will come.

What other gifts are you giving to clients on closing? Tell me in the comments below, I’d love to hear about your ideas.