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AIBU?

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Original poster

Did you thank/ buy a gifts when moving house for your estate agents/ solicitors etc?

135 replies

badaboomed · 09/06/2022 17:03

Hello, We are hopefully completing on a house tomorrow.

Increasingly im seeing examples of people giving people involved in their house sale some form of thank you gift

Is this the norm? Will our estate agent/ solicitor/ mortgage broker feel we are terribly ungrateful if we just pay them as normal?

OP posts:
maddiemookins16mum · 09/06/2022 18:49

No way. They got 3k from us and half of the viewings we did ourselves (including the one who eventually bought our old house).

chiffchaffchiff · 09/06/2022 18:49

Blueshimmer · 09/06/2022 18:38

No. I wrote them a nice review online and thanked them in an email, but that was all. They did a decent job but nothing spectacular.

The nice review would be more appreciated than any gift.

Thedogscollar · 09/06/2022 18:51

No. You are paying them for their services and that us all you need to do.
At a push if they were efficient and got things done promptly I'd give them card, but definitely no gift.

SunnyLobelia · 09/06/2022 18:53

Solicitor here also.

Once our team got a crate of champagne. But that was because we finally put an absuive bastard into jail.

Got chocolates once.

Otherwise no, a thank you card or e-mail is usually more than enough. Not least because our HR department keep both those and the complaints on our files. Hmm

SeemsSoUnfair · 09/06/2022 18:54

Yes, it is called commission!

It is their jobs to smooze you and make you feel they are getting you a great deal, they have done a great job for you and care about your home purchase as much as you do. They actually only care about the commission. Sometimes it appears they have less commission than they could have had and boy will they will let you know that, but this is only because they are trying to push through the purchase/sales meet targets for their month/quarter.

Madness to think of buying them a present!

Edinvillian · 09/06/2022 18:54

I'm an estate agent, we do occasionally get a gift but not very often. A lovely client came in the other day with a large chocolate cake and it looked lovely. Pity I'd just started a diet 🤣
A bottle of wine never goes wrong and sometimes we get champagne.

DrDetriment · 09/06/2022 18:55

No, that would be odd. A simple thank you is enough.

IRunbecauseILikeCake · 09/06/2022 19:11

We got our mortgage advisor a nice bottle of whiskey, but didn't get the solicitor anything.

tiggergoesbounce · 09/06/2022 19:27

No......Thats what the money is for !!

HazelNutterButter · 09/06/2022 19:27

I paid for their services. I didn’t think anyone went above and beyond. Our conveyancer was dreadfully slow, so I’d go as far as not recommending her!!

AppleTreeFruit · 09/06/2022 19:34

For all of you saying “that’s what we’ve paid for” you do realise you’ve not actually paid your conveyancer? You’ve paid the firm. Your conveyancer is more than likely getting little more than minimum wage and having to deal with shedloads of stress day in day out. Conveyancing fees are ridiculously low considering the risks involved and the nature of the work and so firms can’t afford to pay decent wages. Qualified solicitors working in conveyancing are like hens’ teeth for this reason.

If you’ve had good service then it would be nice to reward that. A testimonial would be great but a box of chocs/flowers is always going to be appreciated.

VI0LET · 09/06/2022 19:34

No.

I pay them very promptly. And if they have gone out of their way to do a good job, I send a thank you email and copy it to their boss.

Then I write a good review and reccomend them to others.

And I use them again. I buy a lot of properties in my job.

JudgeRindersMinder · 09/06/2022 19:37

We did when we sold our parents’ house as it was a very emotive sale and they totally “got” it, a very small, local agent though. When we sold/bought our own house last year, no.

ErinAoife · 09/06/2022 19:42

No I did not buy anything as my budget was very tight and solicitor fee are quite high already.

JudgeJ · 09/06/2022 23:16

LovelyDaaling · 09/06/2022 17:08

Barmy idea. What next? A gift for the builder or plumber?

To be honest, my builder and plumber do a better job.

Sponge19 · 09/06/2022 23:18

Heck no

bumblefeline · 09/06/2022 23:21

Most definitely not.

knockyknees · 09/06/2022 23:36

No. But our real estate agent did give us a gift. A lovely glass cheese platter board and knife, which we regularly use at parties. I think there was something else with it, but can't remember what now.

ShaunaTheSheep · 09/06/2022 23:41

An email to say thank you suffices.
We moved recently and the sellers' estate agent gave DH a bouquet when he picked up the keys.

We also left wine and nice biscuits, and a card for our buyers.

Goldengoosey · 09/06/2022 23:42

My estate agent was very helpful. I got her flowers as a wee thank you when my house sale went through.

Viviennemary · 09/06/2022 23:42

It wouldn't even enter my head. They earn quite a lot slready.

LittleBearPad · 09/06/2022 23:43

I felt the £000s was present enough

FrustareNT · 09/06/2022 23:45

Absolutely not!!

carefullycourageous · 09/06/2022 23:45

We sent a thank you card to our estate agent and the mortgage/insurance brokers as they both did a lot when things kept changing.

Resisted sending a dog turd in an envelope to our vendor's estate agent Angry

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 09/06/2022 23:54

Are you insane, they've had more than 10k off you. Why would you want to add a gift to that?

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