Exclusive | Merry XLmas from your broker! Rich house hunters are now being baited by over-the-top closing gifts like a $3.2M Aston Martin and a 31-foot yacht

Champagne and fruit baskets are for suckers. Well-heeled buyers on the hunt for big-ticket homes expect more — and luxury brokers are sating them with increasingly personal, unique and often mind-bogglingly extravagant closing gifts.

A survey of the agents of one the nation’s top brokerages — one that asked to remain anonymous for this story — found that brokers are saying thank you in truly novel and expensive ways.

Their agents have given buyers at-home concierge wellness treatments (including IV therapy), lavish dinners in their new addresses with celebrated private chefs and original works of art. What’s more, they’ve even gifted them custom scents and music compositions commissioned for the residence, antiques, Hermès accoutrements, Louis Vuitton duffle bags with custom engravings, country club memberships — even luxury whips for those looking to celebrate in another way entirely.

“I have given 10-foot-high safes, Chanel bags, [and put] a Bentley in the garage of an estate,” said a Palm Beach-based broker.

No wonder. The stakes have never been higher in luxury real estate, brokers say, and making a wealthy buyer happy can mean return business down the line.

Moreover, in cities with a glut of multimillion-dollar spreads — like New York, Miami, Palm Beach and vacation towns from Tahoe to Nantucket — dangling a grand gift can help seal a deal. Right now, there are 476 homes in NYC asking $10 million or more, and nearly 1,000 homes asking $5 million or more in Miami. With competition like that, the promise of a glitzy gift at signing can make a listing stand out — and turn heads in the process.

For instance, the buyer of the $19.9 million penthouse at the Regalia Residences in Sunny Isles, Florida, gets a 31-foot yacht at closing — and a sale is now pending.

Over in Breckenridge, Colorado, the new slope-side Finale community is offering buyers two lifetime Epic Ski Passes when they pick up one of their $4.1 million to $8.9 million homes. Those lifetime passes are impossible to buy and could be worth $1.2 million apiece by 2085 — if the current pace of price increases continues. (The only other way to get one is to work for Vail Resorts for 25 consecutive seasons and pray).

And at the Four Seasons Private Residence Los Angeles, all buyers receive access to the members-only luxury handbag and jewelry borrowing service, Vivrelle — so you can swap Chanel for Celine, or Hermès for Fendi, whenever you want.

But without a doubt, luxury automobiles are the most popular six-figure lure being dangled.

At the Aston Martin Residences in Downtown Miami — the tallest all-residential skyscraper south of New York City — the triplex penthouse, dubbed “the Unique,” asks $59 million. Sign on the dotted line and you’ll wake up with the last remaining Aston Martin Vulcan supercar, valued at a cool $3.2 million, in your climate-controlled garage. Only 24 of that model were ever made — and this is the only one that has yet to be driven.

“We believe in ‘story-doing,’ not storytelling,” said Alejandro Aljanati, the CMO for G&G Business Developments, the tower’s developer. “We wanted to merge the concept of living the lifestyle of this apartment with driving an Aston Martin. The Vulcan is the key to that concept, connecting living and driving.”

But it doesn’t stop there. The buyer of that penthouse also gets a custom 120-page coffee table book covering the history of Aston Martin.

“The last pages are white, because that space will be where a calligrapher will hand-write the history of the buyer and immortalize his history, together with the history of Aston, forever and ever,” said Aljanati.

Across the country in Clear Creek Tahoe — a luxury development within Lake Tahoe’s premier mountain and golf gated community — broker Mike Dunn says he recently sold a $12.7 million new construction-home thanks to the inclusion of a Tesla Cybertruck at close. (Those massive electric vehicles sell for about $80,000 each.)

Not only did the five-bedroom home come with more standard amenities like a golf simulator, a giant 12-person Jacuzzi and a six-car subterranean garage — but it was also built using Tesla’s solar roof and power-walls, including a battery storage system and generators allowing it to run fully off-grid if it needs to.

“We’re selling Tahoe, not just real estate,” said Dunn of Chase International Luxury Real Estate. “We’re selling the lifestyle here that people desire: enjoying the outdoors, recreation, wellness and having a place to create lasting family memories. There’s also a strong emphasis on the environment and this is the first whole Tesla home in the area. So we incentivized the sale with the Tesla Cybertruck.”

Dunn says that “it plays two ways.” Buyers picking up a second or third home in a market like Tahoe want a seamless, turn-key experience with the car already in the driveway. Could they buy it on their own? Of course. But they appreciate the convenience of the bundle. At the same time, a big closing gift like a luxury car is great marketing. He notes that, ahead of the sale, the listing was picked up “globally” simply because of the Cybertruck.

“It was a great fit for this home because it was something the buyer could identify with,” he said. “It’s not about the monetary value of the asset.”

But not every broker in the luxury market is sold. South Florida-based Compass agent Michael Martirena called the phenomenon “extremely gimmicky” and “distasteful.”

“High-net-worth-individuals, they’re savvy and these gimmicks scream like a red flag to be quite honest,” he said. “People want to get a concession, a credit and get a better deal in the number. They’re fully capable of buying their own cars. I love getting gifts that I would never buy for myself, but at the end of the day, they’re paying for it. So it’s not really a gift.”

Martirena explains that the more extravagant the “gift,” the more likely it is to be built into the listing price. He says that it’s not uncommon for buyers to negotiate a discount on a property by forgoing those gifts, add-ons and extras. And because big-ticket items like luxury cars are often reflected in the closing price, a resale without that item could actually lower the sticker value of the home.

“The savvy buyer will separate it out for resale value,” he said, noting that when he and his business partner Ivan Chorney want to make a buyer feel special, they’ll gift a luxury weekend getaway, a dinner with a private chef, commission custom artwork or photography — or give decorative home items from Hermès, Gucci or Chanel.

He does admit that upgrades and amenities like infrared saunas, swish wine fridges, a beach package, even a splashy boat slip can get a buyer over the hump. There are even cases, he says, where a turnkey lifestyle package with a car or a boat makes perfect sense. But too often it signals that something is wrong with the property, he argues.

Attorney Neil Garfinkel, the managing partner of AGMB and leader of the firm’s Real Estate and Banking Practices division, added that there are legal ramifications to closing gifts, too. The rules vary from state to state, but luckily New York State is a particularly friendly market for the generous giver.

“New York State says that a real estate agent can give anything, any type of incentive to a party to the transaction,” said Garfinkel. “It’s all part of the negotiation.”

However, the tax man could want a cut if you’re not careful, so Garfinkel recommends leaning on your accountant.

Douglas Elliman agent Andy Alvarez, based in affluent Naples, Florida, has an entirely different perspective. He agrees that today a closing gift for a whale of a property investor has to be impressive and personal — but he believes it should also do good.

When Alvarez’s brother-in-law was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor, he suffered through multiple surgeries before finding the Musella Foundation — a non-profit that helps brain tumor patients and their families with emotional and financial support, as well funding research.

“Once he connected with this foundation, he realized what an incredible resource it is,” said Alvarez. “He realized that his story, all that pain, all that fear, that entire process, could have been handled so differently.”

Alvarez has become an advocate and financial supporter of that organization — and it just so happened that it also hooked him up with the perfect closing gift.

“I was working with this huge bourbon fanatic, and I knew I wanted to do something really special for their closing gift,” he said. “It just so happened that a local business donated this bottle of Pappy Van Winkle, and it was going to be one of the auction items in the Musella Foundation’s annual fundraiser. I thought, ‘What a meaningful gift to a friend and client who truly loves bourbon.’ I went to that auction hoping that I won the bottle, and you betcha, I did.”

The sale of the bottle — a special example of which made a record $125,000 at Sotheby’s earlier this year — supported the foundation, while providing a jaw-dropper of a gift.

“It wasn’t about being over the top, it was about connecting the dots in a way that just felt right,” he said.