After you have done a face-to-face, I would give a "Welcome Packet" which can just be a folder with how to communicate with you, pay rent, etc, I also will include a small gift, like a gift card, bottle of wine, etc (You will see what they like with your face to face conversation.

Does anyone else out there do this, and if so do you include a gift?  

We have at our Lake House.There were some people that came down and stayed for a month in Dec each year. and we put 3 small wrapped gifts for their Grandkids that came to visit them.

So that would be her mom gifting you 16K and her 16K and then her Dad gifting you 16K and her 16K...same number of gifts but different rationale and methodology; does that make sense?

Funds can come from a gift from family or from a business partner who is a co-borrower on the loan. 

When you have your own business, you want to make sure that you are capturing all the applicable expenses that you incurred.Below are some expenses that agents incurMLS Access fees, E&O insurance, travel, desk fees, advertising, business gifts, etcBeing in NY/NYC, an area with the most difficult state tax laws in the country, you also want to work with a professional who understands your state tax laws.Best of luck

Another way is doing gifting using either the annual gift limits or lifetime gift limit, which is currently over $12 million dollars. 

I think renters and buyers take off from Thanksgiving to Super Bowl, snow, cold, ice, dark at 5 pm and all the holidays, gift buying and lots of parties.

I have access to a 401k and/or a gift of $30-50k.

To make it better, the LLC is giving a gift of equity so the down payment is in the form of a gift from my LLC to myself.