Why competence in sales is in demand right now

Anyone who is considering selling a property (and is not an experienced sales professional) is usually faced with the question: call an estate agent or market it yourself?

We would like to provide some help in making this decision. 

If you have little experience in selling real estate and if you do not want to be harassed by impetuous bargain hunters or to be chased into the pit horn by false price expectations, you should get yourself a professional market value assessment. Short valuations from the well-known property portals may give you a clue here and there, but no more than that. Because: In order to value a property in a way that is suitable for sale, the appraiser must see the property, study its documentation, inspect the extract from the land register (especially sections I and II), know the building laws and have a good portion of experience in your market.

Many estate agencies now offer free market price assessments. If the appraiser is also a trained valuer or expert, if possible with official recognition (certification, public appointment), then he or she also has access to current sales prices of the respective competent appraisal committee and can use these in an appraisal (anonymised). After all, he has studied his subject for several years, passed his examinations and must have provided expert opinions for at least three years before he can receive certification. In particular, he can also calculate hereditary building rights and hereditary building plots.

Once the market value has been determined, the next step is to prepare all the documents needed for the sale. The list of documents is long nowadays: a confirmed living space calculation, a current extract from the land register, an energy certificate, copies of all permits mentioned in the land register, in the case of hereditary building rights also the hereditary building rights contract together with any addenda, copies of the tenancy agreements, information from the building encumbrance register, register of contaminated sites and much more.

The next step is to prepare an exposé. The information given here should be absolutely correct - especially living and usable space, information on renovation or modernisation, energy certificate, heating and also on any defects or damage. If tenancy agreements exist, some information on these should also be provided. And the most important thing: meaningful, well-prepared photos help enormously to make a building, a flat, everything that belongs to it, interesting for potential buyers. 

Once the ad has been placed, the first enquiries start coming in. Now it's a matter of organising appointments and keeping up to date with the existing regulations in connection with the Covi-19 pandemic. 

The selection and assessment of the potential buyers who place their bids, their financing possibilities and plans often come up against obstacles that a layman not experienced in sales often finds difficult to cope with. We know from painful reports that not only were prices mercilessly depressed, houses or flats were talked down and even price reductions were attempted or pushed through at the notary's office. It is not a nice task, when there are several applicants, not to scare away some and not to give others a commitment too early.

After all, this is not the end of the sale. The draft purchase contract has to be checked by the seller (the buyer has the right to choose a notary), powers of attorney to encumber one’s own property with mortgages have to be given to the buyer, often things like clearing out or basic cleaning have to be arrangedâ€"the list can be long.

Weeks and months pass before the purchase price is received and the property is transferred to the buyers. So to ensure that everything goes really well, you should not jump into the selling adventure naively. It might be worthwhile to involve an expert estate agent, even if the regulation in force since 23.12.2020 stipulates that the seller must pay half the commission on certain properties - and the buyer the other half. A negotiation to the effect that the seller might only pay a quarter of the commission and the buyer three quarters is prohibited by the new law.

If you would like to have this entire service "from one source", please contact us. If we are not active in your area, we can often recommend a reliable colleague.

Call or email us if you would like to take the first step - a market price assessment. In most cases we offer this service free of charge (exceptions can be: e.g. hereditary building rights, housing rights, rights of way, aspects of building law which have to be assessed or also expert opinions for inheritance disputes or divorces - these often require a comprehensive valuation).

Contakt: by phone +49 151 58703200 oder +49 6103 310847 or email.
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