Defensive offer, or have house prices become so expensive?

When I sell a house again, I will probably do it in such a way that I exclude bidding procedures in both directions.

But why? Just name your asking price first and see what happens: How high is the demand, how solvent do the interested parties appear, how do the viewings go, etc. Depending on that, then a bidding procedure, fixed price, or also lowering the price if no one wants the house. Excluding price negotiations in advance makes no sense.

You can have fundamental discussions on meta-levels, no question, but unfortunately that does not help Kati's real situation at all. She recently found out that the new construction is unexpectedly more expensive, even though she had already anticipated price increases. The (at least) same effect applies to the value of her current property. Why buy new expensively and sell cheaply? Then she loses twice.

However, you cannot consider the individual separately from the whole. Individually, I fully agree with you – sell expensively, build new as cheaply as possible. Logically, everyone wants that. But that requires double the luck. Because there is no automatic mechanism. It could very well be that this endeavor will end up costing a lot of extra money and be financially unprofitable.

You can recognize this by the fact that free rental housing construction is currently almost dead, and also with the construction of condominiums, due to the desired returns for all parties involved, things look pretty bleak. Prices are rising, yes – but the volume is not.

Regarding the approach here – why should she start immediately with a bidding procedure? These are just preliminary considerations; one can certainly test the market locally and launch a sales intention. Bids will come in without immediately having to rely heavily on portals.

It is quite possible that this undertaking will ultimately cost a lot of additional money and be financially unprofitable.

That's true, it can be. But I have the desire to live closer to my family and hope for a significant increase in quality of life from it. For me, this cannot be compensated with money. The business does not have to be profitable; that's nice to have. We are just trying to make it affordable. We will find a way. I have spoken again with more construction companies; one this morning was very likeable to me. They are also more expensive than expected, but at least offer significantly more. They quoted me a price of around 2500 / m², but we are already talking about KFW40 standard; this also includes a flat rate for earthworks (whether that is accurate remains to be seen), and they are also experienced in planning with slopes and split-level houses (they accordingly factor this into the costs for earthworks). Moreover, the price already includes floors and painting. This makes much more sense. The others gave me a comparable price per square meter but added that earthworks are NOT included, nor are floor coverings except for the bathroom, no painting services, no this/that. That makes a big difference to me. Earthworks are a non-negligible item in slope locations.

The business doesn't have to be profitable, that's nice to have.

I would understand if the new house didn't cost more. But that will not be the case solely because of the geographical location, although Saarland is affordable, the proximity to Poland and the craftsmen is missing. So take everything possible and equip the new house with everything you want and can afford.

So take everything that is possible and equip the new house with everything you desire and can afford.

Then the price from the GU comes out of the "crystal ball with glitter," and don’t drive with the star on the hood.

That's true, it can be. But I have the desire to live closer to my family and hope for a significant increase in quality of life from that. For me, that cannot be compensated with money.
The business doesn't have to be profitable, that's nice to have.
We're just trying to make it affordable. We'll find a way.

You are contradicting yourself a bit. You want to live closer to your family, so you want to build a new house. But this will cost a lot due to the location (current situation). Yet you say it's not a problem if you sell the old house cheaper (than the market allows) and can't afford the new one anymore and thus can't live with your family?

Your increase in quality of life can very well be compensated with money in your situation :cool: