Property purchase & broker behavior: Is this normal?

Well, at least you don't have to pay the broker! Even more "funny" is when the seller hires his good-for-nothing brother-in-law, who acts completely clueless. And then you still have to transfer him 20,000 euros :)

With the other interested parties, it's just the oldest sales trick in the world. I don't know the area. Depending on the market situation, that may be true. As mentioned above: when there are multiple brokers in one agency, sometimes the right hand doesn't know what the left has already done. And then it depends on the motivation of the broker to find that out. And whether the other has documented everything correctly. Which brings us back to the point "no required qualifications" ;)

Because someone bought the property at a significantly lower price, created building rights with a building permit, and is now cashing in on the entire package – that’s why the property is so expensive. Actually common in commercial project development.

Let’s throw that into the fantasy input slot of my mental movie: then I see in the notary contract the nice surprise that the buyer has to take over a construction contract (of the seller with Gabriele’s favorite Heinz for an already fixed & fully approved semi-detached house) ;-)

How? So we sit with the notary and he then pulls a second contract out of the hat?

We asked about a building commitment, that was denied.
We asked if anything is stipulated or prescribed in the purchase contract about who we build with, also no.
We asked if there are any other contracts besides the purchase contract, also no.

Of course, this could all be based on ignorance, so in the end it’s always possible that the real estate agent didn’t know and on Monday says: "Oh, that was false information."
But that should hopefully be known at the latest when we commission a notary. But we’re happy to ask again, just to be sure.

To reveal that only at the notary would of course be really bad, because then we would have already let money flow (for the notary/contract draft), even though we DO NOT want/will buy like THAT :(

But that should hopefully be known at the latest when we commission a notary. But we are happy to ask again for safety reasons.

Coming out with it only at the notary would of course be really bad, because then we would have already let money flow (for the notary/contract draft), even though we do NOT want/will not buy that way

That should not happen, because - if you commission - you specify what should be in the contract. Otherwise, let the seller commission the draft.

Sorry, I just realized that I was not precise in my wording.
So we were told to let them know if we are interested, and then the agents would make a contract "draft" with the notary & seller – we would have to pay for that.
But we can also hire a notary ourselves.

I'll look into what is better..

Regarding the purchase price, I or my parents tend to negotiate down because of
- high difference compared to the BRW
- demolition costs
- possible clearance costs (the house is partly furnished)
- location (i.e. corner plot + visible industrial area)
My parents want to offer 10% less.

The big question is, do you want the property and if so, what would you offer if you had no idea of the seller’s expectations? If that deviates too much from the asking price, I would leave it. I almost agreed to a leasehold property that I found overpriced (or rather the development fee for it, which of course the tenant should pay and not the owner ;) ) because I felt there was nothing else. In hindsight, I’m glad I got away from it.