Strategy for selling a house - what is the best way to proceed?

Quite simply, because I have already sold too many cars privately in my life to be willing to put up with the stress of a house. It was always easiest with cars that had engine/transmission damage or <5k€. The realtor should nicely provide their phone number and pre-screen and check for financing feasibility. There have already been enough examples here where the bank gave a "financing commitment" and in the end it still fell through because of lending values and outdated BRW. For this handling, I pay (or rather the buyer pays) the realtor.

When my parents sold, it was through a realtor and both sides were very satisfied - or rather still are.

I only want to do a few viewings (have done?) and then go with them to the notary and sign.

I of course always mean a "real realtor".

Mine also made these claims about connections to banks, and that he could assess whether someone had sufficient creditworthiness or not. But it never fully made sense to me. What exactly entitles a realtor to have more information about a buyer’s creditworthiness?
Do they then carry out Schufa checks on interested parties with their consent, or how does that work? As far as I remember, he denied that when asked.

Of course, I can understand the rest of the argument. Sure, it’s less effort for me. If we were talking about 3-5k, I think I would do it without hesitation as well. But for 20,000€, I have to work a long time, I wouldn’t just throw that away.

I actually know it this way: that customers have to expose themselves with their "financing confirmations" from the banks, proof of income, and if necessary, even a self-disclosure of their credit report at the realtor before the final approval takes place. Of course, you can also do it yourself. But I claim that with planning the house, building/overseeing, doing your own work, moving in, and still working on the garden this year, I have gotten so many gray hairs that I simply wouldn’t be up for it anymore.

It seems that many people see it the same way as you do. What is the reasoning or thought process behind it? I’m trying to figure that out right now.

Many don’t know it any other way or are unsure about the procedure. They go to their bank, like you do, and then the second person from the polished shoe faction is already at your door - just get a professional appraisal done. ;)

Otherwise - the brokers need the deals, and who knows what great kickbacks are being used nowadays. There was already an interesting report about this in a Hamburg news magazine in the middle of last year. There are just many brokers, and few houses...

He told us the same. Mathematically, it just doesn’t add up for me. According to his assessment, we can start low at 499k and then expect higher offers (his “light bidding procedure”). Or we should list 525k and then expect less demand.

I interpreted it as him considering 525 as the realistic price / somewhere around the upper limit. That’s just under 19k from the purchase price for him. If I list it myself for 515k, I still make a profit if I offer it privately. Or am I missing something?

No, of course he can only calculate his commission, he doesn’t care about anything else. For the rest - see above.

I actually know it so that customers have to undress at the broker with their “financing confirmations” from the banks, proof of income, or even a self-disclosure from Schufa before the final approval takes place.

Nonsense, why should the broker do that? He looks at the document, just like you could, asks what you do for a living. Everything else is completely irrelevant for the critical point of the project, or rather it only depends on the lending value and equity capital. And the broker has direct influence on that as well. In other words - if the bank puts its thumb down, the bubble price is too hot and the equity capital doesn’t cover the gap. And you can quickly ask that of a serious buyer. They know there are usually others involved.

Otherwise, you can outline what exactly about your parents’ buyers impressed the broker so much that they gladly paid a good portion of a year’s salary for it. And have your parents already paid half obediently? Or influenced the factor?

I see it like kati, all those services can be done by yourself. The visits will happen anyway, and you can manage them just as well as a broker.

Nothing against the service itself. It definitely has its purpose. The price is just completely crazy. I also wouldn’t pay 500€ to have my lawn mowed.

When will the commissions actually come under pressure due to the low supply of real estate? 5000€ flat fee and that’s it, who wants that?

I claim, however, that while planning the house, building/supervising, doing own work, moving in, and still working on the garden this year, I have gotten so many gray hairs that I simply don't feel like it anymore.

For the money for the real estate agent, I could also just outsource a bag full of own work o_O

Nothing against the service itself. It definitely has its purpose. The price is just completely insane. I also wouldn’t pay €500 to have my lawn mowed.

When will the commissions actually come under pressure due to the low supply of properties? €5000 flat fee and done, who wants that?

I completely agree. They take €20k from each party. That is a large part of a net annual income for many people. When you convert that into how long you have to work for it, it’s really outrageous.

On a personal note: I found an interesting document from the appraisal committees. For our district, there were a total of 7 house sales in 2020 with: - year built from 2018 - average year built: 2020 - average living area: 132 - average price per m²: 2,803 - average sale price: 361,000

I think this shows that the “6 in front” for our region is really unrealistic. I also spent a completely pointless €20 to get an appraisal from the “Immobilienmarkt Niedersachsen” (this official portal). However, I had to enter the year built as 2017 because it has no valuation for newer buildings (which is kind of pointless then?). Anyway, like the realtor before, I ended up with an asset value of about €435k.

Based on these new insights (especially the real sales figures of newer buildings from 2020 are fascinating), I thought about simply taking the average price per m² of 2803, increasing it by 14% for 2021 (I have the figure in mind that real estate prices rose by about 14% – is that correct?), and then possibly adding a bit more for 2022 (? – but not too much), and then multiplying that by my living area to arrive at a sale price. 2803 + 14% would be 3195 * 153 m² = about 489k. Alternatively, 2803 + 20% = about 3363 -> sale price of 515k.

So I thought I’d try listing it at 520k. Any opinions?