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

... passage about the price included, where I wrote that we have put a lot of thought into the price, talked to agents, observed the market for a long time, and also looked at comparable properties from previous years and the prices they sold for. And that we then priced our property according to market developments and would be willing to negotiate between 500-540k.

You haven't seriously and thoroughly justified where you see an upper limit :eek:?

In all friendship: Negotiations don't seem to be your forte. You should prepare a text with which you can quickly and clearly dismiss the expected exceeding of the above-mentioned price range, and then switch to the Nida line. If debates or references to the (formulated by you in writing :oops:) price range arise, immediately shut it down with "I wanted to do something good for all of us and save the agent fees, but obviously we were below reality on that point." or something similar.

When asked about the price during viewings, my sentence would be,
please make an offer, I expect a 5 at the front, but due to the demand, I expect a 6.
Then the house is viewed and everyone decides for themselves.

Or you let everyone come at the same time. Everyone secretly writes their first offer on a piece of paper.
Everyone except the three highest bids may leave immediately. You negotiate with the rest until the end.

I once saw this on TV with declutterers. But it was about collectibles and not directly a house :D

Of course, I did not set an upper limit; no one among the interested parties understood it that way. I only said that our price expectation is within that range, and what I base that on. If in the end there are more buyers than one, it will be settled by the price if necessary. I think that is clear to all interested parties. I found – and still find – the wording already clever. I am not a supplicant, but I am also not an [Arschkriecher]. ;)

Or you let everyone come at the same time. Everyone secretly writes their first offer on a piece of paper. All except the three highest bids can leave immediately. You negotiate the rest to the end.

You would first have to have more than 3 buyers anyway. I have also thought along those lines, simply because it would make it the most believable. All the interested parties are aware of the competition, just based on the scheduling. But I always wonder, how would I feel as a buyer if a seller tells me "yes, you have been outbid, will you go higher?" without having proof for it. On the other hand, I don’t know how awkward it gets if you invite several "competitors" at the same time. That could, under certain circumstances, also become ugly/hostile. I actually don’t feel like dealing with that.

There were definitely some sensible tips from others on how to kindly initiate a bidding process now. Everyone should send their bid by email, and personally, I might leave it at that.

But beware of the currently rising interest rates! What someone could afford six months ago may not be possible now. A 0.5% interest difference is not insignificant. That's already €200 more per month on a €500,000 loan.

The buyer shall appoint the notary; if it falls through, that was his pleasure.

Not automatically. This must be expressly agreed upon. My parents also sold Grandma's house, and there were two pitfalls in the notary contract that the buyer had appointed. They would have let the sale fall through if the notary had not changed it. They presented the contract to an acquaintance at the bank, who pointed out the two disadvantageous clauses. First, that in case of non-occurrence, the seller pays nothing and the notary must adhere to the buyer. Second, that the house was bought as seen. It was inspected thoroughly by the buyer. This clause was not included. The buyer had been inside several times, also with craftsmen who examined the condition and even damaged something. None wanted to admit to it, of course, but the realtor had handed over the key, and my mother then found the craftsmen in the house and practically caught them in the act. One must be very careful; I can understand all the concerns very well.