Private sale

Private real estate sellers often underestimate the effort and knowledge required to sell their house or apartment. The asking price must be researched, sales documents must be prepared and viewings must be conducted. What else needs to be considered.

There are three phases in the marketing of a property. First, the value of the property must be assessed and the resulting asking price determined. In the subsequent marketing phase, it is important to describe the property in text and pictures as realistically as possible and tailored to the target group. In the third step, viewing appointments and negotiation meetings take place before the property transfer is sealed with the notarized purchase contract.

Property value and asking price

The basis for a successful sale is an accurate property price. Only if the asking price is marketable will enough potential buyers come forward. The market value is based, among other things, on the location of the property, its year of construction, condition and current demand. It can be helpful to research similar properties on real estate portals. The local appraisal committees for real estate values publish purchase price collections of past transactions, which also help to estimate the value. In addition, real estate agents can help with the valuation.

Which platforms should be used to offer the property?

Now the seller should consider through which media he wants to offer his property. Via a daily newspaper and its online offering, via large real estate portals such as Immoscout24, via local platforms or classified ad databases such as Ebay? The object photos for the advertisement must be of good quality, taken in good lighting conditions. The text of the sales document (exposé) should describe the property neutrally, without exaggerations and flowery phrases. Information on the size of the apartment, year of construction, age of the heating system, etc. must be researched in advance. It makes sense to commission a service provider to create an attractive floor plan of the apartment or house. Providers can be found on the Internet. The cost of around 50 euros is money well spent.

For the sales documents, various documents should also be collected, such as a valid energy certificate, a cadastral map, an excerpt from the land register etc.

During the marketing phase, the seller should get a prepaid cell phone and an extra e-mail address. In this way, he does not initially pass on any private contact data and knows when his cell phone rings that a prospective buyer is on the line.

To keep the effort within limits, viewings should be carried out on one day. There's nothing wrong with prospective buyers coming in and seeing that there are other potential buyers.

A real estate professional takes this work off your hands

If this effort is too much for you, you should contact a real estate agent. While private individuals usually sell a property only once in a lifetime, this is daily practice for real estate service providers. They have innovative marketing tools and also broker houses via social networks, with virtual viewing tours or videos. Many work in colleague networks, as does VON POLL IMMOBILIEN. This increases the number of interested parties and the visibility of the offered property. In addition, professionals take care of queries and paperwork, as reported by the German Real Estate Association (IVD).

Brokers have mostly vorgemermerkte, examined prospective buyers. If an acquirer is found in this pool, the number of viewing appointments is reduced for the seller.

Real estate service providers act as neutral third parties. They are better able to conduct price negotiations and moderate disputes. With their support, higher prices are often achieved and the property is sold more quickly.

You can find more tips on private property sales in our free guidebook at: www.immowissen-bocholt.de