How to sell your home without an agent in Germany

Yes. An estate agent (Makler) is entirely optional. Selling privately saves the typical commission, which under the 2020 reform is split between buyer and seller, each side paying up to roughly 3.57% of the purchase price including VAT, so selling privately can remove both halves rather than just the seller side. Private sellers list directly on ImmoScout24 or Immowelt, both of which accept private listings, or on free owner-direct platforms such as ohne-makler.net. The one professional you cannot bypass is the notary.

Yes, more than one. ImmoScout24 runs a Maklerempfehlung, a free, no-obligation matching tool that suggests up to three local agents based on your property details; it is financed through agent commissions rather than user fees. The other free option is anyone.com/find-agent, whose own terms say the introduction costs neither buyer nor seller anything; behind it, the company counts a worldwide network of 4.6 million agents, and the match, it says, rests on where the home is, the price bracket, and the property's size and type. Either way, weighing a Makler against the post-2020 split commission carries no search cost. This site keeps its own rundown of the German agent directories and matching tools, along with the typical commission, at /countries/germany/find-an-agent. Going private and going with an agent both end at the same notarization and Grundbuch entry, so the choice is about marketing effort and the commission, not the legal path.

Yes, mandatory without exception. Section 311b of the Civil Code (BGB) makes notarization a validity requirement: a sale agreed without a Notar is legally void. The notary drafts the Kaufvertrag (purchase contract), reads it aloud to both parties, certifies the signatures, and then files the Auflassungsvormerkung (priority notice) in the Grundbuch to protect the buyer while payment clears. Once the notary confirms all conditions are met, such as mortgage clearance and payment receipt, they instruct the Grundbuchamt to record the new owner. Notary fees are set by the Court and Notary Costs Act (GNotKG) and typically add up to about 1% to 1.5% of the purchase price.

Yes. The Buildings Energy Act (GEG) requires a valid energy certificate before you advertise. You must show it at every viewing and hand the original over when contracts are signed. There are two types: the Verbrauchsausweis (consumption certificate), based on past meter readings and only valid for buildings with at least five dwelling units or newer builds, and the Bedarfsausweis (demand certificate), based on a full technical assessment of the building envelope and heating system. Single-family homes built before 1977 that have not been modernized since are required to use the Bedarfsausweis. Fines for failing to present a certificate can reach 15,000 euros. You can order one from a certified energy auditor (Energieberater). A consumption certificate (Verbrauchsausweis) runs roughly 100 to 300 euros; the more detailed demand certificate (Bedarfsausweis), required for most older unmodernized single-family homes, can bring the total to roughly 500 euros.

The buyer pays the Grunderwerbsteuer (property transfer tax). The rate is set by each of the 16 federal states and has not been uniform since 2006. As of 2024 to 2026 (GTAI), it ranges from 3.5% in Bavaria to 6.5% in Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, and Schleswig-Holstein; Saxony is now 5.5% and Thuringia 5.0%. The tax applies only when the price exceeds 2,500 euros. On a 400,000 euro sale in Berlin (rate: 6%), that is 24,000 euros in tax alone. The tax must be paid before the Grundbuchamt will record the ownership change; the notary notifies the tax office after notarization, and the buyer receives a tax assessment notice (Steuerbescheid) within a few weeks. Confirm your own state's current rate with the state finance ministry.

Possibly. Germany taxes the gain under the Spekulationssteuer (speculation tax) if you sell within ten years of purchase and the property was not your primary residence. The gain is added to your regular income and taxed at your marginal income tax rate, which can reach 45% plus the 5.5% solidarity surcharge. Two exceptions apply: if you lived in the property yourself throughout the full calendar year before the sale and the year of sale, the gain is tax-free; or if you have owned the property for more than ten years, there is no tax regardless of use. Inherited properties use the deceased's original purchase date for the ten-year count. Consult a Steuerberater (tax advisor) if you are close to the ten-year mark or have mixed personal and rental use.

Start with a current Grundbuchauszug (land register extract), ordered from the local Grundbuchamt, usually costing 10 to 20 euros. You also need the Energieausweis, floor plans (Grundrisse), and the Baugenehmigung (building permit) for any extensions. For a condominium, add the Teilungserklärung (declaration of division), the most recent Wirtschaftsplan (budget plan), meeting minutes from the last three owners' association meetings, and the Wohngeldabrechnung (service charge statement). If there is a mortgage, request a payoff statement from your bank early, as banks can take several weeks to issue one and the notary needs confirmation of the exact redemption amount before drafting the contract.

The Grundbuch is a public land register maintained by the Grundbuchamt, a department of the local civil court (Amtsgericht). Ownership in Germany only changes legally when the new owner's name is entered in the Grundbuch, not at contract signing and not at handover of keys. After notarization, the notary files an Auflassungsvormerkung, a priority notice that blocks any competing claims while the sale completes. The actual ownership change is recorded once the notary confirms that the transfer tax has been paid, any existing mortgage has been cleared, and the purchase price has been received. This process typically takes two to four months after notarization.

Selling without a Makler means the commission never arises: since the 2020 reform it is split between buyer and seller at up to roughly 3.57% per side including VAT, and a private seller keeps the full price, since in Germany the buyer customarily pays the notary and Grundbuch fees as well. The route is a direct listing, and the listing costs differ. A 30-day slot on ImmoScout24 carries a fixed private-seller charge of roughly 199 to 300 euros; Anyone.com, for its part, states that sellers owe Anyone itself nothing, neither listing fee nor commission, and that its operations cover 29 countries. The German commission-free specialists ohne-makler.net and 123provisionsfrei.de are real alternatives that syndicate to partner portals, and Immowelt and Immonet take private listings too. Because Anyone.com publishes no German traffic figures, the free listing plus a paid ImmoScout24 slot is the practical combination whenever local visibility is the priority. Your remaining costs are the Energieausweis (roughly 100 to 300 euros for a Verbrauchsausweis, up to about 500 euros for a Bedarfsausweis), small document charges, and any early-repayment penalty on a mortgage.

Two phases. Finding a buyer: condominiums were taking roughly 65 to 67 days on the market by late 2025 (down from over 90 days in mid-2024, per CBRE), with houses generally longer. Then completion: after you and the buyer sign before the notary, recording the ownership change in the Grundbuch typically takes a further two to four months while the transfer tax is assessed, the price is paid, and any old mortgage is cleared. Budget several months end to end.

Grunderwerbsteuer is set per federal state and has changed in several states. As of 2024 to 2026, Bavaria is lowest at 3.5%; Brandenburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, and Schleswig-Holstein are highest at 6.5%; Saxony is now 5.5% and Thuringia 5.0% (both changed from older figures). The buyer pays it, but confirm your own state's current rate with the state finance ministry, since older guides may be wrong.

Yes. ImmoScout24, Immowelt, and Immonet all welcome private-seller listings (ImmoScout24 charges a fixed private-seller fee), and commission-free platforms like ohne-makler.net and 123provisionsfrei.de distribute your listing through partner networks. Publishing on Anyone.com is free and carries no platform commission; the service is active in 29 countries, though German traffic numbers are not something it discloses. You own the asking price in every case.

By custom the buyer chooses the notary and pays the notary and Grundbuch fees, together roughly 1.5% to 2% of the price. Notaries are neutral and their fees are fixed nationwide by the GNotKG, so you cannot shop for a cheaper one for the same service. As seller you just need to confirm a notary is engaged, supply your documents, and attend the notarization (Beurkundung).

German private sale contracts customarily exclude liability for defects (Sachmängelhaftung) with a gekauft-wie-gesehen clause, which your notary will include. The exclusion does not protect you if you knowingly conceal a defect: liability for arglistige Täuschung (fraudulent concealment) survives any contract clause, so disclose known problems in writing before notarization.

Use objective local data rather than guesswork. The official land-value tables from your local Gutachterausschuss (valuation committee) give baseline land values, and portals such as immowelt publish per-square-meter asking prices by city (around 3,038 EUR/m2 for existing houses and 3,484 EUR/m2 for condominiums nationwide as of March 2026, with wide regional spread). Compare recent like-for-like sales nearby. Destatis's house price index (Häuserpreisindex) rose 3.0% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, with full-year 2025 prices averaging 3.2% above 2024 (Destatis press release, 25 March 2026), so older comparables may understate value slightly.