Off-market properties in Berlin: selling and buying discreetly

As of: 11 October 2026 · Editorial team, BBI Immobilien

What an off-market sale means at BBI

An off-market sale means that a property is not listed publicly but offered specifically to prospective buyers who are on our list. There is no advert and no sign on the building. Some of our properties change hands without ever being listed publicly. A property only goes online when the owner wants it to.

What ‘buyers on our list’ (vorgemerkte Käufer) means in practice

You are on our list if you have told us beforehand what you are looking for. In detail, this means:

• We hold a search profile with budget, size, location and purpose. It is free of charge for those searching.
• Offers go to matching profiles, not to a mailing list. With investors, we check in advance the minimum someone wants to buy, what type of property and which area.
• Before a viewing, it has been clarified whether the equity is in place and the bank will lend.
• For houses and villas, where it suits the house, we approach prospective buyers whose ability to pay we have checked.
• For logistics space, we match the enquiry against our portfolio and the NAI apollo network.
• The search profile can be changed or withdrawn at any time.

If you are selling several owner-occupied flats, we calculate both routes for you: as a package to one investor or individually. A package means one notary appointment, one buyer and one timetable; in return there is a discount, because someone is taking everything at once. Selling individually leaves more money in the end, but takes months to years.

You pay nothing until the purchase contract; the commission only arises once the purchase contract has been notarised. When selling residential property under a sole agency agreement, we pay for the photographs, the energy performance certificate and the floor plan, even if a third party produces them. Rates and term are set out on the page Selling with BBI.

Search profile

Tell us once what you are looking for: budget, size, location and purpose. We create a search profile from this and get in touch with you before others hear about it. Discreet sales do not go online but directly to matching search profiles. You only receive what matches your profile: if nothing arrives for weeks, nothing has matched for weeks.

The search profile costs you nothing; a commission only arises if a purchase contract is concluded through us. We do not pass your details on to third parties. You can save the profile in the ‘Search for a property’ tab at the top or on the page Buying with BBI.

Clarify your financing early. We ask buyers about it at the first appointment, and written confirmation from your bank counts when several prospective buyers are bidding.

Short profile for packages, portfolios and projects

We market flat packages, portfolios and project developments in two stages. The address, tenants and figures remain protected until it is settled who may see them.

1. First comes a short profile without address. Instead of the address, it carries a code; the location is given only roughly and the figures as a range. We give a purchase price on request and no return at all.
2. You then agree in writing to keep the information to yourself, and the commission is set out in text form, i.e. at least by email. Only then do you receive the address, rent roll, plans and access to the documents.

Viewing and due diligence follow: land register, building law, tenancy agreements and the question of whether the ground is contaminated. The purchase price emerges from the bids. The seller decides on the basis of price, the security of the financing and the timetable, and no bidder finds out what the others have bid.

Logistics space

If you are looking for a warehouse, send three details to logistik@bbi-immobilien.de: space, location and timetable. We report suitable space and present confidential space after a short conversation. Which details about the warehouse count is explained on the page Logistics property in Berlin and Brandenburg.

Villas in Dahlem, Zehlendorf, Westend and Frohnau are covered on the page Sell your house in Berlin, portfolios of several apartment buildings on the page Packages, portfolios, projects.

In a discreet sale, fewer people see the offer, but the neighbours notice little. A listing on the major portals reaches more people who are searching, and flats that many people are looking for sell faster this way. An advert with address and photos, on the other hand, rarely protects the privacy of a villa.

The two can be combined: first the buyers on our list, then the portals, if you wish. Whether the property is marketed discreetly or publicly is something we discuss in the initial meeting. No result is guaranteed; the course of the sale depends on the property, the location and the market situation.

Legal rules and obligations

What applies legally to a discreet sale and purchase:

• Commission in text form. We record the amount of the commission in text form, not in a side agreement (§ 656a BGB, German Civil Code); an email is sufficient. For packages and portfolios, it is fixed before the address and documents are passed on.
• Split only for flats and single-family houses. The equal split of the commission under §§ 656c and 656d BGB applies only when a private individual buys a flat or a single-family house; in that case buyer and seller each pay us 3.57 per cent including VAT. It does not apply to portfolios, apartment buildings, plots and commercial property; for logistics, we agree the commission with the client before marketing begins. If a private individual buys a flat package, we check this case by case.
• Energy performance certificate. For existing buildings, prospective buyers receive the energy performance certificate at the viewing at the latest, also in the process with a short profile (§ 80 GModG, Building Modernisation Act). If the property is later listed after all and the certificate is available, the advert must contain the mandatory information under § 87 GModG.
• Tenants and right of first refusal. Let flats remain let; the tenancies pass to the buyer (§ 566 BGB). A tenant may only buy their flat first if the building was divided after they moved in (§ 577 BGB). We check this in advance.
• Confidentiality. With the confidentiality undertaking, the documents serve solely for the buyer's own review. They are only passed on to third parties if we agree in text form.
• Cancellation. Anyone buying as a trader (Unternehmer, § 14 BGB) has no right of cancellation. Private buyers receive information about their right of cancellation before we work for them.

Read more

• Selling with BBI: process, services and what working with us costs.
• Buying with BBI: search profile, additional purchase costs and documents before you sign.
• Packages, portfolios, projects: short profile without address and the two-stage process.
• Sell an apartment building: the route for a single multi-family building.
• Sell your flat in Berlin: process for owner-occupied flats and prices by district.
• Sell your house in Berlin: land value, documents and villa areas.
• Logistics property: warehouses, storage and logistics space in Berlin and Brandenburg.
• Finding an estate agent in Berlin: marketing route and questions for the first meeting.
• Agent's commission in Berlin: text form, property types, when it is due.
• Tenant's right of first refusal: what applies to converted flats.
• Energy performance certificate and mandatory information: what belongs in the listing.
• Property valuation in Berlin: how we determine the value.

Sources and date

• § 14 German Civil Code (BGB), trader (Unternehmer)
• § 566 BGB, sale does not break a lease
• § 577 BGB, tenant's right of first refusal
• § 656a BGB, text form of the agency agreement
• § 656c BGB, commission when the agent acts for both sides
• § 656d BGB (German Civil Code), agreements on the agent's costs
• § 80 Building Modernisation Act (Gebäudemodernisierungsgesetz, GModG), presentation of the energy performance certificate
• Section 87 GModG, mandatory details in property adverts

Statutory texts retrieved on 11 October 2026. The information on BBI's process, services and terms appears in this form on these pages of our own website, as of 11 October 2026: Home page, Selling with BBI, Buying with BBI, Packages, portfolios, projects, Sell your house in Grunewald, Logistics property.