Each party endeavours to achieve the best possible price for itself, i.e. the vendor the highest price possible and the buyer the lowest price possible. Both parties strive to minimise the opportunity and pricing costs. Many buyers exhibit so-called habitual buying behaviour (they buy the same on each occasion).
The vendor wishes to offer the purchase price to as many prospective buyers as possible in order to push up the bids; the buyer on the other hand is interested in a personal sales process that places emphasis on his skills as a bidder.
The following pricing instruments are used with varying degrees of practical importance:
- Negotiation
- Small properties: direct negotiations between the parties or through the real estate broker
- Large properties: negotiations conducted by lawyers to ensure that the negotiations are conducted in a spirit of clarity and legal certainty or to prevent unjustified claims of a commitment or culpa in contrahendo
- Price setting by a participant (vendor, buyer or both [in the event of disagreement = dissent]
- Auction system (internal)
- Auction (external) (also: property auction)