Discreet property sale

There are good reasons that have nothing to do with secretiveness. In a separation or an inheritance, the neighbourhood need not be the first to learn that something is under way. For a tenanted property, a public advertisement unsettles the tenants before anything has been decided at all. And for a business property, an advertisement can alarm customers and staff.

There is also a sober argument: a property that sits visibly on the market for a long time loses negotiating position. Every interested party sees how long it has been there and draws conclusions. Anyone who offers quietly first keeps the option of advertising publicly later – it does not work the other way round.

We first show the property to selected interested parties, without advertising it and without spreading the address and pictures publicly. Only if that yields nothing do we go wide. This is not an expensive special offer but, in many situations, simply the sensible first step.

What we do not claim: that we have an international file of buyers. We have a Basel network from sixty years of management, marketing and neighbourhood – owners, investors, fiduciaries, notaries' offices. For Basel and the region, that is usually the right thing. For a property that needs an international buyer, we will tell you so openly.

Towards the acquiring party there is no discretion about the property itself: tenancy agreements, building rights (Baurechte), easements, an ongoing rent control and known defects belong openly on the table. Anyone who fraudulently conceals a defect can no longer rely on any exclusion of liability clause in the purchase contract. Discretion means keeping the circle small – not hiding something.

Part of the confidentiality is statutory. The cantons may publish the acquisition of ownership, but expressly not the consideration in the case of division of an estate, advance on inheritance, marriage contract and division of matrimonial property. And otherwise, too, the purchase price cannot be found out from the land register extract but only from the supporting documents – which in turn only entitled persons receive.