[SapporoChris]

Why is this insane?

"The notary serves as a neutral party ensuring both buyer and seller understand their obligations. In 2026, combined notary and land registry fees typically range from 1.5% to 2% of the property price."

This is actually lower than the real estate agent percentage in USA which can be 5 to 6% split between two agents.

Also, the GP "The German notary is the highest-paid notary in the world, and the highest-earning professional in the country."

I thought for sure pilots, aviation specialists, medical fields would earn more. I'm dubious of the claims that a notary is the highest earning profession. Perhaps some cherry picking is being done.

[selfmodruntime]

Notaries aren't real estate agents. Real estate agent's are optional, but if you use one you'll pay 3.5% to 7%. You can't skip a notary, even if you're doing a deal for many millions or even billions of Euros.

> I thought for sure pilots, aviation specialists, medical fields would earn more

You'd be thinking wrong. A notary in Germany's largest cities can earn in a day what a doctor earns in a year.

[trymas]

I am neither from Germany nor USA, thus can only assume it's similar to what I experienced elsewhere in EU.

Notary's job in real estate deals is (briefly) to check that property is good for sale (has all necessary documents, up to date drawings, liabilities (mortgages, upstanding payments for services), there's no court orders upon the property, etc.) and inform seller, buyer (and creditor if there's a mortgage), what documents to bring and who pays who by which date. Also sends copies to national registry of real estate.

It does not matter if property is a shack for 10k€ or mansion for 5M€ - you pay a percentage on the value. I'd even argue that more expensive properties are easier to work with, because rich owners have their papers up to date, etc. And notary gets cool 50-100k€ from such property deal just to go through a list of procedural checkboxes and filling in blanks in a standard contract.

I don't know what actual legal liability for notaries exist if there's serious disputes, but I haven't heard any. Biggest real estate scandals are when someone develops somewhere where it's not allowed, but got approval through corruption. Notaries neither help, nor care here, because their responsiblity is only check that papers are good (not that they were acquired through corruption).

I forgot what's the actual percentage in my country, but it's in ballpark as for OP (maybe less - around ~1%, which is still too much). To make it worse: this fee is mandated by law and has a cap. So if you are top 1% property owner - you get reduced rates for notary!

I don't know what real estate angents are responsible for in USA, but notary is not a real estate agent. Where I live you can buy/sell without real estate agent (but many people still do), notary is mandatory (with law mandated fees) though.

[nish1500]

"...notaries, historically the highest-paid freelancers in the country. On average, they earn €356,000 per year. Or, put another way: the equivalent of 37.4 years' salary for a childcare worker."

https://www.wiwo.de/erfolg/beruf/grosse-einkommensunterschie...

A German notary handling a €1 million residential purchase typically earns 3 to 6 times as much in fees as a Dutch notary handling an equivalent transaction and assuming the same legal responsibility.

[SapporoChris]

That's very strange, because I look at the highest paid professions in Germany and I consistently don't see notary in the top five.

https://www.ue-germany.com/blog/top-10-highest-paying-jobs-i... https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/06/21/highest-paying-...

Lastly, https://optisalary.com/salary?job=notary-public&country=germ... shows notarys making Estimated Yearly Salary: 34,593 EUR which is about 1/10th of what https://www.wiwo.de/erfolg/beruf/grosse-einkommensunterschie... is showing.

[selfmodruntime]

That's because the professions you're looking for are sorted by fixed income.

[ondra]

I do not know about this being the case in Germany only; I am in a nearby country and the system is very similar. I also do think it is insane, as the fee is on top of the real estate agent fees, it is specified by the law and unavoidable, and I get a service I do not really need or want and it costs a lot of money.