The process
Most people go into their first purchase or sale not knowing what the next step is until they're standing in it. Here is the whole thing laid out, buying on one side and selling on the other, with what I'm doing at each stage.
The search is the unpredictable part. Everything after the offer runs on dates written into the contract, so it stops being a mystery.
Talk to a lender and get pre-approved. Not because you need it to look, but because you need it before we can write anything, and because the number you get back is usually not the number you assumed. We also talk through closing costs, which catch most first-time buyers off guard.
We narrow by building and by street, not just by price. Two units at the same price in the same city can be very different bets depending on what their buildings have been deferring.
You look at the kitchen. I look at the ceiling, the windows, the baseboards, the mechanical room and where the water goes. Then I tell you what I saw before we leave, not in a report three days later.
This is the part I'm actually good atPrice is one of four or five things being negotiated. Dates, deposit, what stays in the house, and the subjects you want on it all move the deal. We decide which of them matter to you before we write, not while the clock is running.
The deposit is written into the offer, but it is not due the moment the offer is accepted. In most deals here it becomes payable as soon as the subjects come off, usually within twenty-four hours; some contracts instead make it due within twenty-four hours of acceptance. Either way it goes to your brokerage and sits in a trust account until completion. It is not a payment to the seller and it is not a fee — it is your money, held, and it comes off the purchase price at the end. Have it liquid before we write.
The window where the documents get read properly — strata minutes, depreciation report, financials and bylaws on a strata; title, inspection and financing on anything. If something turns up, you have three real options: renegotiate, ask for it to be fixed, or walk. That is what the subjects are for.
Once the subjects are removed the deal is firm, and then comes a gap — usually three to six weeks — where it looks like nothing is happening. It is not dead time. Your lender finalises, and your lawyer or notary runs the title search and prepares the documents. One to three days before completion you sit down with them, sign, and move the rest of your down payment across by bank draft. That appointment is the one people forget to book.
Your lawyer or notary handles the paperwork and the money. Completion day is when title changes hands; possession day is when you get the keys, and they are often not the same day. The final walk-through happens right before possession — usually that morning, before the keys are handed over — so we can confirm the place is in the condition the contract says it is and the appliances still run. After the keys change hands it is a much harder conversation.
Almost everything that decides your final number is decided before the listing goes live. That's where the work is.
I go through your place the way a buyer's agent would if they knew what to look for, and tell you what a buyer is going to find. Some of it is worth fixing. A lot of it isn't, and I'll say so rather than send you on a renovation you won't get back.
Comparable sales, adjusted for what your building and your unit actually are. A comparable that sold at the same square footage in worse condition is not the same comparable, and pricing off it costs you either time or money.
The short list of repairs worth doing, then photography and the listing itself. If there is a known issue with the building, we decide together how to present it rather than letting a buyer's agent find it and use it.
Showings, and honest feedback passed straight back to you. If the response says the price is wrong, I tell you in week one, not week six.
The highest number is not always the best offer. Subjects, deposit, dates and the buyer's financing all decide whether that number survives to completion. We read the whole thing, not the front page.
Accepting an offer does not make the deal firm. There is normally a seven to ten day subject period while the buyer does their due diligence — financing, inspection, documents — and your listing shows as an accepted offer rather than sold. Your place is effectively off the market through it without being sold yet, which is why the length of that window and the strength of the buyer behind it matter as much as the number on the front page.
This is the day the deal becomes legally firm, and it is not the same day as completion. The subjects come off, the deposit goes into trust, and the buyer no longer has a way out. Everything before this point is conditional. People hear “sold” and start planning the move around the wrong date.
Completion comes weeks later: the lawyers move the funds and title changes hands. Then possession. Keep your home insurance and your utilities running through possession day, not completion day — the gap between the two is where people cancel too early. Leave it broom clean, empty of anything you are not including, and hand over the keys.
Questions people actually ask
If yours isn't here, call me and ask it. I'd rather answer it once properly than have you guess.
Not to talk to me. Yes, before we write an offer. Get it early — the pre-approval number is often not what people expect, and it is better to find that out in a lender's office than after you've fallen for a place.
Meeting minutes, the depreciation report, the financials and the bylaws. I read them for work the building has been putting off, levies already being discussed, ongoing disputes, and rules about rentals and pets that could matter to you later. The special levy nobody mentioned is usually sitting in the minutes.
Sometimes it is the right call. It is never a default. Going subject-free means giving up your right to walk away over financing, the inspection or the documents, so we only do it when you already have the answers those subjects would have given you. I'll tell you plainly what you are giving up.
That is what the subject is there for. You can renegotiate the price, ask for the work to be done before completion, or walk away. Something turning up is normal — a house is a machine with a lot of parts. What matters is whether it's a maintenance item or a structural one, and that's the call I can help you make.
The search is the part nobody can predict. Once an offer is accepted the calendar is largely set by the dates written into the contract: a subject period of roughly seven to ten days, then usually three to six weeks from firm to completion, then possession. From the day it is accepted you know what is happening and when.
Yes, and it is a good part of the work. The whole sequence above gets explained as we go, in order, with nothing assumed you already know. You should never be told the next step while you're already standing in it.
Whether you're buying or selling, the first useful thing I can do is stand in a building with you and tell you what I see.
