Stage 7 of 10
Due diligence
You have days, not weeks. Every condition has a hard deadline, and a condition you fail to waive in writing on time can end the deal.
This is the shortest and highest-stakes stage. The inspection happens, the lender appraises and confirms, the lawyer reviews the status certificate, and you decide whether to proceed. The deadlines are in the agreement in calendar days and they are enforced. Being casual here is how deals die and how deposits get lost.
Your progress in this stage
0 of 7 ticked, 0% weighted. 5 critical tasks are still outstanding.
Weighted, not counted: a critical task is worth 5 optional ones.
Outstanding, and each one can cost you the deal
- Attend the inspection and read the whole report · Your inspector
- Let the lender appraise, and be ready for a low value · The appraiser
- Get written confirmation of the mortgage on this property · The lender
- Have your lawyer report on the status certificate · Your lawyer
- Waive or fulfill every condition in writing, before the deadline · Your agent
Work backwards from closing
Closing day is the only fixed date in a purchase. Give it to us and every outstanding task in this stage gets the date it has to be started by, using the slow end of each stage's range.
Anything from Aug 28, 2026 onwards. A closing sooner than a week away is not something a lawyer and a lender can complete.
Critical
Skipping one of these can cost you the house, the deposit, or five figures.
- CriticalYour inspector2 days
Walk the house with the inspector and ask what each finding costs to fix. The summary page is triage; the body of the report is where the money is. An inspection is visual and non-invasive, so it tells you what is visible, not what is behind the wall.
$400 to $700 during your condition period
- CriticalThe appraiser5 days
The lender lends against the lesser of price and appraised value. If it appraises below your price, the shortfall is yours in cash. In a bidding war on a strategically underpriced listing, this is a real and common outcome.
$300 to $500 during your condition period
- CriticalThe lender5 days
Not the pre-approval. A commitment letter naming the address, with every remaining condition listed. Read the conditions: many commitments require documents you still have to produce.
- CriticalYour lawyer3 days
Reserve fund adequacy against the reserve fund study, arrears, litigation, insurance deductibles charged back to owners, pending special assessments, and rules affecting pets, rentals and parking.
- CriticalYour agent1 day
Conditions do not lapse quietly in your favour. Depending on how the clause is drafted, missing a deadline can either end the agreement or bind you. Your agent prepares the waiver; you sign it and it must be delivered on time.
Important
Skipping one costs money or leverage, not the deal.
- ImportantA tradesperson3 days
An inspector says the roof is at the end of its life. A roofer says what a new one costs on this roof. That number is what you negotiate with, and getting it inside the condition window is why you lined up trades early.
- ImportantYour insurer3 days
Confirm the property is insurable at a normal price before you waive conditions. Wiring, plumbing material, roof age, oil tanks and past claims all affect this and some of them make a property effectively uninsurable.
What goes wrong at this stage
Each of these is common and each one costs money or a house. The consequence is stated in dollars or in what you lose, because a warning without a number is a warning people skip.
Reading only the inspection summary.
The five-figure items are frequently in the body of the report as one sentence about the age of a system, not in the headline list. A furnace and roof both at end of life is twenty thousand dollars you did not price into your offer.
Instead: Read all of it, then ask the inspector for a rough cost on every deferred-maintenance item.
Having no plan for an appraisal shortfall.
You must fund the gap in cash within days or breach the agreement and lose the deposit.
Instead: Before going firm, know the number you could cover in cash and keep a financing condition if you cannot cover a plausible gap.
Missing a condition deadline by a day.
Depending on how the clause is drafted, you either lose the deal or go firm on a purchase you had decided against. The second outcome puts your deposit and a claim for the seller's loss at risk if you then cannot close.
Instead: Put every deadline in a calendar with a two-day warning the moment the offer is accepted.
Changing jobs or taking on credit between firm and closing.
Lenders re-verify employment and credit in the days before advancing funds. A change collapses the financing after you are firm, which means losing the deposit and facing a claim for the seller's loss on resale.
Instead: Change nothing about your employment or credit until the day after closing. If a change is unavoidable, tell your broker immediately.
What you sign and receive
A document marked binding commits you. Once it is signed you cannot change your mind without losing money, and in Ontario a resale purchase has no cooling-off period at all.
Home inspection report
A visual, non-invasive assessment of accessible systems on the day. It is evidence for negotiation and a maintenance plan. It is not a warranty and it does not cover what it could not see.
Waiver
Removes a condition and, once every condition is gone, makes the deal firm. From that point you are committed to closing.
Signing this removes your ability to walk away without a cost.
Mortgage commitment letter
The lender's approval for this address, with the conditions that must be met before funding. Read the conditions list carefully.
Signing this removes your ability to walk away without a cost.
You are finished with this stage when
- The inspection is done and you have read the full written report, not just the summary.
- Your lender has confirmed the mortgage on this specific property, in writing.
- For a condo, your lawyer has reported on the status certificate.
- Every condition is either waived or fulfilled in writing, delivered before its deadline.