Stage 6 of 10
Making an offer
An accepted offer is a binding contract. Every condition you remove is a right you give up, and in Ontario there is no cooling-off period on a resale purchase.
The Agreement of Purchase and Sale is the whole deal. Price is one line of it. The conditions, the deposit, the closing date, the chattels and fixtures, and the requisition date all matter, and a competitive market pressures you to strip out exactly the protections you most need. Understand what each one does before you decide to give it up.
Your progress in this stage
0 of 6 ticked, 0% weighted. 4 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
- Write down your maximum before you start negotiating · You
- Choose your conditions deliberately · You
- Have the deposit ready as certified funds · You
- Have your lawyer read the agreement before you sign it · Your lawyer
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.
- CriticalYou1 day
Derive it from the sold comparables and your carrying budget, then commit to it in writing. Every buyer who overpays did so by increments of ten thousand dollars in the moment, and every one of them had not written a number down first.
- CriticalYou1 day
Financing, inspection, status certificate review, and sometimes sale of your existing home. Each has a deadline in days. If you waive one, you have decided to accept that risk in exchange for a stronger offer, and that can be a rational trade. Doing it without noticing is not.
- CriticalYou1 day
The deposit deadline and the form the funds have to take are terms of the agreement you sign, and this app has not read yours. Find that clause before you offer, because a deadline that lands on a weekend is a deadline that lands before a bank opens: money in a savings account is not the same as a draft in your hand on a Sunday evening.
$20,000 to $100,000 deposit, within 24 hours of acceptance
- CriticalYour lawyer1 day
Even in a fast market this is a twenty minute phone call. Once it is accepted it is binding, and a clause you did not understand is still a clause you agreed to.
Important
Skipping one costs money or leverage, not the deal.
- ImportantYou1 day
Appliances, window coverings, light fixtures, the shed, the television mount. Anything not written down can legally leave. Also check whether the water heater or furnace is rented, because a rental contract is an obligation you assume.
- ImportantYou1 day
Line it up with your rate hold, your lease end, and your lender's funding timeline. A 30 day close is tight for a first purchase; 60 is comfortable. Avoid the last business day of the month if you can, because that is when every lawyer in Ontario is closing everything.
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.
Assuming you can change your mind after acceptance.
There is no cooling-off period on a resale purchase in Ontario. Walking away forfeits the deposit and exposes you to a claim for the seller's loss on resale, which can far exceed the deposit.
Instead: Treat the signature as final. Do the diligence before signing or keep a condition that gives you an exit.
Waiving the financing condition because you have a pre-approval.
The lender can still decline on the property, or appraise it below your price, leaving you to fund the shortfall in cash or breach the agreement.
Instead: If you must go firm, get your broker to confirm the specific property with the lender first, and hold enough cash to cover a plausible appraisal gap.
Bidding past your written maximum because you have fallen for the house.
You carry a payment you chose under pressure, for decades. The regret is not about the house; it is about every year of the budget.
Instead: Give your agent your maximum and instruct them not to bring you anything above it. Lose the house. Another one comes.
Not checking whether the water heater, furnace or HVAC is rented.
You assume a contract with years left and a buyout figure in the thousands, discovered after closing.
Instead: Require disclosure of all rental and lease contracts in the agreement, with buyout amounts.
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.
Agreement of Purchase and Sale
The contract. Once both parties sign, you are legally obliged to complete on the closing date, subject only to the conditions written into it.
Signing this removes your ability to walk away without a cost.
Deposit receipt
Confirms the brokerage holds your deposit in trust. It is credited to the purchase price on closing, not an additional cost.
Seller property information statement
Optional in Ontario and often not provided. Where it exists, it is the seller's disclosure of known problems and it can matter later.
You are finished with this stage when
- You know your maximum price and you wrote it down before the negotiation started.
- You know which conditions you are including and what each one protects you from.
- The deposit amount and delivery deadline are clear, and you know how to produce certified funds in 24 hours.
- The chattels and fixtures list matches what you believe you are buying.