5.1 – You Have Found “The ONE”
Once we have finished viewing your list of available homes and we have found “The ONE’, it is time to write an offer. We will thoroughly guide you through the market evaluation process and help determine what “fair market value” is for the home, offering suggestions on how to best structure an offer based on current market conditions and to make an informed decision.
5.2 – Make a CLEAN Offer
Once we determine the price you would like to pay we will determine a negotiation strategy that will provide us the best chance of achieving the price, conditions and terms that you find acceptable. Our best chance of success is submitting a clean offer. This is a contract that is clear and concise, one that protects you AND one that a seller can accept with confidence and have clarity of expectations. The four main components of an offer are as follows:
- Price
- Deposit amount
- Conditions and Terms
- Possession date
5.3 – Protect Yourself
Your offer should contain conditions that protect you. The Condition period allows you a set amount of time, typically 5-7 business days, to allow you to protect your interests and complete your due diligence. The contract is not a “firm” legally enforceable contract until the conditions are removed, via waiver, after they have been fulfilled to your satisfaction. Conditions can come in many forms for many reasons however the most common conditions we see today are:
- Property Inspection Condition
- Financing Condition
- Condominium Documents Condition (if applicable)
5.4 - Accepted Offer! What’s Next?
A “Conditional Sale” occurs once we have agreed on terms, conditions and price with the Seller and it is now time for us to get to work. Depending on the conditions you have agreed to in your purchase contract, now is the time to address them. We have a limited time to do this and a good agent can keep the wheels moving and work within this timeframe.
- With a Financing Condition we will immediately send your Mortgage Specialist all of the paperwork required to finalize the approval process and help coordinate any additional requests. The final approval is based on your pre-approval information, the contract, the house itself and occasionally an appraisal.
- With a Property Inspection Condition we can recommend a Certified Home Inspector. We recommend only the most experienced, highly trained inspectors in the city. These inspectors use the latest tools and technology during the inspection to provide you the most comprehensive report possible.
- With a Condominium Documents Condition we recommend having the documents professionally reviewed. This review looks at the overall financial and physical health of the building and will provide insight into whether the Condo Corporation is being managed proactively and if they are protecting the investment of every owner by maintaining the property following provincial legislation.
If you run into issues with any of your conditions, as your Agents we will help you to find the best solutions to resolve the issues so that you can either decide to buy the property or, if there are too many problems, we can help you to exit the transaction as well with no penalty.
5.5 – Removal of Conditions… it’s SOLD!
Once all conditions have been fulfilled to your satisfaction, we send a waiver to the seller removing your conditions. Once this waiver is sent we have a FIRM contract where both you and the seller are legally committed to the agreed price, possession and terms outlined in the contract.