How to make an offer on a Calgary home

The parts of the offer

Every Alberta residential purchase contract sets out the same core terms:

• Purchase price and what goods are included or excluded
• Deposit amount and when it is delivered to the brokerage trust account
• Conditions — financing, home inspection, condo documents, sale of your home
• Condition deadline dates
• Possession date and time

Conditions protect you — and cost you leverage

Each condition is a clean exit if the answer is unacceptable. A seller weighing two similar offers will usually take the one with fewer conditions and shorter deadlines, so remove only what you can genuinely afford to be wrong about. A financing condition is rarely one to skip.

Competing offers

When more than one offer is presented, you generally get one chance to submit your strongest terms. Decide your ceiling before you are in the moment, and treat possession flexibility and deposit size as real currency, not afterthoughts.

After acceptance

Conditions are satisfied and waived in writing by their deadlines, the deposit is delivered, your lawyer receives the contract, and the file moves toward possession. Miss a deadline and the contract can end — put every date in your calendar the day you go firm.

Closing costs: no land transfer tax in Alberta

Alberta does not charge a provincial or municipal land transfer tax. Instead, the transfer and any mortgage are registered through Alberta Land Titles for modest registration fees — a fraction of what buyers pay in Ontario or British Columbia, where land transfer tax can add tens of thousands to a purchase.

Budget for your lawyer's fees and disbursements, the Land Titles registration fees on the transfer and mortgage, title insurance, and adjustments for property taxes and condo fees. Your lawyer provides the exact statement of adjustments before possession.