Buying, Selling & Market Trends
The Home-Buying Process in Ontario: A Step-by-Step Guide
Buying a home in Ontario follows a set sequence: get pre-approved and engage a real estate salesperson under a Buyer Representation Agreement, submit an Agreement of Purchase and Sale with any conditions, and close through a real estate lawyer. This guide walks buyers through each stage, in order, without predicting prices or advising on strategy.
Buying a home in Ontario follows a set sequence: get pre-approved and engage a real estate salesperson under a Buyer Representation Agreement, search for a property, submit an Agreement of Purchase and Sale with any conditions, satisfy those conditions so the deal becomes firm, then close through a real estate lawyer who transfers title and releases the keys.
What Are the Steps in Ontario’s Home-Buying Process?
Buying a home in Ontario generally moves through the same stages, in roughly this order, though the exact path can vary with your representative’s process and the specifics of your purchase.
- Get your finances in order and get pre-approved with a mortgage professional.
- Choose a real estate salesperson and sign a Buyer Representation Agreement.
- Search for properties with your representative.
- Submit an Agreement of Purchase and Sale, usually with one or more conditions.
- Wait out the irrevocable period while the seller considers the offer.
- Satisfy or waive the conditions — commonly financing, a home inspection, and, for a condo, a status certificate review — so the deal becomes firm.
- Finalize your financing and arrange homeowner’s insurance.
- Do a final walk-through of the property.
- Close: your lawyer transfers title, and you get the keys.
- Move in.
The sections below walk through each stage. Making an offer and its conditions, home inspections, and closing costs are each big enough topics that CRESI covers them in their own guides — this one is the spine that connects them end to end.
How Does Buyer Representation Work in Ontario?
In Ontario, real estate services are governed by the Trust in Real Estate Services Act (TRESA), and a buyer typically works with a brokerage under a Buyer Representation Agreement, with a specific salesperson designated to represent them.
Most buyers start by interviewing a few salespersons or teams before choosing one. Useful things to ask about include their local market knowledge, communication style and availability, and how they typically handle offers and negotiations. Brokerages can operate under different representation models under TRESA, so it’s worth asking which one yours uses. Under one common model, “designated” representation, you contract with the brokerage, and a particular salesperson (or salespersons) within it is designated to act for you, rather than the brokerage as a whole representing everyone involved in a deal. The exact rules around representation, including what a brokerage must disclose and how it may act if it’s also working with the seller’s side, are set by RECO (the Real Estate Council of Ontario) and are worth confirming directly. Compensation for your representative is negotiated between you and the brokerage and set out in your agreement — it is not fixed by any regulator or board.
What Is the Agreement of Purchase and Sale?
The Agreement of Purchase and Sale (APS) is the written, binding contract in which a buyer offers to purchase a specific property on specific terms, and which becomes a firm deal once the seller accepts and any conditions are satisfied or waived.
The APS sets out the price, the deposit, an irrevocable date and time, the closing date, what’s included with the property, and any conditions the buyer is attaching to the offer. Drafting and negotiating an offer — including how to structure conditions and how Ontario’s rules on competing offers work — is its own detailed topic, covered in CRESI’s companion guide on making an offer. Here, the APS is simply the document that formalizes the buying stage of the process.
What’s the Difference Between a Deposit and a Down Payment?
A deposit and a down payment are often confused: the deposit is money you provide with or shortly after your offer, held in the listing brokerage’s trust account and applied toward the purchase price at closing; the down payment is your own equity contribution, provided to your lender at closing alongside your mortgage funds. CRESI’s companion guide on making an offer covers the distinction, and each one’s mechanics, in full.
Canada’s minimum down payment is tiered by purchase price, and above a certain price point mortgage default insurance is not available at all, which changes the minimum required. Because these thresholds and percentages are set federally and do change, confirm the current minimum down payment for your purchase price directly with a mortgage professional, or check the current government and CMHC guidance, rather than relying on a fixed number here.
What Conditions Are Common in an Ontario Offer?
An offer to purchase can be made “firm” (no conditions) or “conditional” on one or more things happening first — most commonly financing, a home inspection, and, for a condo purchase, a satisfactory review of the status certificate.
- Financing condition — gives the buyer time to finalize mortgage financing with their lender after an offer is accepted. Get pre-approved with a mortgage professional before you offer, so this stage is a formality rather than a scramble.
- Home inspection condition — gives the buyer time to have the property professionally inspected and, depending on what’s found, to negotiate repairs, a price adjustment, or walk away. CRESI’s companion guide on home inspections covers this condition in depth.
- Status certificate condition (condos only) — gives the buyer and their lawyer time to review the condominium corporation’s status certificate, including its financials and any known issues, before the deal becomes firm. If the certificate reveals a problem, a buyer’s options are generally to renegotiate with the seller or walk away while the condition is still live — a buyer cannot compel the condominium corporation itself to fix anything the certificate reveals. CRESI’s companion guide on status certificates covers what to look for.
Each condition has its own deadline set out in the offer. If a condition isn’t satisfied by its deadline and isn’t waived, the offer typically ends under its own terms.
What Is the Irrevocable Period, and What Makes an Offer “Firm” vs. “Conditional”?
The irrevocable period is the window of time, stated in the offer, during which it stays open for the other side to accept and cannot be withdrawn; an offer is “conditional” while it still has unmet conditions and becomes “firm” only once every condition is satisfied or waived. CRESI’s companion guide on making an offer covers both in depth, including what happens during the conditional period and what waiving a condition actually means.
How Do I Get Ready to Buy, Financially?
Getting pre-approved with a mortgage professional early tells you, your lender, and your representative roughly what you can afford, and flags anything that needs attention before you’re competing for a property.
A mortgage professional will typically ask for recent pay stubs or proof of income, bank statements, and tax documents such as a T4 or notice of assessment, and will explain what’s called the stress test — a lender qualification check that confirms you could still afford the mortgage payments if rates were higher than your contract rate. None of that is something this guide advises on; a mortgage professional is the right person to walk you through your specific qualification, your down payment options, and how much home that supports. Once pre-approved, keep that documentation and your lender’s contact information handy for your representative.
What Happens During Closing?
Once a deal is firm, closing is primarily handled by your real estate lawyer, who reviews the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, conducts a title search, arranges your mortgage funds and any title insurance, calculates the statement of adjustments, and completes the transaction on closing day.
In the lead-up to closing, your lawyer confirms the closing date and any remaining agreed-upon items with the seller’s side, and you’ll typically arrange a final walk-through shortly beforehand to confirm the property’s condition matches what you agreed to purchase. Your lawyer also handles the land transfer tax owing on closing — CRESI’s companion guides on land transfer tax and closing costs cover what else to budget for beyond the purchase price. On closing day itself, your lawyer registers the transfer, title is officially transferred into your name, mortgage funds are advanced, and you receive the keys — typically through your representative or your lawyer’s office.