Price is one term out of several, and the others decide whether the deal actually closes. An offer is a package — conditions, deposit, dates and the strength of the buyer behind it.
The first thing every seller looks at is the price, and that is understandable. But the price is a promise that only matters if the deal completes — and whether it completes is decided by the other terms.
An offer $10,000 higher, with a financing condition from a buyer who has not spoken to a lender, a $2,000 deposit, and a possession date that does not work for you, is not a better offer than a clean one at a slightly lower number. It is a more expensive way to end up back on the market in three weeks — only now with days on market against you and buyers wondering what the inspection found.
This guide covers each term, what it tells you about the buyer, and how to weigh them together. We will go through any offer with you line by line, but it helps enormously to already understand what we are looking at.
Every offer contains a price, a set of conditions, a deposit, a possession date, and a buyer of a certain financial strength. Change any one of those and the offer changes materially, even if the price stays identical.
A deal that collapses costs you more than the difference between two offers. You lose weeks, you accumulate days on market, and you return to a buyer pool that now assumes something was wrong with your home. Buyers ask why it came back, and no answer sounds good.
If you have bought elsewhere and need a specific possession date, an offer matching it may genuinely be worth more to you than a higher one that does not, once you price the cost of bridge financing or a double move.
Price, conditions, deposit, dates, buyer strength. We lay them side by side so you are comparing complete packages rather than one number against another.
Conditions are written in the buyer’s favour. Until they are removed, the buyer can walk and recover their deposit. Your home is off the market during that window and you are carrying the risk.
A seven-day condition period is materially better than a fourteen-day one, because it is half the time in which something can change — the buyer’s job, their financing, their nerve. Financing and inspection are normal and expected. What deserves attention is anything beyond them.
An offer conditional on the buyer selling their own property is the weakest common condition, because it depends on an entirely separate transaction you cannot see or influence. If their home is not yet listed, this is close to an option on your house. These offers can still be worth taking — but they should be priced accordingly and usually kept on the market with the right protections, which we will explain.
Conditional on a satisfactory review of something vague, on a relative viewing the home, on an appraisal at a specified value, or on financing with an unusually long window. Each is a legitimate request in some circumstances and a soft exit in others, and the difference is worth talking through.
The deposit is held in the listing brokerage’s trust account and credited to the purchase at closing. Its real function before then is as a signal: a buyer who puts down a substantial deposit is demonstrating both their financial capacity and their seriousness.
A token deposit on a substantial purchase is worth noticing. It can indicate a buyer stretched thin, or one who is keeping their options open. A strong deposit indicates available funds and genuine commitment — and a buyer with real money at stake behaves differently through the condition period.
If a buyer terminates properly under a condition, the deposit is returned to them — that is what conditions are for. The deposit only becomes contested if a buyer walks away from a firm deal, and that is a legal process, not a payout. Do not treat it as insurance.
When is the deposit due? Immediately on acceptance, or within several days? A deposit due promptly and paid promptly is a good early sign about how the rest of the transaction will run.
This is the term most likely to matter to you personally. If you are buying as well, the two dates need to work together — and if they cannot, you need to know what bridge financing or interim accommodation will cost before you accept, not after.
Appliances, window coverings, the shed, the hot tub, mounted televisions, the garage shelving, the playground set. Read this list properly. Disputes over what was meant to stay are among the most common possession-day arguments, and they are entirely avoidable at this stage. If something is precious to you, exclude it explicitly — and ideally remove it before the first showing.
Note the specific dates and times. These govern your certainty and dictate how long your home is effectively off the market.
Additional terms written into an offer deserve careful reading. They can be entirely reasonable — a request for the RPR, a specific rent-back arrangement — or they can shift obligations onto you in ways that are easy to miss.
The offer works as written. It becomes a binding contract subject to the buyer’s conditions, and you are now in their condition period.
You change one or more terms and send it back. Remember that a counter-offer legally rejects the original — the buyer is free to walk, and occasionally does. Counter on what genuinely matters: price, yes, but often the more valuable counters are shortening a condition period, increasing a deposit, or moving a possession date. Every counter carries some risk of losing the buyer, so counter deliberately rather than reflexively.
You are under no obligation to respond at all. Occasionally the right answer to an unserious offer is no answer, though we usually prefer a counter that leaves a door open — low openers sometimes become real buyers.
If more than one offer arrives, the process must be handled properly and fairly under Alberta rules. There are several legitimate ways to run it, and the choice affects the outcome. We have a separate guide covering this and we will walk you through it in the moment.
Because price only matters if the deal completes, and the other terms decide that. An offer $10,000 higher with a long condition period, a token deposit, no evidence of financing and a possession date that does not work for you is often a more expensive route back onto the market in three weeks — with days on market against you and buyers wondering what the inspection found.
Few and short conditions, a substantial deposit paid promptly, evidence that the buyer has actually spoken to a lender, a possession date that suits your circumstances, and no unusual added terms. Certainty has real value: a deal that collapses costs you weeks, days on market, and a buyer pool that now assumes something is wrong with the home.
It can work, but it is the weakest common condition because it depends entirely on a separate transaction you cannot see or influence — and if their home is not yet listed, it is close to an option on your house. These offers should be priced accordingly and usually kept on the market with appropriate protections, which we will explain in the context of your specific situation.
Not in the way most sellers assume. If a buyer terminates properly under one of their conditions, the deposit is returned to them — that is what conditions are for. The deposit only becomes contested if a buyer abandons a firm, unconditional deal, and recovering it is a legal process rather than an automatic payout. Treat the deposit as a signal of seriousness, not as insurance.
A counter legally rejects the original offer, which means the buyer is free to walk away — and occasionally does. That does not mean you should not counter, only that you should do it deliberately. Often the most valuable counters are not about price at all but about shortening a condition period, increasing the deposit, or moving a possession date.
Appliances, window coverings, sheds, hot tubs, mounted televisions, garage shelving and playground equipment. Disputes about what was meant to stay are among the most common possession-day arguments and are entirely avoidable at the offer stage. If something matters to you, exclude it explicitly in writing — and ideally remove it before the first showing, because what buyers see, they assume stays.
Before you respond to anything, we will lay the terms out with you — price, conditions, deposit, dates and the strength of the buyer behind it — so you are comparing complete packages rather than numbers.
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