Understand what you signed

The idea

An accepted offer is a binding contract, and most people sign one having read it once, quickly, on a phone. Reading it properly a week earlier — before there's a deal attached — is twenty minutes that changes how the next month feels.

What the contract is made of. Alberta residential purchases generally use a standard form, which is genuinely good news: it isn't drafted by the other side, and it has a shape you can learn once.

Parties and property. Who's buying, who's selling, and exactly which property — legal land description, not just the street address.

Purchase price and deposit. The price, the deposit amount, when it's due, and who holds it. It counts toward the price at closing.

Goods included and excluded. Everything staying and everything going. This is the section your Week 8 list feeds into, and the section people wish they'd read.

Conditions. Each one, what satisfies it, and — critically — the date and time it expires. Conditions are for your benefit, which usually means you're the one who has to actively remove them.

Title and encumbrances. What's registered against the property: the mortgage, and anything else — utility rights of way, restrictive covenants, easements, caveats. Most are routine. Your lawyer will tell you which aren't.

Possession date and time. Not just a date. A time. It matters more than people expect, and Week 12 explains why.

Representations and warranties. What the seller is stating to be true, and what survives closing.

Closing mechanics. How the money and the title actually move, through the lawyers.

Then: the dates. This is where deals die — not on price, on a missed deadline. Conditions have expiry dates and times. Deposits have due dates. Financing needs confirming by a date that's earlier than you think, because a lender needs the property appraised and that takes days you don't control.

Miss a condition deadline and, depending on how the condition is written, you can find yourself either bound to a purchase you meant to escape or out of a deal you wanted. Neither is recoverable by explaining that you were busy.

So every deadline goes on one calendar this week, each with a name attached — who is responsible for making it happen. Some are yours. Some belong to your lender, your lawyer, your agent, or the inspector. All of them are ultimately your problem.

What to do when you don't understand a clause. Stop and ask. Not later. Your lawyer is the right person for anything about what the contract means or what a registration against title implies. Your agent is the right person for anything about process, timing, or what's normal. There is no clause in this document you're expected to already understand.