Selling your home and buying a new one are two contracts. The dates line up only when both agreements say so.
Two contracts, two dates
Selling the home you live in and buying a new one are two agreements. One has a completion day with your buyer. The other has a possession date with a builder. They do not move together unless someone writes that link into both contracts. A tour comment that “most people line them up” is not that link.
Our page for move-up buyers is the overview. This note is the handoff between the sale and the new build. If the new home is meant to be smaller, test that idea in what right-sized means before you tie the dates.
What has to be written down
What not to promise yourself
Tell both real estate lawyers the other file exists. A completion statement on the sale and a statement of adjustments on the purchase use different numbers. You want one person on each side who has seen both, so a holdback or a delayed key on one house is not a surprise on the other.
Insurance and utilities switch on those same two dates, not on moving day as a feeling. Ask your insurer which house is covered on each night, and ask both lawyers which party holds keys if a completion slips by a day. A truck booked for the wrong morning is an annoyance. An uninsured night or a missed condition is the problem the contracts are there to prevent.
Do not promise yourself that the builder will move possession because your buyer is slow, unless an amendment says it. Do not promise yourself that your buyer will wait because the new home is late, unless the sale contract says it. Do not promise yourself a rebate, a fee-free townhome, or a garage you saw on a different lot. Those are separate checks, and they do not become true because the move is complicated.
Keep one folder for the sale and one for the purchase. Mix them and a condition deadline gets missed. Your lawyer can work from both. You still need to know which signature releases which house.
Pack a one-page summary for your lawyer: sale completion date, purchase possession date, deposit due dates, and every condition that is still open. If a date is “on or about,” ask what that phrase does in that contract. If the new home can be delayed because an inspection has not passed, ask whether your sale can be extended to match, and who has to agree. Write the answers in the agreements. A shared calendar on a phone is not an amendment.
On the sale: the completion date, what happens if your buyer cannot close, and which conditions are still open. On the new home: the possession date, what happens if the builder is not ready, and which conditions you still hold, including lawyer review and financing. If you need the sale proceeds to complete the purchase, your lawyer and your lender have to see both dates. Do not assume a deposit on the new home can wait for the sale. The deposit schedule is its own clause.
Ask what “ready” means on the new home. In Calgary, the City’s new house construction page describes inspection phases. Permission to occupy is the document that says the house may be occupied. Your possession date can be written so that it depends on that document, or it can be a calendar date that arrives while inspections are still open. Those are different risks. The phase names are explained in builder timeline stages. None of them is a promise that your sale and your purchase will land on the same Friday.
The gap between the two days
If the new home is already built, the gap may be short, and it is still the gap in the contracts, not the gap in a headline that says immediate. If the home still has to be built, the gap can run through City inspection phases that must pass in order. Either way, plan where you will sleep if the sale completes and the new home is not occupiable, or if the new home is ready and the sale slips. That plan might be a written extension, a condition, or a temporary stay you arrange yourself. It should not be a hope that both parties will “be flexible.”
Your lender decides whether the purchase can be funded before the sale completes, and on what terms. This page will not quote a rate or a product for that gap. Bring both agreements to the lender and to your lawyer before you remove conditions on either one.
The new home is still a new home
Selling a resale house does not change the new-home checks. The spec sheet still decides which finishes are included. The title still decides whether there is a condominium corporation. Alberta’s land titles guide says a condominium plan creates that corporation. Warranty still follows Alberta’s overview: permits from February 1, 2014, the one-two-five-ten year minimums, and a start date that is the earliest of occupancy, permission to occupy, or title transfer. Confirm the public registry.
GST is separate again. The CRA’s new housing rebate page decides any claim. Do not build your down payment on a rebate your tax advisor has not confirmed. The sale of your current home has its own tax questions, which this article does not answer. Ask your accountant if you are unsure. Do not let a builder’s price sheet be that advice.
Near the new possession, walk the house and write down what is damaged or missing. Alberta treats that list as a contract record that may sit outside warranty. The steps are in the deficiency guide. Do not skip it because you are also packing the other house.
A practical order
- Get the new home’s possession clause and the sale’s completion clause in writing.
- Ask your lawyer what happens if either date moves.
- Ask your lender what has to be true before the purchase is funded.
- Keep conditions on the purchase until those two answers exist.
- Confirm finishes, title, warranty, and any rebate assignment as their own items, not as part of the moving story.
ARK represents buyers on the new-home side of this. We do not replace the lawyer who closes your sale. Call 587-800-1605 with both dates in front of you, and we will help you see whether the new-home contract can live with the sale you are signing.
Should I sell before I buy, or buy before I sell?
There is no universal order. It depends on whether you can fund the purchase without the sale, and on what each contract does if a date slips. Your lawyer and lender answer that for your file.
Can the builder wait until my sale closes?
Only if the new-home contract says so. A verbal hold is not a possession clause.
Does permission to occupy match my sale date?
Not by itself. It is the City’s occupancy approval. Your sale date is in the other contract. Someone has to connect them on purpose.
What if I need the equity from my current home?
Tell your lender before you waive financing. Do not assume the deposit schedule on the new home pauses for your sale.
Bring both dates
ARK represents buyers on the new-home side. Call 587-800-1605 with the sale date and the possession date. Your sale lawyer still closes the house you are leaving.
Start a conversation Call 587-800-1605
See move-up buyers and builder timeline stages.