Before You Decide What to Buy Next, Find Out What You Actually Walk Away With.

Get your numbers confirmed before you look at a single listing. That means knowing your real net equity, your estimated sale price minus commissions, any prepayment penalty on your existing mortgage, land transfer tax on the new purchase, legal fees on both sides, and moving costs. It also means knowing what you qualify for on the other side, which depends on your income, the condo fee structure of properties you are considering, and whether you are porting, breaking, or bridging your existing mortgage. Running these calculations takes one conversation. Skipping them can cost significantly more than that.

It depends on your financial position, your risk tolerance, and the market you are moving in. Selling first gives you certainty, you should understand your exact proceeds before you commit to a purchase. Buying first lets you secure the property you want without feeling rushed, but requires bridge financing and typically a firm sale agreement on your current home. There is also a middle path: a conditional offer with a property-sale condition that gives you legal protection without having already sold. Each route has real financial and logistical consequences. The right answer is the one that fits your situation — and that conversation is exactly where we start.

A bridge loan is a short-term loan(typically up to 90 days) that covers the gap between your purchase closing and your sale closing when you buy before you sell. It uses the equity from your current home to fund the purchase of the new one before that equity is released. Most institutional lenders in Canada require a firm sale agreement on your existing property before approving bridge financing. Interest runs daily, usually at prime plus two to three percent. Whether you need it depends on which path you take, sell first requires no bridge financing, buy first typically does. I calculate the per-day carrying cost before any offer is made so the cost of bridging is part of the decision, not a surprise after.

Sometimes. Mortgage porting transfers your existing rate, balance, and remaining term to the new property. It avoids the prepayment penalty of breaking your mortgage early and can be valuable if your current rate is lower than what is available today. But porting is not automatic: you must re-qualify with your current lender, the new property must meet their lending guidelines, and both closings must fall within the lender's porting window, typically 30 to 90 days. If your new mortgage is smaller than your current one, a partial prepayment penalty on the equity being released may still apply even when you port. Not all mortgage products are portable. I confirm these details before we build any timeline around a port.

More than most people expect. Every $100 in monthly condo fees reduces your mortgage qualification by approximately $10,000 to $15,000. A building with $700 in monthly fees means you qualify for $70,000 to $100,000 less in mortgage before your income is considered. This number does not appear on any listing — it shows up in the mortgage file. If you are shortlisting condos based on price alone, you may be looking at units you cannot qualify for at your intended down payment. Running the condo fee calculation early means every property you tour is one you can actually close on.

For a fixed-rate mortgage, the prepayment penalty is typically calculated as the greater of three months' interest or the interest rate differential. The interest rate differential compares your contract rate to the current rate for the remaining term and applies that difference to your outstanding balance, which can produce a significant penalty when rates have changed materially since you signed. On a $600,000 mortgage with several years remaining, this number can easily reach five figures. I obtain the exact penalty figure from your lender before making any recommendation about whether to break, port, or structure around your existing mortgage.

For homeowners 55 and older, it is worth understanding. A reverse mortgage allows you to access a portion of your home's equity without making monthly payments. The outstanding balance, including accruing interest, is repaid when the home is sold or you move out permanently. In a downsizing context, it can serve as an alternative to bridge financing, covering the purchase of the new property before the current home closes, without the monthly payment obligation of a traditional bridge loan. It is one tool among several, not a default solution. Whether it makes sense depends on your age, equity position, savings, and what carrying two properties would otherwise cost you. I walk through the full picture before making any recommendation.

Your real net equity is your estimated sale price, minus: real estate commissions (typically up to five percent of the sale price plus HST), your mortgage balance, any prepayment penalty if you are breaking your mortgage, legal fees on the sale side, land transfer tax on the new purchase, legal fees on the purchase side, and moving and staging costs. On a typical sale in this market, total transaction costs routinely run $40,000 to $80,000 or more. The number you plan your next purchase around should account for all of it — not just the headline equity figure. I build this calculation in our first conversation, before any other decision is made.