New build traps.

Phantom rent is real.

A pre-con condo has two closings. First you get the keys — that's interim occupancy. Months later the building registers and you actually take title — that's final closing.

Between those two dates you pay the builder a monthly occupancy fee. Three parts: interest on your unpaid balance, estimated property taxes, and estimated condo fees. The builder can't profit on it — the formula is set by law — but here's the sting: none of it pays down your mortgage. None of it builds equity. It's gone.

The interest slice is set at the Bank of Canada's one-year mortgage rate — currently around 6%, higher than most actual mortgages. And the gap? Commonly 3 to 6 months. Sometimes a year. Sometimes two.

Budget for a long interim occupancy. Hope for a short one.

Get your levies capped in writing.

Development charges, education levies, park levies — the city bills the builder, and the builder passes a share to you at closing. These numbers move. A lot. And they always move up.

Good agreements cap them — often around $5,000 to $7,500. You pay up to the cap; the builder eats the rest. If your agreement doesn't cap them, you're writing a blank cheque on closing day.

Two things people miss:

• Levies get HST on top. A $7,000 cap really means $7,910.
• This gets negotiated before you sign — ideally during your 10-day cooling-off period — not at closing when the bill lands.

No cap in the agreement? Get your lawyer on it before the ink dries.

The assignment clause isn't a free exit.

Plans change. An assignment lets you sell your contract to another buyer before closing — but only if the builder allows it. Many charge an assignment fee for the privilege. Some forbid assignments until the building is mostly sold. Some forbid advertising them at all.

And since 2022, the taxman takes a cut: 13% HST on your assignment profit. Buy at $500K, assign at $700K — you owe $26,000 in HST on the $200K gain. Your deposit comes back tax-free. The profit doesn't.

Read the assignment clause before you need it. That's the whole point.

Tarion: a great warranty with hard deadlines.

Every new home in Ontario comes with the Tarion warranty. You don't buy it, you can't waive it, and it covers a lot:

• 1 year — workmanship and materials, Ontario Building Code compliance.
• 2 years — water penetration, plus plumbing, electrical, and heating systems.
• 7 years — major structural defects. The serious stuff.

But the claim deadlines are brutal: a 30-day form after you move in, a year-end form before your first anniversary, a second-year form in months 21–24. Miss the form, lose the claim. The builder won't remind you.

Set calendar reminders the day you get the keys. The warranty is only as good as your paperwork.

Your 10 days. Use them like a lawyer.

Buy a pre-con condo and the law gives you 10 calendar days to walk away — no reason needed, full deposit back. The clock starts when you receive the signed agreement and the disclosure package, whichever comes later.

Most buyers spend those 10 days being excited. Spend them being diligent: get the agreement to a real estate lawyer, confirm the levy cap, the occupancy terms, the assignment rules. That's what the 10 days are for.

One note: as of now this is a condo rule. A 10-day cooling-off period for new freehold homes was passed into law in 2024 but wasn't in force yet — ask your lawyer where it stands before relying on it.

Excitement is free. Regret is expensive. Use the 10 days.

New costs more than resale. Know why.

Pre-con almost always costs more per square foot than a comparable resale unit. Part of that is real: everything's brand new, you pick the finishes, Tarion backs it, and there's no bidding war at a sales centre.

Part of it is tax. New homes carry 13% HST baked into the price (the builder nets the rebate into the sticker). Resale homes generally don't. That's a meaningful chunk of the gap right there.

And remember what you're buying: today's price for a home delivered in three to five years. If the market rises, you win. If it falls, your deposit is locked into yesterday's price while resale buyers shop today's.

Pre-con isn't overpriced. It's a different product. Just make sure you're buying it on purpose.