Posted by: Karim Ali
Coffee with Karim
The Hidden Deal Killers Sellers Miss Before Listing
When people think about a deal falling apart, they usually picture something dramatic. A buyer panics. Financing collapses. Someone backs out at the last second.
In my experience, that is not how most transactions in Ottawa actually unravel.
More often, it is something quieter. A document no one reviewed early enough. A risk that felt manageable until it was examined closely. A detail that had been sitting there for years but only becomes relevant once lawyers, lenders, and inspectors start looking.
None of it feels dramatic at the beginning. That is sort of the point.
Condo Status Certificates: Where Deals Get Fragile
Condo transactions are especially sensitive to this.
Buyers tend to accept dated finishes. They will repaint cabinets or swap light fixtures without much concern. What they struggle with is financial uncertainty tied to the building itself.
Special assessments that have already been declared can shift the tone of a deal quickly. So can a reserve fund that looks weaker than expected, or large capital projects mentioned in board minutes without clear cost estimates attached to them. It is not necessarily the existence of repairs that bothers buyers. It is the sense that they cannot properly quantify their exposure.
Status certificates are currently taking close to two weeks to review. If a deal is conditional and the buyer has to order documents after acceptance, that time pressure adds stress. If something concerning appears in the review period, the transaction can unwind quickly. It then sits in MLS history in a way that feels heavier than it should.
Most of this could have been identified earlier. It just often isn’t.
Inspections: Usually a Reprice, Not a Collapse
There is a lot of anxiety around inspections, but most inspection findings do not destroy deals. They reshape them.
Electrical panels that need updating. Aluminum wiring. Missing ESA documentation for hot tubs or panel upgrades. Aging furnaces. Roof wear near the end of its life. These issues tend to lead to conversations about credits or price adjustments rather than a full collapse.
Where things get unstable is when the cost is unclear or potentially open-ended. Foundation movement that was not obvious. Ongoing water penetration. Structural concerns without a clear path forward. Buyers can accept defined numbers. They hesitate when no one can confidently say what the fix will look like.
It is the uncertainty, not the imperfection, that changes the tone.
ESA and Permit Gaps
Unpermitted work shows up more often than people expect.
Finished basements completed without permits. Gas lines installed with no paperwork. Hot tubs wired but no ESA certificate on file. These issues rarely explode a transaction on their own, but they introduce friction at exactly the wrong time.
Typically, it becomes a request for documentation or a modest adjustment to bring the work into compliance. The numbers are often reasonable. Still, when you layer that on top of other small concerns, the transaction starts to feel heavier than it did on offer night.
And buyers notice that shift.
Title Complications Most Sellers Forget
Title issues are less common, but they can feel disproportionate when they appear late in the process.
I have seen older solar panel lease programs, often from microFIT-era installations, registered on title with a Notice of Security Interest. Sellers sometimes forget the agreement even exists. Then a buyer’s lender requires first mortgage position, and suddenly that registration needs to be discharged, subordinated, or bought out. What seemed like a minor administrative detail years ago becomes a closing hurdle.
Old liens can surface. Ownership structures can be more complicated than expected, particularly in estate or spousal situations. These problems are usually solvable. They are just stressful when discovered weeks before closing.
How Deals Quietly Unravel
Transactions rarely collapse over the backsplash.
They struggle when risk feels undefined, poorly documented, or layered. A weak reserve fund combined with aging building components. An electrical panel combined with missing permits. A foundation concern combined with no clear quote.
Ottawa buyers, generally speaking, are not reckless. Many are analytical and cautious by nature. If they feel comfortable that an issue is understood and the cost is known, they will usually negotiate and move forward. When that comfort disappears, hesitation sets in. That hesitation is often what unravels things.
None of this is meant to sound dramatic. Most deals do close, and most issues are manageable. Yet the transactions that feel smooth tend to be the ones where these questions were asked long before the sign went up on the lawn.
And the ones that feel tense usually trace back to something small that no one thought mattered at the beginning.
609
120