The dates that matter on every accepted offer
In BC they are called subjects; in Ontario and most other provinces, conditions. The idea is the same: the deal is not firm until the buyer removes or waives each one by a deadline written into the contract. Around that deadline sit the other dates you are responsible for:
- Acceptance: the clock for everything else usually starts here.
- Deposit due: often tied to acceptance or to subject removal, and a common source of trouble when it slips.
- Subject removal (or condition) date: financing, inspection, strata or status documents, sale of the buyer's home, and anything else written in.
- Completion (closing): funds and title change hands.
- Possession: keys, often a day after completion in BC.
Each of those dates has work hanging off it: deposit instructions before the deposit is due, a firm and next steps email when subjects come off, funds confirmed with the lawyer a few business days before completion, a key pickup arranged before possession.
Why spreadsheets and paper calendars fail
- Dates change. An extension on subject removal moves every task tied to it, and in a spreadsheet you move each one by hand, or forget to.
- Business days are not calendar days. "Three business days before completion" lands on a different date when there is a long weekend in the way.
- Each subject is its own risk. "Subjects are due Friday" hides that inspection is cleared but financing is still open.
- Your assistant or teammate cannot see what is in your head.
A system that works
- Enter the dates once, straight from the accepted contract, and check them against the paperwork before you rely on them.
- Track each subject separately: open, satisfied or waived.
- Hang every task off a key date with an offset (for example, three business days before completion) rather than a fixed date, so a change moves the whole schedule.
- When a date changes, see what will move before you save it, and keep a record of the old and new date.
- Get the day's deadlines in front of you every morning, and put the key dates on the calendar you already live in.
How Keyvera does it
Full disclosure: Keyvera is our product, and its deal engine is the reason it exists. Here is what it does today:
- Upload the accepted contract and Keyvera reads it: price, deposit and its due date, the subject removal date, each subject with its wording, completion, possession and the parties. The BC Contract of Purchase and Sale is read from its labels; other provinces' forms and scanned contracts are read with AI. Everything lands in a form you check before it saves.
- Each subject becomes its own task due on the subject removal date, with a status of open, satisfied or waived, and moving the subject removal date moves those tasks with it.
- Every deal gets a checklist where each task hangs off a key date by calendar days or business days. Business days skip weekends and BC statutory holidays. The defaults cover the buyer side and listings, and you can edit them for your own way of working.
- Change a key date and open tasks move with it. Tasks you finished or re-dated by hand stay put, you can preview what will move before saving, and the timeline records the old date, the new date and how many tasks moved.
- The deposit is tracked too: once it is due, it stays flagged until you tick "Confirm deposit received".
- Key dates go on your Google or Outlook calendar, and your assistant's, as all-day events that update when a date moves and disappear when a deal ends.
- A 7 am email lists what is late, what is due today and every deal date in the next seven days.
- Assistants see the deals of the agents they work for, so the whole team works from the same dates.
Where Keyvera stands today: the built-in key dates and checklists are written for British Columbia. Agents in other provinces can rename the dates and edit the checklists, and the contract reader understands forms such as Ontario's OREA agreements, but a dedicated pack for each province is still to come.
A quick checklist for your next accepted offer
- Write down every subject separately, with who is responsible for clearing it.
- Confirm how the deposit is due (on acceptance, or on subject removal) and diarize it.
- Put subject removal, completion and possession on your calendar the day the offer is accepted.
- Set reminders a few business days ahead of each, not on the day.
- If any date changes, update every task tied to it the same day.
See it on a sample deal in the live demo, or read how Keyvera compares with Follow Up Boss, which leaves transaction deadlines to separate tools.