Buy a Colorado Home Before You Move Here, or Rent First?

Buying a Colorado home before you move here is a good decision when three things are fixed: the job (a signed offer with a start date), the budget (a pre-approval priced at Colorado costs), and the area (one city or one commute corridor, not "somewhere on the Front Range"). When any of the three is still open, rent for 3 to 6 months first. This guide gives the Denver metro numbers for both paths so the choice comes down to math, not nerves.

The Kenna Real Estate Group, Keller Williams DTC, closes purchases every month for buyers still living in California, Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Florida and Washington. Most never walk through the home before the inspection.

Buy first or rent first: the decision in three questions

• Is the job fixed? A signed offer letter with a start date, a transfer with a location, or a remote job that stays remote. If the employer has not named the office, rent.
• Is the budget fixed at Colorado numbers? A pre-approval that uses Front Range property tax, hail-priced insurance and any metro district mill levy. A pre-approval from your current state is not that.
• Is the area fixed? You have driven or timed the commute at least once, on a weekday, at the hour you will drive it. Interstate 25 from Castle Rock to the Denver Tech Center runs 30 minutes at 6 a.m. and 55 minutes at 7:45 a.m. If you have not timed it, rent.

Three yes answers: buy before you move. One or more no answers: sign a 6-month lease, then buy with the deadlines in hand. The four-step relocation buying plan covers the rent-first path in detail.

What each path costs in the Denver metro

The table uses a $600,000 detached home, which is close to the Denver metro median, and a 2-bedroom rental in the south metro or central Denver. Rents and closing costs are ranges from current Front Range transactions; your numbers land inside them depending on the city.

Renting first costs $14,000 to $25,000 in cash that does not build equity. Buying first saves that cash and risks a wrong-area purchase, which costs more: selling a Front Range home within a year runs 6% to 8% of the price in commissions, closing costs and moving, $36,000 to $48,000 on a $600,000 home.

Can you buy a Denver home without visiting?

Yes. Every step of a Colorado purchase runs remotely except the one you choose to do in person. Here is what the Kenna Real Estate Group does for out-of-state buyers:

• Live video showings. An agent walks the home on a video call, opens every closet, runs the water, checks the furnace label, and films the street in both directions. Recorded copies go to you the same day.
• Neighborhood drive video. The drive from the home to the nearest grocery store, to the highway on-ramp and to the light rail station, timed and recorded.
• Inspection by video. Colorado inspectors deliver photo reports within 24 hours; the agent attends and calls you from the crawlspace, the attic and the roof.
• Electronic signatures. The Colorado contract and every addendum sign electronically. Closing documents sign by mobile notary in your state or by remote online notarization, which Colorado permits.
• Utility and district checks. Xcel Energy or a municipal utility, Denver Water or a suburban water district, and any metro district mill levy, pulled from the county assessor before you write the offer.

The one thing to do in person, when the schedule allows, is drive the commute once. A 2-day trip covers the finalists and the commute; the Kenna Real Estate Group tours 8 to 12 homes in a day on that trip.

Getting a Colorado mortgage before the job starts

Lenders close loans for buyers who have not started work yet. Conventional guidelines let a lender close on a signed offer letter when the start date falls within 90 days of closing and the offer is not contingent on anything still open, and the lender verifies the employer before funding. Government loans have their own rules. What the lender needs from you:

• The offer letter on company letterhead with salary, start date and position, signed by the employer.
• Reserves. Lenders want to see 2 to 6 months of payments in the bank when income has not started.
• A Colorado-priced pre-approval. Property tax on a $600,000 Front Range home runs $3,000 to $5,500 a year outside a metro district and higher inside one; homeowner insurance runs $2,000 to $4,000 a year because of hail. Both go into the payment the underwriter approves.

The Kenna Real Estate Group works with Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender, who prices offer-letter loans for relocating buyers and closes them across state lines. You are free to use any lender. Read the Colorado home financing guide and the Colorado mortgage pre-approval guide before you apply.

The Colorado contract deadlines protect a remote buyer

Colorado uses one state-approved form, the Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate, published by the Colorado Real Estate Commission. Every deadline is a date written on page one, and each one gives the buyer a documented exit with the earnest money returned. A remote buyer uses them like this:

• Inspection Objection and Inspection Termination deadlines: 7 to 10 days after contract in most Front Range offers. You can terminate for any inspection reason before the termination date and keep the earnest money.
• Title and Off-Record Matters deadlines: the title commitment arrives within days; you object in writing if a lien, easement or HOA matter is unacceptable.
• Association Documents deadline: HOA and metro district documents delivered to you; you can terminate if the rules or reserves do not work.
• Appraisal deadline: if the appraisal comes in low, you can terminate or renegotiate.
• Loan Termination deadline: the last day to walk away over financing and keep the earnest money. Set it as late as the seller will accept.
• Closing date: 30 to 45 days after contract is standard for a financed purchase.

Earnest money on a Front Range purchase runs 1% to 2% of the price and sits with the title company, not the seller. The guide to making an offer on a Colorado home and the Colorado closing costs guide walk through each line of the contract.

Which Front Range city first

Out-of-state buyers name Denver and then discover the Front Range is a 130-mile corridor with different prices in every city. A comparable 3-bedroom detached home:

• Denver, Littleton, Centennial, Lakewood, Arvada: the $550,000 to $750,000 band for most 3-bedroom homes; central Denver neighborhoods run higher per square foot.
• Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock, Lone Tree: $600,000 to $850,000; many newer subdivisions carry a metro district levy.
• Aurora, Thornton, Brighton, Commerce City: $450,000 to $600,000 with the newest construction in the metro.
• Colorado Springs: $150,000 to $200,000 below Denver for a comparable home; 65 to 75 minutes to the Denver Tech Center.
• Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor: Fort Collins runs near Denver prices; Loveland and Windsor run lower; 60 to 75 minutes to downtown Denver.
• Boulder: the highest prices on the Front Range; Broomfield and Erie are the value plays nearby.

Browse homes for sale in Denver, Highlands Ranch, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, or read the Moving to Denver guide for the neighborhood-by-neighborhood version.

Colorado costs that surprise out-of-state buyers

• Metro districts. Newer subdivisions in Douglas, Arapahoe, Adams and Weld counties repay their infrastructure bonds through a mill levy on the property tax bill. Two identical homes a mile apart can differ by $2,000 to $4,000 a year. The metro district tax guide shows how to read the levy on the assessor's page.
• Hail and roofs. Hail season runs May to September. Insurers price the roof age; a roof over 15 years old raises the premium or gets declined. Ask for the roof age on every home.
• Expansive soils. Bentonite clay under much of the south metro moves with moisture. The inspection checks for foundation cracks and grading; many homes carry a structural engineer's letter.
• Radon. Most of the Front Range sits in the highest EPA radon zone. A radon test costs $150 to $250; a mitigation system costs $1,200 to $2,500 and is a standard inspection request.

The timeline from another state

1. Days 1 to 14: Colorado-priced pre-approval, commute corridor chosen, saved search running on every home for sale in Colorado.
2. Days 15 to 30: video showings; one 2-day trip if the schedule allows; offer written with the deadlines set for a remote buyer.
3. Days 31 to 45: inspection by video, appraisal, title review, HOA and metro district documents.
4. Days 45 to 75: closing by mobile notary or remote online notarization; keys held by the agent until the truck arrives.

The full move, including the truck, is covered in the companion post on buying in another state with full-service movers and the ranked list of long-distance movers for Colorado relocations.

Mistakes out-of-state buyers make

• Buying on the far side of the commute. A home in Castle Rock for a job in Boulder is 75 to 90 minutes each way. Time the drive first.
• Waiving inspection to win a bidding round. Keep the Inspection Termination deadline; shorten it to 5 days if the offer needs to be stronger.
• Letting the Loan Termination deadline pass while the underwriter waits on the offer letter. Extend it in writing before it passes.

Employer relocation packages change the math; the post on relocation packages and employer assistance in Denver lists what to ask HR for. New residents buying in the city itself can read what new residents should know before buying a Denver home.

Where to go next

• Colorado relocation services and the Front Range relocation checklist
• The Colorado home buyer's guide and the first-time buyer guide for Colorado
• Moving to Denver: a newcomer's guide
• Explore the Denver metro area and every Colorado community we cover
• How the Kenna Real Estate Group helps buyers
• Meet the Kenna Real Estate Group agents

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group, Keller Williams DTC, runs out-of-state purchases across the Denver metro, Colorado Springs and the Front Range: Colorado-priced pre-approvals, recorded video showings, timed commute drives, inspections attended on your behalf and closings signed from wherever you live now. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Start tonight and search every home for sale in Colorado.