Tips & Advice

The Colorado First-Time Buyer Toolkit: 9 Tools You Need

Brian Lee Burke

Aug 25, 2024 • 7 min read

The Colorado First-Time Buyer Toolkit: 9 Tools You Need

A Colorado first-time buyer needs nine tools: a monthly budget, a credit report, a written pre-approval, the CHFA and metroDPA down payment programs, the REcolorado home search, the Contract to Buy and Sell deadline calendar, a general inspector, a sewer scope and radon vendor, and a closing cost estimate. Every one of them is Colorado-specific, and every one is free or under $700 to use.

This toolkit is for buyers from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs who are starting from a rental and a savings account. It follows the order you will use the tools in. For the purchase itself, step by step, read the first-time home buyer guide for Colorado.

Tool 1: A monthly budget that includes Colorado line items

Start with the payment you can carry, not the price you can borrow. A Front Range budget adds four lines a rent budget does not have: property tax, homeowners insurance, HOA or metro district fees, and utilities. Hail from May to September pushes Colorado insurance premiums higher than the national average, and a metro district in Parker, Castle Rock, or Aurora adds a mill levy on top of the county's.

Principal and interest. The mortgage payment itself.
Property tax. Pull the current bill from the county assessor's site for any home you tour; Douglas, Arapahoe, Jefferson, and Adams counties publish it by address.
Insurance. Get a quote on the actual address before the inspection deadline; a 2005 roof in Aurora prices differently from a 2023 Class 4 roof.
HOA or metro district. Read the Denver metro district tax guide before you fall for a new build.
Utilities. Xcel Energy gas and electric, water, and trash run $250 to $450 a month on a Front Range single-family home.

Tool 2: Your credit report, pulled before a lender pulls it

Get the free reports from all three bureaus before you talk to a lender, then fix errors and pay down revolving balances below 30% of each limit. A 40-point score change moves the rate and the mortgage insurance you pay for the life of an FHA loan. Buyers who need 6 to 12 months of repair work start with Kenna Credit Care mortgage readiness, which sets the timeline before the search starts.

Tool 3: A written pre-approval from a Colorado lender

A pre-approval letter is the document a Denver listing agent reads before your offer. It states the loan program, the maximum price, and the lender's verification of income, assets, and credit. A pre-qualification is a guess; a pre-approval is underwritten. Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender, issues pre-approvals for Kenna Real Estate Group buyers, including CHFA, FHA, and VA loans. You are free to use any lender. The Colorado mortgage pre-approval guide lists the documents to gather, and the Colorado home financing guide compares the loan programs.

Tool 4: CHFA down payment assistance

The Colorado Housing and Finance Authority is the state's housing finance agency, and its programs are the reason most Colorado first-time buyers do not need 20% down. CHFA lends through participating lenders; the buyer completes a CHFA-approved homebuyer education class, meets the income and purchase price limits for the county, and pairs a CHFA first mortgage with one of two forms of assistance:

The CHFA DPA grant. A percentage of the first mortgage that is never repaid.
The CHFA second mortgage. A larger percentage of the first mortgage, with no monthly payment, repaid when you sell, refinance, or pay off the first loan.

CHFA publishes the current percentages, income limits, and price limits by county on its site; the numbers change each year, so read them the month you apply. The first-time home buyer programs in Colorado post walks through the application, and the CHFA down payment assistance update covers how agent fees interact with the program.

Tool 5: metroDPA for Denver metro buyers

metroDPA is the down payment assistance program sponsored by the City and County of Denver and offered across participating cities and counties in the metro area, including Aurora, Arvada, Lakewood, and most of Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson counties. It provides a second loan for the down payment and closing costs that is forgiven after a set number of years in the home, with income limits set by the program. It works with FHA, VA, and conventional first mortgages and does not require you to be a first-time buyer. Ask the lender which of CHFA and metroDPA nets more for your price and county; the two do not stack.

Tool 6: The REcolorado search

REcolorado is the Denver-area multiple listing service; nearly every home for sale from Fort Collins to Castle Rock and east to Bennett is entered there first, and the national portals copy from it. The Kenna home search pulls directly from the REcolorado feed, so a new listing shows the same hour the listing agent enters it. Save a search by city, price ceiling, and bedroom count, and set alerts to instant. Start with homes in Aurora, homes in Thornton, or homes in Lakewood, three cities where a first purchase still clears in the $400,000s.

Tool 7: The Contract to Buy and Sell deadline calendar

Colorado's purchase contract is the Real Estate Commission's Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate, and section 3 is a Dates and Deadlines table. Every deadline is a date you and the seller agree to; miss one and you lose the right attached to it. Put every date on a phone calendar the day the contract is signed. A first-time buyer's contract carries these:

Deadline	What it protects	What happens if you miss it
Earnest money deadline	Your deposit reaches the title company's escrow account	The seller can terminate
Inspection objection deadline	Your right to ask for repairs or credits	You accept the home as inspected
Inspection termination deadline	Your right to walk away and keep earnest money	Earnest money is at risk if you walk later
Inspection resolution deadline	The date repairs must be agreed in writing	The contract terminates unless extended
Appraisal deadline	Your right to object to a low appraisal	You cover the gap or lose earnest money
Loan termination deadline	Your right to exit if financing fails	Earnest money is at risk if the loan falls through after it
Title and HOA document deadlines	Your review of title, survey, covenants, and HOA finances	You accept them as delivered
Closing date	Keys and recording	Default by whichever side is not ready

Earnest money on a Front Range purchase is held by the title company, not the brokerage or the seller. The making an offer on a Colorado home page explains each deadline, and what happens after your offer is accepted covers the four weeks between contract and closing.

Tool 8: The inspection vendors

Colorado buyers order three inspections, and the second and third are the ones first-time buyers skip and regret.

General inspection. $400 to $700 for a Denver metro single-family home; roof, structure, electrical, plumbing, HVAC. Ask the inspector to walk the roof if the pitch allows, because hail damage decides the insurance quote.
Sewer scope. $150 to $300. A camera run from the cleanout to the main. Denver, Englewood, Littleton, and Arvada have clay and cast-iron sewer lines from the 1950s through the 1970s that root, belly, and collapse; a replacement runs $8,000 to $20,000 depending on depth and street cut. Order it on every home built before 1980 and on every home with mature trees in the front yard.
Radon test. $125 to $200 for a 48-hour continuous monitor. Most of the Front Range sits in the EPA's highest radon zone, and the action level is 4.0 picocuries per liter. Mitigation costs $900 to $2,500 and is a standard inspection objection item.

The radon and the Denver home purchase post covers what to write in the objection, and pre-offer home checks for Denver metro buyers lists what to look at before you write.

Tool 9: A closing cost estimate before you write the offer

Colorado buyer closing costs run 2% to 3% of the purchase price plus prepaid items: title insurance, the lender's fees, recording, the first year of homeowners insurance, and property tax and interest prorations. On a $450,000 Aurora home that is $9,000 to $13,500 before the down payment. Ask the lender for a Loan Estimate within three business days of applying, and read the closing costs for Colorado home buyers guide to see which fees are negotiable and which the seller pays by custom.

How the nine tools fit together on a calendar

Months 1 to 3: budget, credit report, homebuyer education class, pre-approval, CHFA or metroDPA eligibility check.
Months 2 to 4: REcolorado saved searches, weekend tours with a buyer's agent under an Exclusive Right-to-Buy contract.
Offer week: closing cost estimate, offer written with seller-paid buyer broker compensation requested.
Contract weeks 1 to 2: earnest money to title, general inspection, sewer scope, radon test, inspection objection.
Contract weeks 2 to 4: appraisal, loan approval, title and HOA review, insurance bound.
Closing: final walk-through, wire, signing at the title company, keys.

Buyers using FHA or VA financing follow the same calendar with one more step; the government-backed home buying guide covers the appraisal conditions those loans add. The home buying tools for Colorado buyers page keeps calculators and checklists in one place.

Where to go next

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC sets up first-time buyers with the pre-approval, the CHFA or metroDPA application, the REcolorado search, and the inspection vendors, then runs every Contract to Buy and Sell deadline on a shared calendar. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. When the pre-approval is in hand, search every home for sale in Colorado.

Quick answers

How much down payment does a Colorado first-time buyer need?

As little as 3% on a conventional loan, 3.5% on FHA, and 0% on VA, with CHFA or metroDPA covering part or all of it for buyers under the income limits. Closing costs of 2% to 3% come on top.

Can I use CHFA and metroDPA together?

No. Each pairs with its own first mortgage. The lender runs both and shows which one nets more for your price, county, and income.

Is the CHFA homebuyer class required?

Yes. CHFA requires a CHFA-approved homebuyer education class before closing, offered online and in person along the Front Range.

How much is a sewer scope in Denver?

$150 to $300 for a camera inspection from the cleanout to the main. Order one on any home built before 1980 or with mature trees near the sewer line.

What radon level requires mitigation in Colorado?

The EPA action level is 4.0 picocuries per liter. Most Front Range homes test above it, and a mitigation system costs $900 to $2,500, which buyers request in the inspection objection.

Who holds earnest money in a Colorado purchase?

The title company named in the contract holds it in escrow until closing. It is credited to your down payment and closing costs at the closing table.

What is the difference between pre-qualification and pre-approval?

A pre-qualification is an estimate from stated numbers. A pre-approval is underwritten from your documents, and it is the letter a Colorado listing agent reads with your offer.

Does the Kenna home search show the same listings as Zillow?

It shows more, sooner. The search pulls directly from REcolorado, the MLS where Front Range agents enter listings first; the portals copy from that feed.

Ask us which Colorado down payment program fits your first purchase

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