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On a $550,000 Denver metro purchase, the cash a first-time buyer needs beyond the down payment runs $14,000 to $27,000 before the moving truck arrives, and $20,000 to $35,000 once the first year of repairs is counted. The down payment is the number everyone plans for; the table below is the list nobody plans for.
Every line item below is priced for the Front Range, from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, with the Denver metro as the base case. The Kenna Real Estate Group walks every buyer through these numbers before the first showing. Start with the Colorado closing costs guide and the first-time home buyer guide for Colorado, then come back to this table.
The full cost table on a $550,000 Denver metro home
These are cash costs paid by the buyer, at or before closing, on a detached home with a conventional loan and a 5 percent down payment ($27,500). Ranges reflect what Front Range buyers pay in 2026. Your Loan Estimate, which the lender must deliver within three business days of your application, replaces every estimate here with your exact figures.
| Cost | When it is paid | Denver metro range |
|---|---|---|
| Earnest money (1% to 2%) | Within 1 to 3 days of contract; credited back at closing | $5,500 to $11,000 |
| Home inspection | Inspection period, paid at the appointment | $450 to $750 |
| Sewer scope | Inspection period | $150 to $300 |
| Radon test (48 hours) | Inspection period | $125 to $250 |
| Appraisal | Ordered by the lender after inspection | $550 to $850 |
| Lender's title policy and closing fee (buyer side) | Closing | $900 to $1,800 |
| Lender fees (origination, underwriting, credit report, flood cert) | Closing | $1,500 to $5,500 |
| Colorado documentary fee ($0.01 per $100) | Closing | $55 |
| Recording fees (Clerk and Recorder) | Closing | $50 to $150 |
| Prepaid interest (to the end of the closing month) | Closing | $400 to $2,000 |
| First-year homeowners insurance premium | Closing | $2,500 to $4,500 |
| Escrow reserves (2 to 3 months of taxes and insurance) | Closing | $1,200 to $2,800 |
| HOA status letter, transfer and working-capital fees | Closing (HOA homes only) | $300 to $1,500 |
| Local move (2-bedroom apartment to a house) | Move week | $1,200 to $3,500 |
| First-year repairs and setup | Months 1 to 12 | $5,500 to $8,000 |
Earnest money comes back to you as a credit at closing, so the true out-of-pocket total is the table minus that line. Everything else is spent. The down payment ($27,500 at 5 percent) sits on top of all of it.
Earnest money in the Denver metro is 1 to 2 percent
Denver metro sellers expect earnest money of 1 to 2 percent of the price, held by the title company. On $550,000 that is $5,500 to $11,000, due within 1 to 3 days of the contract date. The Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate gives the buyer dated deadlines (inspection objection, appraisal, loan termination); terminate on or before a deadline and the money comes back, miss one and it is at risk. The Kenna Real Estate Group tracks every deadline in writing. Read what happens between contract and closing in the escrow guide.
Inspection, sewer scope and radon: the Colorado three
A Front Range inspection is three appointments, not one.
- General inspection, $450 to $750: roof, structure, furnace, water heater, electrical, plumbing, grading, with a hard look at hail damage on the roof and foundation movement from expansive bentonite clay.
- Sewer scope, $150 to $300: a camera down the main line to the street. Denver, Englewood, Lakewood, Arvada and Littleton homes built before 1980 sit on clay or Orangeburg sewer lines that tree roots crush. A failed line costs $8,000 to $20,000 to replace.
- Radon test, $125 to $250: most of Colorado sits in EPA Zone 1, the highest radon potential. A 48-hour result at or above 4.0 pCi/L means a mitigation system, $1,200 to $2,500, which buyers ask the seller to install before closing.
Skipping the sewer scope and radon test saves $350 and leaves $10,000 to $22,000 of exposure on the table. Read the Kenna post on radon and the Denver home purchase before inspection week.
Appraisal and lender fees
The lender orders the appraisal after the inspection period and charges $550 to $850 on a detached Denver metro home; mountain-county and larger homes run $900 to $1,400. Lender fees have the widest spread: origination (0 to 1 percent of the loan), underwriting ($400 to $1,200), credit report, flood certification and tax service, $1,500 to $5,500 on a $522,500 loan depending on the lender and any points.
For financing, the Kenna Real Estate Group works with Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender. You are free to use any lender. Compare Loan Estimates line by line, and read the Colorado home financing guide before you pick one. Get the Colorado mortgage pre-approval done before the first showing so the fees are on paper early.
Title insurance and closing fees: who pays what in Colorado
Colorado custom on the Front Range is that the seller pays for the owner's title policy and the buyer pays for the lender's policy, plus the buyer's half of the title company's closing fee. Budget $900 to $1,800 for your side on a $550,000 home. Colorado has no state real estate transfer tax; the only state charge is the documentary fee of one cent per $100 of price, $55 on this purchase, plus county recording fees of $50 to $150 at the Clerk and Recorder.
Prepaids: taxes, insurance and interest paid before you owe them
Prepaids are the line that surprises first-time buyers on the Closing Disclosure. Three items sit there.
- Prepaid interest: interest from the closing date to the end of that month. Closing on the 5th costs about 25 days of interest ($1,800 to $2,000 on a $522,500 loan at example 2026 rates); closing on the 28th costs 2 to 3 days. Pick a late-month closing date to cut this line.
- First-year insurance premium: paid in full at closing. Colorado hail (May to September), wildfire zones and the 2021 Marshall Fire pushed Front Range premiums up sharply; a $550,000 detached home runs $2,500 to $4,500 a year in 2026, more for a roof past 15 years old or a wildland-urban interface address. Read the Kenna post on how insurance breaks a Denver metro house payment before you go under contract.
- Escrow reserves: the lender collects 2 to 3 months of taxes and insurance to seed the escrow account. Colorado property taxes are paid in arrears, so the seller credits you at closing for the days of the current year they owned the home, which offsets part of this line.
Metro district taxes: the cost that outlives closing
A $550,000 home in Denver, Lakewood, Littleton or Arvada runs about $2,800 to $4,000 a year in property tax. In the newer suburbs of Douglas, Adams, Arapahoe and Weld counties (Castle Rock, Parker, Thornton, Commerce City, Brighton, Erie, Aurora east of E-470), a metro district adds 30 to 70 mills to repay the developer's bonds for roads, water and sewer. The same home there runs $4,500 to $6,500 a year, $150 to $250 a month more in the payment.
Pull the county treasurer's tax bill for the exact address before you write the offer, and read the Denver special district and metro district tax guide and the Denver property taxes guide. The Kenna post on how HOAs, metro districts and taxes affect Denver suburb buyers compares the suburbs side by side.
HOA fees at closing and every month after
An HOA home carries three closing charges the contract assigns by negotiation: the status letter ($150 to $400), the transfer fee ($100 to $500) and, in newer communities, a working-capital contribution of one to two months of dues. Budget $300 to $1,500. Then the monthly dues: $40 to $120 for a detached home with a small HOA, $250 to $600 for a Denver condo or townhome with a roof, water and insurance in the dues.
Highlands Ranch adds HRCA dues on top of any sub-association. Ask for the HOA's budget, reserve study and the last two years of minutes in the inspection period; a planned special assessment for hail-damaged roofs is a cost that lands on the buyer. The Denver HOA rules and fees guide lists every document to demand.
Moving costs on the Front Range
A local move from a two-bedroom apartment to a house within the Denver metro runs $1,200 to $3,500 with a licensed mover, or $300 to $600 with a rental truck. Add $200 to $400 for utility deposits (Xcel Energy, Denver Water or your suburban water district, internet) and $150 to $300 to rekey every door on day one. The Denver utility providers and costs guide lists who serves each city.
First-year repairs: budget 1 percent of the price
Set aside 1 percent of the purchase price, $5,500 on this home, for year one. Front Range homes spend it on predictable things.
- Sprinkler blowout and startup: $80 to $150 each fall and spring; a frozen backflow preventer costs $400 to $900.
- Furnace service and a humidifier: $150 to $250 for the tune-up; a whole-house humidifier is $600 to $1,200 at 5,280 feet.
- Gutter extensions and grading: $200 to $800 to keep snowmelt off a foundation on bentonite clay.
- Hail deductible: most Colorado policies carry a separate wind and hail deductible of 1 to 2 percent of the dwelling coverage, $4,500 to $9,000 on this home.
Down payment assistance and seller concessions
Colorado buyers have two main sources of help: CHFA (the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority) down payment and closing cost assistance, and city and county programs such as metroDPA. Most cover closing costs and prepaids, not only the down payment; each has income limits and a homebuyer education class, so check the current terms on the program's own site. A national overview of programs that offer exemptions or discounts for first-time buyers explains how layered programs work, and the Kenna post on first-time homebuyer programs in Denver lists the Colorado programs by name.
Seller concessions are the other lever. On a conventional loan with 5 percent down, the seller is allowed to pay up to 3 percent of the price ($16,500) toward closing costs and prepaids. Ask for it on any Denver metro home listed more than 21 days.
Protect the closing funds from wire fraud
A wire sent to a criminal's account after a spoofed title-company email is the one cost that does not come back. Call the title company at the number on the contract, not the number in the email, and confirm wire instructions by voice before sending. Never handle closing documents over public Wi-Fi; on the road, use one of the VPNs on your laptop and phone.
The Colorado home buyer's guide covers the whole process from pre-approval to keys, and the buyer services page explains what the Kenna Real Estate Group does at each step.
Where to go next
- Closing costs for Colorado home buyers
- First-time home buyer guide for Colorado
- Colorado mortgage pre-approval guide
- How HOAs, metro districts and taxes affect Denver suburb buyers
- Search every home for sale in Colorado
- Meet the Kenna Real Estate Group agents
Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group
The Kenna Real Estate Group, Keller Williams DTC in Centennial, gives every first-time buyer a full cost sheet for each home before the offer, tracks every contract deadline and negotiates seller concessions to cover closing costs. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Or search every home for sale in Colorado and send us the address of the one you want costed out.
