PCS to Colorado: Orders to Closing in 60 to 90 Days

A service member with PCS orders to Colorado closes on a home 60 to 90 days after the orders print, and does most of it from the current duty station. The timeline is fixed by three clocks: the lender's VA pre-approval, the VA appraisal, and the deadlines in the Colorado purchase contract. This guide lays out the timeline week by week for a purchase near Fort Carson, Peterson, Schriever, the Air Force Academy or Buckley.

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC runs this timeline for military buyers landing in Colorado Springs, Fountain, Aurora, Parker and Denver. The steps below are the group's working checklist.

Days 1 to 10: orders in hand, financing set

The first ten days decide whether the rest of the timeline holds. Three tasks, in this order:

• Pre-approval on the orders. A VA lender pre-approves on a copy of the orders, the last two Leave and Earnings Statements, two years of W-2s or tax returns, two months of bank statements and, for veterans, the DD-214. The lender pulls the Certificate of Eligibility through the VA portal on the first call. The group's lender partner is Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender. You are free to use any lender. Third-party guides such as this step-by-step VA loan application process cover the same paperwork; the Colorado home financing guide covers the Colorado costs.
• The move itself. The U.S. Department of Defense's Plan My Move portal builds the household-goods and travel checklist against the report date. Put the target closing date on the same calendar so the truck and the keys line up.
• A budget inside BAH. Pull the Basic Allowance for Housing for your rank and duty ZIP, subtract HOA dues and any metro district taxes, and set the price so principal, interest, taxes and insurance fit inside the remainder. The full method, plus CHFA and nonprofit closing-cost help, is in down payment help for Colorado military home buyers.

Days 10 to 30: the remote search

Nobody on orders needs a house-hunting flight to Colorado. The group runs the search this way:

• Saved searches by gate commute. A search set to 20 minutes from the Fort Carson Gate 1 or the Peterson west gate returns a shorter, better list than a city-wide search. Start on explore Colorado Springs or explore Aurora.
• Live video showings. An agent walks the home on FaceTime or Zoom, opens the electrical panel, runs every faucet, films the roof from the street and the furnace data plate up close, and drives the gate commute on camera at 7:15 a.m.
• The MPR screen before the offer. The agent flags anything the VA appraiser will flag (next section) so the buyer does not write an offer on a home that fails.

Two price bands, given as ranges for detached homes closed in 2026. Condos and townhomes run $100,000 to $200,000 lower.

Which Colorado homes fail the VA minimum property requirements

The VA appraiser values the home and checks it against the VA's minimum property requirements (MPRs). On the Front Range, these five items stop more VA purchases than anything else:

• Roof at end of life. Hail season runs May to September, and a 20-year-old asphalt roof in Colorado Springs or Aurora draws a repair condition. The seller replaces it, credits it, or the deal ends.
• Peeling paint on a pre-1978 home. Older homes in central Colorado Springs and Aurora's original neighborhoods need chipping paint scraped and repainted before closing.
• No permanent heat. A wall unit or space heater does not pass at a Colorado winter elevation. The furnace has to run.
• Well and septic on rural El Paso County lots. Falcon and Peyton acreage near Schriever needs a water test and a septic inspection; the county's onsite wastewater transfer rules apply at sale.
• Foundation movement. Expansive bentonite clay across the Front Range cracks slabs and bows basement walls. Visible movement brings a structural engineer's letter into the file.

The VA appraisal is not a home inspection. The group still orders a full inspection, a sewer scope ($150 to $300) and a radon test ($150) in the first ten days under contract, because the appraiser does not run the sewer line or measure radon, and Colorado sits in the highest radon zone. What the appraisal itself covers, and the Tidewater process when value comes in low, is on the complete guide to VA appraisals in Colorado.

Days 30 to 45: the offer and the Colorado contract deadlines

Colorado purchases run on the Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate from the Colorado Real Estate Commission. Every deadline in it is a date the buyer picks, and the group writes them to fit a PCS:

• Inspection objection and resolution: 7 to 10 days from contract. The buyer terminates for any inspection reason inside the objection deadline and the earnest money comes back.
• Appraisal deadline: 21 to 25 days, long enough for the VA appraiser's turnaround. The VA amendatory clause in every VA contract lets the buyer walk with the earnest money if the appraised value comes in under the price and the seller will not reduce.
• Loan termination deadline: 21 to 28 days. If underwriting declines, the buyer terminates before this date with earnest money returned.
• Closing date: 30 to 45 days from contract, set within a week of the report date.
• Seller concessions: up to 4% of price on a VA loan, negotiated hardest on homes with 30 or more days on market.

How the offer is built, deadline by deadline, is on making an offer on a Colorado home. What happens between contract and keys is on escrow: what happens after your offer is accepted.

On-post housing or buying: the numbers

Privatized on-post housing at the Colorado installations runs waitlists that stretch from weeks to months, and the BAH goes to the housing operator. Buying keeps the BAH working for the buyer. The comparison the group walks through:

• On post: no down payment, no maintenance, no equity, a waitlist, and a move-out at the next orders.
• Buying with VA: no down payment, closing costs of 2% to 3% of price, maintenance and hail insurance on the buyer, equity from every payment, and a rental at the next PCS. A $475,000 home with a payment inside BAH rents to the next inbound service member.
• The break-even: with 6% in combined buying and selling costs, a home held under three years and sold is close to a wash. A home held through the next assignment as a rental is the reason most military buyers the group works with buy instead of wait.

Days 45 to 75: clear to close and the mail-away closing

Underwriting issues the clear to close about a week before the closing date. The Closing Disclosure arrives three business days before signing; compare it line by line to the Loan Estimate. The buyer does not have to be in Colorado:

• Remote online notarization is authorized in Colorado, so the title company sets a video signing with a Colorado notary.
• Mail-away closing sends the package to a notary at the current duty station, with three to five days of overnight shipping built into the schedule.
• Power of attorney lets a spouse sign for a deployed member; the lender approves the specific POA form in advance, not on closing day.

The final walk-through happens on video the day before closing, checking that negotiated repairs are done and the home is in the same condition as under contract. The wire for closing funds goes only to instructions confirmed by phone with the title company at a number from its website, never from an email.

Moving day and the first month in Colorado

Time the household-goods delivery for two to three days after closing so the keys are in hand before the truck. Colorado clocks start on arrival: a Colorado driver license within 30 days of residency, vehicle registration within 90 days, and emissions testing in the Front Range counties. Utilities differ by city: Colorado Springs Utilities handles electric, gas, water and wastewater inside the city; Xcel Energy and Aurora Water serve Aurora; Fountain runs its own electric utility. The full arrival list is on the Colorado Front Range relocation checklist, and city-by-city moving guides start at Colorado relocation services.

Where to go next

• Homes for sale in Colorado Springs
• Homes for sale in Aurora
• Government-backed home buying guide
• VA loan eligible homes for sale in Colorado
• The Colorado home buyer's guide
• Kenna Real Estate Group agents

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC runs the PCS purchase end to end: pre-approval on orders, video showings by gate commute, an MPR screen before the offer, contract deadlines set to the report date, and a remote closing. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Start the search now and search every home for sale in Colorado.