Colorado Home Showing Red Flags: The Checklist Buyers Need

A Colorado showing lasts 20 minutes, and nine things in those 20 minutes decide whether the home goes on the offer list: foundation cracks on expansive soil, a hail-dented roof and gutters, a radon system or none, a Federal Pacific electrical panel, sewer smell, water stains, fresh paint on one wall, signs of a meth lab, and HOA notices on the counter. None of them is a reason to skip the home. Each one is a reason to order the right inspection and price the fix into the offer. This is the checklist the Kenna Real Estate Group carries into every Front Range showing.

The Colorado showing checklist

1. Foundation cracks on expansive soil

The Front Range sits on bentonite clay that swells when wet and shrinks when dry, and it moves foundations in Denver, Aurora, Centennial, Parker, Castle Rock, Broomfield and Fort Collins every year. Hairline vertical cracks in concrete are shrinkage and normal. Diagonal cracks running from the corners of doors and windows, stair-step cracks in brick or block, interior doors that no longer latch, a basement slab that has lifted at the middle, and a gap between the basement stairs and the floor are movement.

Outside, soil sloping toward the foundation, downspouts ending at the wall and a sprinkler head spraying the wall are how water reaches the clay. Movement is priced by a structural engineer, not the general inspector. Pier and slab repairs run $10,000 to $40,000. The guide to whether a foundation crack means a structural problem in the Denver area shows the crack patterns side by side.

2. Hail-dented roof and gutters

Hail season along the Front Range runs May to September and every roof in the metro has taken a storm. From the driveway, look at the gutters, downspouts, roof vent caps, window screens and the top of the air conditioning condenser: dents there mean the roof took the same stones. Piles of shingle granules at the downspout outlet mean the shingles are shedding. Ask the seller in writing for the roof's installation year and any insurance claim.

A roof over 12 years old in hail country gets a roofer's look during the inspection period. Replacement runs $15,000 to $30,000, and a Colorado policy's wind and hail deductible of 1% to 2% of the dwelling limit means the buyer pays the first $6,000 to $12,000 of the next storm. The Colorado roof replacement cost guide prices each material.

3. Radon: system present, passive pipe or nothing

Colorado is an EPA Zone 1 radon state and about half of homes tested come in above the action level of 4.0 pCi/L. A mitigation system is a vent pipe with an inline fan and a U-tube manometer with two liquid levels that do not match; matching levels mean the fan is off or dead. A passive rough-in in new construction is a pipe with no fan and does not count. No pipe means a 48-hour test during inspection and a $1,200 to $2,500 system on the seller when the result is high. The Denver radon guide explains the test and the negotiation.

4. The Federal Pacific panel

Open the electrical panel door. A panel labeled Federal Pacific Electric or Stab-Lok, common in Front Range homes built from the 1950s through the early 1980s, is flagged by every Colorado inspector because its breakers fail to trip. Some insurers decline to write a policy on the home until it is replaced. Replacement runs $2,000 to $4,000 and belongs in the inspection objection as a seller repair or credit.

5. Sewer smell

A sewer smell in the basement, the utility room or a bathroom no one uses comes from one of two places: a floor drain trap that dried out, which is a bucket of water, or a cracked line under the slab, which is $8,000 to $25,000. Denver's pre-1970 neighborhoods and the older cores of Englewood, Littleton, Arvada and Lakewood run on clay tile lines that roots split. A sewer scope for $150 to $300 answers the question in 30 minutes and is ordered on every home built before 1980.

Run every sink and tub for 60 seconds. Slow drainage in more than one fixture points to the main line. Buyers assume they will fix slow-drain problems after moving in, and that assumption skips the line that is failing under the house.

6. Water stains

Look at ceilings under upstairs bathrooms, the drywall around the chimney, basement walls at the corners and behind stored boxes, and the window wells. A brown ring with a dry center is an old leak; a soft, dark or bubbling stain is an active one. Uncovered window wells fill in a July storm and drain into the foundation. The inspector's moisture meter settles old versus active. The guide to hidden water damage warning signs for Colorado buyers lists what each stain pattern means.

7. Fresh paint on one wall

A whole house painted before listing is staging. One basement wall painted and the other three not, one ceiling painted and the rest original, or a fresh coat inside a closet is a cover. Ask the listing agent in writing what was painted and why. Colorado sellers must disclose known material defects on the Seller's Property Disclosure, and a written question creates a written answer. The inspector puts a moisture meter on that wall.

8. Signs of a meth lab

Colorado requires sellers to disclose known methamphetamine contamination, and the state sets cleanup standards through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The showing signs are a chemical or cat-urine smell that air freshener does not cover, yellow or brown staining on sinks, tubs and walls, blacked-out or foil-covered windows and burn marks on counters. A $50 swab kit gives a screening result; a lab test runs $300 to $600. Remediation to the state standard costs $5,000 to $25,000, so a positive screen ends the offer or moves the cost to the seller.

9. HOA notices on the counter

Sellers leave mail out. A violation letter, a special assessment ballot or a notice of a lawsuit against the association tells the buyer what the HOA documents will confirm. The Colorado contract's HOA documents deadline delivers the declaration, budget, reserve study and 12 months of minutes, and the buyer terminates for any reason found in them by that date. Special assessments on aging Denver condo buildings run $5,000 to $30,000 per unit. Read the Denver HOA rules and fees guide.

Winter showings show more

A January showing on the Front Range reveals what June hides: the north-facing driveway holding ice, the furnace that cannot bring the basement above 62 degrees, the window that frosts on the inside, and the sprinkler backflow preventer left unblown and split. Check the attic for daylight at the eaves and frost on the roof deck.

Dealbreakers versus negotiation items

Only two items on the list end the showing: a positive meth screen and foundation movement the engineer prices above $40,000. Everything else is a negotiation item with a contractor bid behind it, written into the inspection objection as a seller repair or a credit at closing. The CMHC home inspection checklist covers the universal items; the nine above are the Colorado additions. The guide to staying away from a house with problems you cannot see covers what the showing cannot show and the inspection can. Hire the inspector before you need one with the guide to finding a good home inspector in Denver.

Price the fixes into the offer, not the emotions: a $20,000 roof bid moves the offer price, not the buyer's reserves. For the loan side, 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. See the Colorado mortgage pre-approval guide and the Colorado financing page.

Where to go next

• Search every home for sale in Colorado
• The Colorado home buyer's guide
• First-time home buyer guide for Colorado
• How the Kenna Real Estate Group helps buyers
• 10 Colorado home buying mistakes and what each one costs
• Explore Denver homes for sale

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group, Keller Williams DTC in Centennial, walks every Colorado showing with this checklist, orders the engineer, roofer, sewer scope, radon and meth tests the flags call for, and writes each contractor bid into the inspection objection so the buyer pays for the home and not the seller's deferred repairs. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Start by searching every home for sale in Colorado.