Selling a Three-Story Home in Colorado: Stairs, HVAC, Price

A three-story home in Colorado sells when the listing solves four objections before the showing: the stairs, the hot third floor, the price per square foot, and the maintenance a tall exterior needs. Central Park rowhomes, Highlands Ranch three-levels and the Sloan's Lake townhomes with rooftop decks all sell every week in the Denver metro; the ones that sit are the ones priced like a two-story ranch with a basement. This post gives the fix and the cost for each hurdle.

The buyer for a three-story home is specific: a household that wants bedrooms separated by a floor, an office on its own level, or a rooftop deck with a mountain view, and does not mind two flights of stairs. Write the listing for that buyer. The Kenna Real Estate Group prices every tall home against other tall homes with the Smart Pricing Report, not against the ranch next door.

Where are the three-story homes in the Denver metro?

• Central Park (the former Stapleton) in northeast Denver: three-story single-family homes and rowhomes built from the early 2000s on, with bedrooms on the top floor and detached garages off the alley. See the Central Park area guide.
• Sloan's Lake, West Colfax, LoHi, Berkeley and Jefferson Park: three-story townhomes and rowhomes from the last 15 years with rooftop decks facing the mountains or downtown. Denver ended the side-facing slot-home design in 2018, so post-2018 rows face the street.
• Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree's RidgeGate, Broomfield's Arista, Lakewood's Belmar, Lowry: three-level townhomes and single-family homes with a tandem garage on the first level and living on the second.
• Older Denver: Capitol Hill, Cheesman Park and Wash Park mansions from 1890 to 1920 with a finished third-floor attic.

Hurdle 1: the stairs

Two flights between the garage and the primary bedroom removes every downsizing buyer from the pool, and downsizing buyers are the largest buyer group in Highlands Ranch, Centennial and Lone Tree right now. They want a main-floor primary bedroom, and they are reading our Denver metro downsizing guide and the Colorado 55+ communities list, not your listing. Do not market to them. Market to the buyer who wants the separation.

Three things reduce the objection for everyone else. Put the laundry on the bedroom floor in the listing description if it is there, or price the cost of moving it ($2,500 to $6,000 with plumbing on that level). Keep the stair runs lit and clear at every showing. And do not install a stair lift for resale: $3,000 to $6,000 per straight flight, it narrows the stairs, and the buyer who needs one wants to choose it. A residential elevator runs $30,000 to $60,000 and returns less than that at sale in every Denver metro submarket.

Hurdle 2: the hot third floor

At 5,280 feet with 300 days of sun, a west-facing third floor on a single-zone furnace and air conditioner runs 8 to 12 degrees warmer than the main floor in July. Buyers walk up at a 2 pm showing, feel it, and leave. Fix it before the photos:

Then show the home between 9 am and noon, set the thermostat to 70 the night before, and leave the utility bills on the counter. Our post on why a high-efficiency HVAC system sells Colorado homes explains what buyers' inspectors check on a two-zone system.

Hurdle 3: pricing the third floor

Buyers pay less per square foot for vertical space than for main-floor space, and appraisers follow the buyers. Three rules:

• Comp against the same floor count. A 2,400 square foot three-story rowhome in Central Park comps against three-story rowhomes, not against a 2,400 square foot two-story with a finished basement on the same block.
• Know what counts as above-grade finished area. Fannie Mae has required the ANSI Z765 measuring standard on appraisals since April 2022. A third floor with sloped ceilings counts only where the ceiling is at least 5 feet high, and at least half of that area needs a 7-foot ceiling. A 1905 attic conversion in Capitol Hill with 6-foot ceilings adds far less to the appraisal than to the marketing.
• Price the deck as a view, not as square feet. A Sloan's Lake rooftop deck facing Longs Peak adds a premium buyers can see in the paired sales; a deck facing the alley adds the cost of the membrane.

The Denver metro has more tall-home comps than any Colorado market, so the paired sales exist. Sellers in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins need a wider radius and 12 months of sales.

Hurdle 4: maintenance buyers ask about

A tall exterior costs more to keep, and buyers' inspectors bring a drone. Have the answers ready:

• Exterior paint or stucco: $6,000 to $15,000 on a three-story home because of the lift, so the year of the last paint job goes in the listing.
• Rooftop deck membrane: TPO or similar, 15 to 25 years of life, inspected after every hail season (May to September). Keep the roofer's report and the warranty. A deck that leaked once needs the repair invoice in the packet.
• Gutters, window washing, hail claims: the last claim date and the insurer's roof inspection.
• Fire egress: every third-floor bedroom needs an egress window that opens; buyers' inspectors test each one.

The adding value before selling page ranks these by return. Paint and the deck membrane return their cost on a tall home; a new kitchen on the second floor does not.

The HOA, the party wall agreement and the loan

Many Denver rowhomes have no HOA; they have a party wall agreement that splits the shared wall, roof and driveway costs between owners. Buyers' lenders read it, so put it in the listing documents on day one. Townhomes inside an HOA follow the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act: the association provides a status letter and the governing documents, and the buyer can terminate at the association documents deadline over litigation, a special assessment or thin reserves. The Denver HOA rules and fees guide lists the documents, and our post on catching the HOA's surprise bill before closing shows what buyers' agents read first.

Financing follows the deed, not the shape. A fee-simple townhome with its own lot finances like a house. A three-story unit mapped as a condominium needs the project to pass lender review, and that review decides which buyers can close. Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender, checks the project status for our townhome sellers before the listing goes live. You are free to use any lender. The Colorado home financing guide explains the difference, and the patio homes, townhomes and condos in Colorado page explains which one you own.

Photos, floor plans and showings for a tall home

A three-story home needs a floor plan with all three levels on one image, 35 to 45 photos ordered from the front door up, and a video walk-through that climbs the stairs once so buyers count them before they arrive. Shoot the rooftop deck at twilight with the mountains in frame. Stage the third floor as the room its buyer wants: a primary suite with a sitting area in Central Park, an office with a view in Sloan's Lake, two bedrooms and a playroom in Highlands Ranch. Vacant staging of three rooms runs $1,500 to $3,500 for the first month. The marketing your Colorado home page lists what goes live on day one.

Who buys three-story homes in the Denver metro

Households with two working adults who want an office on its own floor; buyers moving from a condo who want a garage and a deck without a yard; multigenerational households who want a floor per generation; and buyers relocating from cities where three floors is normal. Point them to the Colorado condos and townhomes search for the units that compete with yours, and read the Highlands Ranch downsizing guide to see what the buyer leaving a three-story wants next, because that buyer is your seller-side comp.

Where to go next

• How the Kenna Real Estate Group helps Colorado sellers
• Pricing your Colorado home to sell
• What if my Colorado house doesn't sell? The 60-day plan
• Explore Highlands Ranch homes
• Kenna Real Estate Group agents
• Search every home for sale in Colorado

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC sells three-story homes and townhomes across Denver, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree and Broomfield, priced against tall-home comps with the HVAC, deck and HOA questions answered in the listing. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. When the next home is part of the plan, search every home for sale in Colorado.