Do You Need a Buyer's Agent in Colorado? Agency Explained

A buyer's agent in Colorado is a licensed real estate broker who has signed a written agreement to represent you alone, with a duty of loyalty, advocacy and advice. Without that agreement, Colorado law treats every broker as a transaction-broker: a neutral facilitator who owes you honesty but not advocacy. So the question for a Colorado buyer is not whether to use a broker; it is which relationship to sign, and whether the person on the other side of the table is working for you or simply working the file.

This guide explains the two relationships, the two forms that create them, what changed in August 2024 on compensation, what a buyer's agent does at each contract deadline, and how to check a broker's license with the state. Start with our Colorado home buyer's guide if you are early in the process.

What is a transaction-broker, and why is it Colorado's default?

Colorado's brokerage relationship statute gives a buyer three ways to work with a broker: as a buyer's agent, as a transaction-broker, or as a customer with no relationship at all. The statute makes transaction-broker the default. Unless you sign a written agency agreement, the broker who opens the door, writes your offer and attends your closing is a transaction-broker.

A transaction-broker owes you honesty, disclosure of adverse material facts the broker knows, presentation of every offer, accounting for your money, and confidentiality of the facts you ask to keep private. A transaction-broker does not advise you on what to offer, does not negotiate for your advantage, and does not tell you the seller's bottom line even when the broker knows it. The relationship works for a buyer who wants paperwork handled and nothing more.

A buyer's agent adds the fiduciary duties: loyalty, advocacy, reasonable care, and advice on price, terms and strategy. In a multiple-offer contest on a Highlands Ranch or Wash Park home, that is the difference between a broker who submits your number and a broker who tells you what number wins and why.

The Brokerage Disclosure to Buyer

Before a Colorado broker asks you anything confidential, the broker hands you the Brokerage Disclosure to Buyer, a one-page form from the Colorado Real Estate Commission. It is not a contract. It lists the relationships above and states which one the broker is offering. Read it, keep a copy, and notice that a broker who has you sign only this form is working with you as a transaction-broker. Nothing on that page makes the broker your agent.

The Exclusive Right-to-Buy contract and the August 2024 change

Agency is created by the Exclusive Right-to-Buy Listing Contract, another Commission-approved form. It names you, names the brokerage, sets a term, states whether the broker is your agent or a transaction-broker, and states the broker's compensation in writing. Since August 2024, under the industry practice changes that followed the national commission settlement, a broker who is a member of a multiple listing service must have a written buyer agreement signed before touring homes with you, and the compensation in that agreement must be a specific amount or percentage, not an open-ended figure.

• Term. 30 to 180 days is the working range. Ask for 90 days on a first signing.
• Scope. Every property, or one property address, or one city. A one-property agreement lets you test a broker on a single showing.
• Compensation. A percentage of the purchase price or a flat fee, and the line that says the broker will seek payment from the seller or the listing brokerage first.
• Cancellation. The form has no automatic exit; add a written clause that lets either side cancel with notice on a property you have not written an offer on.

Who pays the buyer's agent in Colorado?

The buyer agreement makes the fee the buyer's obligation. In practice, the fee is paid at closing from the seller's side in most Colorado sales: either the listing brokerage offers compensation to the buyer's brokerage, or the buyer's offer asks the seller for a concession that covers the fee. Whatever the seller pays reduces what you owe, dollar for dollar. If the seller pays nothing, you pay the agreed amount at closing from your own funds, and the amount is on your settlement statement.

That is why the fee is written on both documents: your agreement with the broker, and the offer to the seller. The Kenna Real Estate Group writes the compensation request into every offer so the buyer sees the number before the seller does. Our page on making an offer on a Colorado home shows where it appears.

Is dual agency legal in Colorado?

No. Colorado ended dual agency in 2003. A broker cannot be the agent of the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. When the buyer and seller are both clients of the same broker, the broker gives both a Change of Status form and becomes a transaction-broker for the deal. When they are clients of two different brokers inside the same brokerage, each broker stays an agent for their own client under the designated brokerage rule. Ask which case applies before you offer on a home your broker's company has listed.

What a buyer's agent does at each contract deadline

The Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell is a list of dated deadlines the buyer proposes. A buyer's agent manages every one of them:

1. Earnest money. Confirms the wire lands at the title company within the contract days after Mutual Execution of Contract.
2. Record Title and Off-Record Title. Reads the title commitment, flags Schedule B exceptions such as an unreleased deed of trust or an oil and gas lease, and writes the objection before the deadline.
3. Seller's Property Disclosure and Association Documents. Reviews the disclosure and the HOA covenants, budget and minutes; on a metro district home in Parker or Castle Rock, pulls the district's mill levy and debt.
4. Inspection Objection, Resolution and Termination. Books the inspector, sewer scope and radon test, writes the Inspection Objection with repairs or a credit, and negotiates the resolution.
5. Appraisal Objection. Sends comparable sales to the appraiser and negotiates the price or the gap when value comes in low.
6. New Loan Terms and Availability. Confirms the lender's clear-to-close before the deadline passes; extends by amendment when the underwriter needs two more days.
7. Closing. Walks the home the day before, reviews the settlement statement line by line, and confirms wire instructions by phone with the title company.

Our page on what happens after your offer is accepted follows the same timeline from the buyer's side.

Can you buy a home in Colorado without an agent?

Yes. Colorado does not require a broker or an attorney on the buyer's side. An unrepresented buyer deals with the listing agent, who works for the seller, and writes the offer on the state form alone. On a for-sale-by-owner home, the buyer hires a title company to close and a Colorado real estate attorney to review the contract at $300 to $600 per hour. The buyer gives up the negotiation, the deadline management, and the market knowledge, and gains nothing on price, because the seller's listing agreement fixes the listing fee whether or not a buyer's broker is paid.

Can you use the listing agent?

You can, and you will be a customer or a transaction-broker client, never a client the listing agent advocates for. The listing agent's signed duty runs to the seller. When that agent also handles your side, the agent becomes a transaction-broker for both and stops advising either. On a home you plan to negotiate hard on, that is the wrong seat to sit in.

How to verify a Colorado broker's license

Every Colorado real estate broker is licensed by the Division of Real Estate inside the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA). The DORA license lookup, linked from the Colorado Division of Real Estate site, shows the license number, status, expiration and any discipline. Search the broker's name before you sign. A broker with no active license cannot legally write your offer.

Do you need a buyer's agent for new construction?

The builder's sales representative works for the builder. A buyer's agent registered at your first visit reviews the builder's contract, which is not the state form, and negotiates upgrades, closing cost credits and lender incentives. Builders in Erie, Castle Rock, Aurora and Commerce City pay the buyer's broker from their marketing budget when the broker is registered on the first visit and not after. Read do you need a buyer's agent for new construction in Colorado.

Choosing a buyer's agent in the Denver metro

• Ask which relationship they offer and whether they will sign as your agent, not a transaction-broker.
• Ask for the last 10 closed purchases with cities and price points. A broker who closes in Littleton and Centennial knows the metro district and soil questions there.
• Read the reviews. The Kenna Real Estate Group holds 332 five-star Google reviews and has closed Colorado purchases since 2002; see our client reviews.
• Ask about the lender. A pre-approval before the first showing is the norm. The 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 home financing guide.

The buyer's agent role is not unique to Colorado. A buyers agent Sydney firm advocates for Australian buyers the same way; what is specific to Colorado is the transaction-broker default, the Commission forms, and the written compensation rule. Our post on choosing a good realtor for first-time buyers adds the interview questions.

Where to go next

• Meet the Kenna Real Estate Group agents
• How we help Colorado buyers
• First-time home buyer guide for Colorado
• Hire a buyer's agent in Colorado before viewing homes
• What a great buyer's agent does for Colorado home buyers
• Search every home for sale in Colorado

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group, Keller Williams DTC, signs as your buyer's agent, not a transaction-broker, states the fee in writing before the first showing, and manages every deadline in the Colorado contract from earnest money to the wire confirmation at closing. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Then search every home for sale in Colorado.