5 Times a Cash Sale Wins for Colorado Home Sellers

Selling a Colorado house for cash is the best option in five situations: a probate estate that needs a clean close, a divorce that needs one signing date, a pre-foreclosure with the county public trustee sale date already set, a job relocation with a start date in another state, and a house with defects no lender will finance. In every other case a listed sale nets more money, because a Colorado cash buyer pays 70 to 90 percent of what the house is worth.

This guide takes each of the five situations, states what the cash buyer removes from the deal, and puts a number on what it costs. The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC brings the written cash offer and the listed number to the same table in a Smart Pricing Report, so the decision is made on the net, not on a sales pitch.

Situation 1: The house is in a Colorado probate

An inherited house in Colorado sits empty while the estate is opened. The personal representative needs Letters from the district court (the Denver Probate Court in the City and County of Denver) before signing a listing agreement or a purchase contract, and title companies will not close without them. While the estate waits, the house still carries the mortgage, property taxes, vacant-home insurance and the Xcel Energy bill that keeps the pipes from freezing.

A cash buyer wins here for three reasons:

• No repairs the estate cannot fund. Heirs rarely agree to spend $20,000 on a roof and a furnace for a house none of them will live in. A cash buyer takes the 1978 furnace and the hail-dented roof as they are.
• No showings in a house full of belongings. The buyer walks through once. The estate clears the house on its own schedule, or leaves what it does not want.
• One closing date every heir can plan around. With four siblings in three states, a 45-day financed contract that falls apart on the appraisal restarts the whole argument. A cash contract closes 10 to 14 days after the title company receives the Letters.

Federal tax law steps the house's basis up to its value on the date of death, so a fast sale near that value produces little or no capital gain. Confirm the basis with a Colorado CPA before the estate signs. Read the full estate process in Selling an estate home in Colorado and the keep-or-sell decision in What to do with an inherited house in Denver.

Situation 2: A Colorado divorce needs one signing date

Colorado divides marital property equitably, and the house is the largest item on the list. A Colorado dissolution cannot be finalized until 91 days after the petition is served, and most decrees order the house sold and the proceeds split by a set percentage. Every extra month the house sits under contract is a month of two housing payments, one mortgage and one lease, plus attorney time spent on who pays for what.

A financed buyer adds three places a divorce sale falls apart: the inspection objection, the appraisal and the loan approval. A cash buyer removes all three. The contract has no appraisal because there is no lender, no loan contingency, and an as-is inspection that ends in a walk-away or a close, not a $6,000 repair credit that both spouses have to agree on.

The trade is price. On a $600,000 Littleton house, a cash buyer at 85 percent of value hands over $510,000, which is $90,000 less to split. When the decree deadline is 60 days away and the spouses are not speaking, that trade is sometimes worth it; when they can agree on a listing price and a showing schedule, it is not. The Kenna Real Estate Group runs both numbers for the attorneys on both sides. See Top questions divorcing homeowners ask about selling in Colorado.

Situation 3: Pre-foreclosure and the public trustee clock

Colorado foreclosures run through the county public trustee, not a courtroom. Once your lender records a Notice of Election and Demand with the public trustee, the sale of a residential property is set for 110 to 125 days later. You keep the right to cure the default, meaning pay every missed payment, late fee and foreclosure cost, up to noon the day before the sale, as long as you file a notice of intent to cure with the public trustee at least 15 calendar days before the sale date. After the sale, a Colorado homeowner has no redemption period. The house is gone.

A cash sale is the fastest way to walk out with equity instead of nothing:

• The timeline fits. A cash buyer closes 7 to 14 days after the title company gets the payoff letter from your lender.
• The payoff cancels the sale. When the title company wires the full payoff before the sale date, the lender withdraws the foreclosure and the public trustee removes it from the calendar.
• You control the number. At the public trustee auction the opening bid is what the lender is owed, and any surplus comes to you only after the sale. A cash contract puts the price in writing before you sign.

Sign the contract with at least 30 days left before the sale date, so a title problem does not push the close past the auction. If you owe more than a cash buyer will pay, the answer is a Colorado short sale, not a cash sale. The Colorado pre-foreclosure guide lays out the dates, and the Colorado foreclosure guide explains what happens at the sale. The Colorado Foreclosure Hotline at 1-877-601-4673 connects homeowners with HUD-approved housing counselors at no charge.

Situation 4: A job relocation with a start date

A Denver Tech Center engineer takes a job in Austin that starts in six weeks. The relocation package covers 30 days of temporary housing. Listing the Centennial house means paying a Colorado mortgage and a Texas rent through the 45 to 75 days a financed sale takes.

A cash buyer solves the calendar. The seller picks the closing date, and the standard Colorado contract allows a post-closing occupancy agreement so the seller closes, gets paid and stays in the house for a set number of days while the movers load. A $3,400 mortgage plus $300 in HOA dues and utilities costs $7,400 for a two-month delay before a single price cut. The Kenna Real Estate Group compares that carrying cost against the cash discount and, when the employer's package includes a buyout program, checks whether the buyout beats both. Start with Relocation packages and employer assistance in Denver.

Situation 5: Defects that stop a lender from financing the house

FHA, VA and conventional appraisers in Colorado flag conditions that make a house unlendable until repaired, and a seller with no budget to repair them has one buyer pool: cash. The Front Range produces these defects in volume:

A cash investor prices the repair in and buys the house as-is. The seller signs the Colorado Seller's Property Disclosure just the same, because Colorado law requires disclosure of every known adverse material fact whether the buyer is paying cash or financing. The as-is clause limits the buyer's repair demands; it does not erase the duty to disclose. The as-is sales process in Denver explains the disclosure form line by line, and the Colorado distressed homes guide covers what investors look for.

What a Colorado cash buyer pays

Local investors and house flippers on the Front Range pay 70 to 85 percent of the house's after-repair value minus the repair bill. iBuyers such as Opendoor and Offerpad, both active in the Denver metro, offer 90 to 95 percent and then deduct a 5 to 7 percent service fee plus a repair credit after their inspection. On a $600,000 house the gap between a cash close and a listed sale, after subtracting commission and repairs from the listed side, runs $17,000 to $90,000 depending on the buyer type and the house's condition.

That gap is the price of the five situations above. It is the wrong price when none of them apply. The full side-by-side on a Denver example is in Quick cash sale vs listing: what Colorado sellers net, and the agent-or-no-agent question is answered in FSBO vs real estate agent in Colorado.

When listing beats cash in Colorado

List the house when all three are true: there is no deadline inside 60 days, a lender will finance the house in its current condition, and the equity is large enough that 8 to 15 percent of value is real money you would rather keep. A Highlands Ranch house with a 2019 Class 4 roof, a 2015 furnace and no foundation cracks belongs on the MLS, where Colorado buyers with financing compete on price. The Kenna Real Estate Group prices it from closed REcolorado sales in the Smart Pricing Report and markets it through the full seller program. Sellers who will finance the next house get pre-approved before listing; Mike Oswald, VP of Mortgage Lending at Rate, NMLS 261003, Equal Housing Lender, handles that for Kenna clients. You are free to use any lender. See the Colorado home financing guide.

Three checks before you sign a Colorado cash contract

• Proof of funds dated within 30 days. A bank statement or a letter from the buyer's bank in the buyer's own name, not a hard-money pre-approval letter and not a screenshot.
• Earnest money of 1 to 3 percent held at a Colorado title company. On a $500,000 house that is $5,000 to $15,000, deposited within 3 days of signing, on the state-approved Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate.
• No assignment clause. A contract that reads "and/or assigns" lets a wholesaler shop your house to other investors and walk away if none bites. Strike it, or require that the named buyer close.

Colorado does not require an attorney at closing; a licensed title company handles the deed and the payoff. Hire a Colorado real estate attorney when the seller is an estate, a trust, or a party to a divorce decree.

Where to go next

• The Colorado Home Seller's Guide
• Denver cash home buyers and fast sale choices
• When a cash offer makes sense in Denver
• The Colorado foreclosure process and timeline
• Colorado relocation services
• Kenna Real Estate Group agents

Talk to the Kenna Real Estate Group

The Kenna Real Estate Group at Keller Williams DTC brings vetted cash buyers and the listed price to the same table for Colorado sellers in probate, divorce, pre-foreclosure or a relocation, and shows the net on each before anything is signed. Call or text 303-955-4220. A live person answers. Not a robot, not a phone tree. Sellers planning the next move can search every home for sale in Colorado.