Colorado Real Estate Contract Dates and Deadlines: A Buyer’s Guide

The short answer

Most Colorado resale purchases through brokers use the Colorado Real Estate Commission’s Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), often called CBS1. The current version was adopted August 5, 2025, and has been mandatory for broker use since January 1, 2026. Near the front of the contract, §3.1 is a table called Dates and Deadlines. It has more than 40 lines, from title and HOA documents to inspection, your loan, closing and possession.

Those dates aren’t set by the state. You and the seller negotiate them for each deal. Once the contract is signed, though, they’re strict. Section 20 says time is of the essence for every date and deadline, which the contract defines as “strict and absolute.” For a buyer, most of them are the last moment to object, renegotiate or walk away with your earnest money. I’m not an attorney, and this isn’t legal advice; it’s a plain-English map of the form.

Your deadline timeline, from contract to closing

When I sit down with a buyer after an offer is accepted, the first thing I do is turn the contract’s Dates and Deadlines table into a simple calendar. The order below is how those deadlines usually line up in a financed resale purchase. Your contract sets the actual dates, and some can overlap or move, so treat this as a map, not a rule.

1. Contract signed (MEC). MEC means mutual execution, the day both you and the seller have signed (§3.2). Every “days after MEC” count starts the next day.
2. Earnest money. Delivered with the contract, or by the Alternative Earnest Money Deadline if you agreed to one (§4.3). See earnest money.
3. Loan application. You apply with your lender by the New Loan Application Deadline (§5.1). Your lender then has three business days to send you a Loan Estimate.
4. Seller’s disclosures and title documents arrive. The Seller’s Property Disclosure (§10.1), the title commitment and recorded documents (Record Title Deadline, §8.1), and off-record items like leases or surveys the seller has (§8.3).
5. HOA documents. If there’s an association, the seller delivers the documents by the Association Documents Deadline, and you can terminate by the Association Documents Termination Deadline (§7). See owners’ association.
6. Inspection termination and objection. Your inspector, sewer scope and radon test all need to be done before these dates. You either terminate, object in writing, or let them pass and accept the property’s condition (§10.3). See inspection.
7. Title objection. The last day to object to anything in the title documents (§8.2), followed by the Title Resolution Deadline.
8. Inspection resolution. You and the seller sign a written agreement on repairs or credits, or the contract ends automatically unless you withdraw your objection first (§10.3).
9. Insurance, due diligence and conditional sale. Your homeowners insurance quote (§10.5), any due diligence documents (§10.6), and, if your purchase depends on selling your current home, the Conditional Sale Deadline (§10.7). My buying and selling at the same time guide covers that situation.
10. Loan terms. Your last day to walk away if the rate, payment or costs aren’t acceptable (§5.2).
11. Appraisal, objection and resolution. On a conventional loan or cash purchase, the appraisal comes in, and if it’s low you can object or terminate (§6.2). See appraisal.
12. Loan availability. Your lender’s final approval. If the loan isn’t coming together, your Notice to Terminate has to reach the seller by this date, or your earnest money is at risk (§5.2).
13. Two weeks before closing. The seller requests the HOA status letter at least 14 days before the Closing Date (§15.3).
14. Three business days before closing. Your lender must give you the Closing Disclosure. Call the title company at a number you already trust to confirm wiring instructions.
15. Walk-through, closing and possession. You walk through the home (§18.4), sign on the Closing Date (§12.3), and get the keys at closing or on the agreed Possession Date (§17).

On a cash purchase, the loan and lender steps drop out, and the calendar is mostly about inspection, title and HOA documents. On a new build, the builder’s own contract may set different dates; my new construction guide explains that.

How the contract counts days

Section 3.3 sets the rules for the calendar, and these are the details that trip buyers up:

• A day ends at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time. If the parties fill in a Time of Day Deadline, objection, resolution, examination and termination deadlines end at that time instead (§3.3.1).
• Counting starts the next day. When a period is written as a number of days, like “three days after MEC,” the first day is excluded and the last day is included (§3.3.2). MEC means mutual execution of the contract, the date both parties have signed.
• Weekends and holidays. A deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday or a federal or Colorado state holiday moves to the next business day only if the “Will” box is checked. If neither box is checked, it doesn’t move (§3.3.3).
• Blank means gone. If a deadline is blank, “N/A” or “Deleted,” that provision doesn’t apply (§3.2). That’s fine for a loan deadline on a cash purchase, and risky if it wipes out a protection you meant to keep.

Notices must be in writing and can be delivered by email under §26. Any change to a date after signing has to be in writing and signed by both parties (§25). A text saying “sure, take an extra day” is not an extension.

The deadlines that matter most to buyers

Here are the main groups, roughly in order.

Earnest money

Under §4.3, earnest money is tendered with the contract unless the parties agree on an Alternative Earnest Money Deadline. The earnest money holder keeps it in a trust account for both sides. If you have a right to terminate and you use it on time, you’re entitled to its return (§4.3.2 and §24.2). My buyer closing costs guide explains how earnest money is credited toward your cash to close.

Title

By the Record Title Deadline, the party who picked the title company (the seller, by default) furnishes the title commitment, and you receive copies of the recorded title documents (§8.1). You can object to anything unsatisfactory by the Record Title Objection Deadline (§8.2). Off-record matters have their own deadlines. If title documents arrive late or the commitment changes, you get until the earlier of closing or ten days after receipt to object to those items.

Owners’ association

If the home is in a common interest community, the seller provides the Association Documents by the Association Documents Deadline, at the seller’s expense (§7.2). That package includes governing documents, minutes, budget, financials and closing fees. You can terminate for any unsatisfactory provision by the Association Documents Termination Deadline (§7.4). If the documents come late, you get ten days after receipt. If they never arrive, your deadline is closing. Communities with layered associations or metro districts, like the Village at Castle Pines, Solterra, Anthem Ranch in Broomfield and Flying Horse in Colorado Springs, deserve enough days to actually read the documents. My metro districts guide covers the tax side.

Seller’s disclosures

The seller delivers the Commission’s Seller’s Property Disclosure by the Seller’s Property Disclosure Deadline (§10.1), plus a lead-based paint disclosure by its own deadline when the home was built before 1978. If the seller later discovers a new adverse material fact, they have to disclose it, and you can terminate by the earlier of closing or five days after you receive it (§10.2). My seller’s property disclosure guide covers the seller side.

Inspection: termination, objection and resolution

Three dates work together here (§10.3):

1. Inspection Termination Deadline. By this date you can terminate for any unsatisfactory condition, in your sole subjective discretion. This right ends once you deliver an Inspection Objection.
2. Inspection Objection Deadline. By this date you can deliver a written list of the conditions you want the seller to correct. That’s the “inspection objection” Colorado buyers hear about.
3. Inspection Resolution Deadline. If you and the seller haven’t signed a written settlement by this date, the contract terminates automatically, unless the seller receives your written withdrawal of the objection first.

That last point surprises people. Silence at the resolution deadline isn’t a yes. Schedule the inspection, sewer scope, radon test and any specialist follow-ups well inside the objection window. My luxury home inspection checklist shows what to schedule.

Property insurance and due diligence

You can terminate by the Property Insurance Termination Deadline if the availability, terms or premium of homeowners insurance aren’t satisfactory (§10.5), so get real quotes early rather than in closing week. Due diligence documents, like leases, solar agreements and a septic use permit where required, have their own delivery, objection and resolution deadlines. If one arrives late, you get the earlier of closing or ten days to object and fifteen days to resolve (§10.6). If your purchase depends on selling your current home, the Conditional Sale Deadline is your last day to terminate on that basis (§10.7).

Loan and credit

For a financed purchase, §5 sets four key dates. You apply by the New Loan Application Deadline. By the New Loan Terms Deadline, you can terminate if the payment, rate or costs aren’t satisfactory to you. By the New Loan Availability Deadline, you can terminate if the lender’s underwriting doesn’t come through. The contract warns in capital letters that if you don’t deliver a timely Notice to Terminate, your earnest money becomes nonrefundable, except as the contract provides elsewhere. Ask your lender how many days they need for underwriting and appraisal before the offer goes in, and set the loan dates from their answer. If you’re borrowing above the conforming limit, my jumbo loan limits guide explains why those files can need more time.

Appraisal

On a conventional loan or a cash purchase, §6.2.1 gives you three dates. If the appraised value comes in below the price, or the appraisal isn’t received by the Appraisal Deadline, you can terminate or deliver an Appraisal Objection by the Appraisal Objection Deadline, along with the appraisal or written verification from your lender. As with inspection, if there’s no signed settlement by the Appraisal Resolution Deadline, the contract terminates unless you withdraw the objection. The appraisal deadlines don’t apply to FHA and VA loans, which use their own federal language. Lender-required repairs are separate. Under §6.3, the contract terminates three days after the seller receives the requirements (or at closing, if sooner) unless the parties reach a written agreement, the work gets done, or you waive it in writing.

Closing, walk-through and possession

Closing happens on the Closing Date, or earlier if both parties agree (§12.3), and the seller hands over keys and access at closing. The seller requests the HOA status letter at least fourteen days before the Closing Date (§15.3). You have the right to walk through before closing to confirm the home’s condition (§18.4). Possession Date and Possession Time can match closing or come later if the seller needs a few days, and the contract sets a daily amount the seller owes if they hold over (§17). Separately, federal rules require your lender to give you the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing. Verify wiring instructions by phone with a number you already trust.

How long does it take to close on a house in Colorado?

As long as the dates you and the seller write in. Colorado doesn’t set a standard closing period. On a cash purchase, the timeline is mostly about inspection, title and HOA documents. On a financed purchase, the lender’s underwriting and appraisal usually set the pace, which is why I build the loan, appraisal and closing dates around what your lender says, not around a rule of thumb.

Shorter deadlines can make an offer stronger, but only when you can actually meet them. Missing a deadline doesn’t pause the contract; it usually means you’ve given up a right.

New forms on January 1, 2027

On October 7, 2026, the Colorado Division of Real Estate released the 2027 Commission-approved forms: 62 updated, 40 with substantive changes, mandatory January 1, 2027. This guide follows the 2026 CBS1 currently in use. Contracts signed in 2027 may use different section numbers and wording.

Deadlines across the Denver metro and Colorado Springs

The form is statewide, but the right number of days depends on the property. Master-planned communities with several associations need more time to read documents. Foothills homes in parts of Jefferson and Douglas Counties may have wells or septic systems that call for extra inspections and records. New-construction homes are often sold on the builder’s own contract, where deadlines can work differently (see my new construction guide). Relocating? See my moving to the Denver suburbs guide or, if you’re coming from the West Coast, moving to Denver from California. Area-specific buying notes are on my pages for Denver, Lakewood, Castle Pines, Highlands Ranch, Parker and Castle Rock.

How I help

I grew up in Castle Rock and work with buyers across Denver, Lakewood, Castle Pines, Highlands Ranch, Parker, Castle Rock, Broomfield and Colorado Springs. I work with Sean Gribbons at The Gold Standard Brokerage. Sean founded the brokerage, and we run it together. Before you sign, I go through the Dates and Deadlines table with you, check the loan dates with your lender, and keep a shared calendar so nothing slips. Start with the buyer calculator, book a free consultation, call or text me at 720-357-5785, or use the inquiry form on this page.