Description Of Colorado Real Estate Forms

1. Colorado Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate: This is the sales contract as approved by the Colorado Real Estate Commission. Starting with the table on the first page, this document looks more complicated than it really is. Sellers with e a low tolerance for technical writing should read no more than 3 paragraphs at a sitting.

The 2nd page provides space to list items that are included in the sale, and items the seller plans to keep. The 3rd page is devoted to describing the Buyer's method of financing the purchase and can't be filled out without a potential buyer who has agreed to the price and is prepared to say how much cash he or she can offer as a down payment and what kind of mortgage loan he or she will try to get.

2. Colorado Residential Seller's Property Disclosure:. The purpose of the disclosure document is to allow the Seller to tell the Buyer what he or she knows about hazards and faults with the property. It does NOT require research. "Don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer to most questions.

3. Colorado Lead-Based Paint Disclosure: For homes built prior to 1978, Federal law requires sellers to disclose all they know about the existence of lead paint hazards. Colorado has extended this to all homes.

4. Colorado Closing Instructions & Earnest Money Receipt: Buyer and Seller use this form to specify the Title Company or other licensed Attorney group who will perform the functions of a "closing attorney." This form also serves as a receipt for any deposits made by the Buyer.

5. Agreement to Amend/Extend Contract: The purpose of this form is to allow the Seller and Buyer to change deadlines and specify terms not included in the original Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate. In most cases, the new terms can be copied from our Special Stipulations form, or ‘cut’ and ‘pasted” into the blank space on the Agreement to Amend/Extend.

6. Counterproposal: A short form that provides a formal way for the Seller to respond with changes to a Buyer's offer to purchase the property.

7. Colorado Square Footage Disclosure: Unique to Colorado, this form provides a format for the Seller to meet Colorado's requirement to state the floor dimensions of the property's living space.

8. Special Stipulations: This is a plain text document with 24 clauses (paragraphs) that describe situations Sellers and Buyers often want to include in a Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate. For instance, a Buyer may want to make the contract subject to approval of a father-in-law who is financing the purchase. These stipulations are in plain text format so they may easily be ‘cut’ and ‘pasted’ into ‘Additional Provisions’ (paragraph 24 of the Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate, or pasted into the blank space under “Additional amendments” of an Agreement to Amend/Extend Contract.

9. Seller's Affidavit of Non foreign Status: The Internal Revenue Service requires Buyers to withhold taxes from the purchase price of homes sold by foreign persons. Seller fills in Social Security number and home address and signs to certify that Seller is a tax-paying American. The law applies to all home sales in the United States, but is primarily enforced in Hawaii, California, Florida, and perhaps Vale and Aspen where there are large numbers of foreign homeowners.

10. Net to Seller: This form allows user to enter estimates of all closing costs (balance on current mortgage loan, attorney's fee, Title search, etc). The user manually subtracts the total estimated cost from the Purchase Price to get the amount of cash the Seller will receive at closing.

11. Buyer Pre-Qualification: This form records the prospective Buyer's annual income and expenses and provides a manual calculation formula to determine if Buyer can afford the asking price.

12. Buyer Pre-Qual Sample: Buyer Pre-Qualification form filled out for a Buyer with $48,000 annual income. Based on the sample Buyer's monthly expenses, the form estimates that Buyer can afford a $144,000 house.