How Much Time Does Your Seller Actually Have Once Foreclosure Starts in Colorado?

The call usually sounds the same. A past client, or a referral from a past client, says they got "something from the public trustee" and they don''t know what it means.

The first question isn''t what happened. It''s what is the sale date. In Colorado, foreclosure runs on a calendar, and that calendar decides whether you have a listing, a short sale, or a conversation about where they''re going to live. Here''s how the clock actually works, what you can do inside each window, and where files get lost.

Colorado runs foreclosures through the public trustee

Most states are either judicial (the lender sues) or non-judicial (the lender just sells). Colorado is its own animal: the sale is handled administratively by a county public trustee, but the lender still has to get a court order authorizing it under Rule 120. In El Paso County, that''s the El Paso County Public Trustee.

The clock starts when the lender''s attorney records a Notice of Election and Demand (NED) with the Clerk and Recorder. From that recording, the public trustee sets the sale date 110 to 125 calendar days out for ordinary residential property, and 215 to 230 days out for agricultural property (C.R.S. 38-38-108).

Worth saying out loud to your seller: the NED is not the beginning of the problem. By the time it records, most borrowers are already several months behind. The 120 days is what''s left, not what they started with.

The statutory clock, start to finish

What happens	When	Authority
Lender''s attorney records the Notice of Election and Demand	Day 0	C.R.S. 38-38-101
Public trustee sets the sale date	110–125 days after recording (215–230 if agricultural)	C.R.S. 38-38-108
Combined Notice mailed to the owner and everyone with a recorded interest	Within 20 calendar days of recording	C.R.S. 38-38-103
Publication begins — once a week for five consecutive weeks	45–60 days before the sale	C.R.S. 38-38-103
Second Combined Notice mailed	45–60 days before the sale	C.R.S. 38-38-103
Rule 120 order authorizing the sale must reach the public trustee	By noon, second business day before the sale	C.R.C.P. 120
Notice of Intent to Cure filed with the public trustee	At least 15 calendar days before the sale	C.R.S. 38-38-104
Cure funds delivered	By noon the day before the sale	C.R.S. 38-38-104
Public trustee sale	Day 110–125	—
Junior lienholder files Notice of Intent to Redeem	Within 8 business days after the sale	C.R.S. 38-38-302
Most senior junior lienholder redeems	15–19 business days after the sale	C.R.S. 38-38-302
Each subsequent junior lienholder redeems	5 additional business days each	C.R.S. 38-38-302
Confirmation Deed issues	After all redemption periods expire and fees are paid	—

Here''s the same 120 days laid out proportionally. Notice how much of it is front-loaded quiet time — and how little is left once the notice hits the newspaper.

When you get the call decides what you can offer

This is the part nobody plans for. A normal El Paso County resale needs roughly 60 days from list to close once you account for marketing time, contract deadlines, and the lender. Compare that to what''s left on the clock depending on when the phone rings:

Practical takeaway: a file that reaches you at day 1 is a listing. A file that reaches you at day 95 is a payoff race, and usually a short sale if there''s no equity. Same house, completely different job.

The four ways a Colorado foreclosure ends

Outcome	Who drives it	Hard deadline	Your role
Cure (reinstatement) — bring the loan current	Owner, anyone liable on the debt, or a junior lienholder	Notice of Intent to Cure at least 15 days out; funds by noon the day before the sale	Know it exists so you don''t list a house that''s about to be reinstated
Payoff — refinance or pay the balance	Owner	Before the sale	Get them to a lender the same week, not next month
Sale to a buyer — with or without a short sale	Listing broker	Must close and fund the payoff before the trustee sale	This is your file. Everything below applies
Public trustee sale	Lender	Day 110–125	File''s over — title vests in the buyer at the sale, subject to redemption

One distinction that trips people up constantly: curing is not paying off. Curing means paying the arrears plus fees and costs and putting the loan back on schedule. A payoff retires the whole debt. The cure right belongs to the owner, anyone liable on the debt, and junior lienholders — not to a buyer.

What to do, by phase

Days to sale	What actually matters
120–90	Confirm the sale date with the public trustee yourself. Pull an O&E so you know every lien, not just the ones the seller remembers. Get the seller to an attorney and a CPA. Price to sell, not to test the market.
90–60	List it. If it''s underwater, get the hardship package to the servicer now and write the contract on the Commission-approved Short Sale Addendum. Order payoffs early — they expire.
60–30	Under contract. Escrow is chasing payoffs and rebuilding the settlement statement every time something moves. Re-verify the sale date weekly; continuances and accelerations both happen.
30–15	The cure window is closing. If a reinstatement or continuance is in play, get it confirmed in writing from the servicer — not verbally from a call center.
Under 15	Realistically you close only if the payoff figure is in hand and funds are ready. The cure deadline is noon the day before the sale. After that, the only lever left is the lender agreeing to continue.

After the sale: Colorado does not give the owner a redemption right

This is the single biggest misconception I run into, usually because someone watched an out-of-state video or remembers the old rule. For foreclosures started on or after January 1, 2008, there is no owner right of redemption in Colorado. When the sale happens, it''s done for the homeowner.

Redemption still exists — but only for junior lienholders, and on a tight schedule:

Step	Window
Junior lienholder files Notice of Intent to Redeem plus a statement of the amount owed	Within 8 business days after the sale
Most senior junior lienholder may redeem	Business days 15–19 after the sale
Each next junior lienholder in priority	5 additional business days each
Confirmation Deed to the certificate holder or final redeemer	After all periods run and fees are paid

The title side: what survives the sale

If you have an investor client looking at the public trustee list, this table is the whole conversation. A trustee sale wipes out what is junior to the foreclosing deed of trust — and nothing else.

Interest	Survives the trustee sale?
Real property taxes and special assessments	Yes — always get paid
Liens senior to the deed of trust being foreclosed (for example, the first when a second forecloses)	Yes — the buyer takes subject to them
Liens junior to the deed of trust being foreclosed	Extinguished, subject to the redemption rights above
HOA assessments	An HOA lien carries a limited super-priority over a first deed of trust for up to six months of common expense assessments (C.R.S. 38-33.3-316). Confirm the actual figure and treatment on every file
Federal tax lien recorded junior to the deed of trust	Extinguished, but the United States has a separate 120-day redemption right after the sale
Easements, covenants, conditions, restrictions	Yes

Buying at the sale is not an insured transaction, and nobody hands you a title commitment on the courthouse steps. If a client is bidding, the homework has to happen beforehand.

If an investor is buying from a homeowner in foreclosure

This is where good agents get into trouble without meaning to. The Colorado Foreclosure Protection Act (C.R.S. 6-1-1101 et seq.) applies when someone buys a residence that is already in foreclosure as an investment rather than to live in. That buyer is an "equity purchaser," and the deal has specific requirements:

• The transaction uses the Commission-approved Foreclosure Protection Act contract (CBSF1) — not a standard contract to buy and sell.
• Three disclosures ride along: the Homeowner Warning Notice, the Seller Warning, and the Notice of Cancellation. The Homeowner Warning Notice has to be translated if the seller''s primary language isn''t English.
• The seller can cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing, or noon the day before the foreclosure sale — whichever comes first.
• A licensed broker performing licensed activities is not a "foreclosure consultant" under the Act.
• A properly documented short sale using the Commission-approved Short Sale Addendum is handled differently than an equity-purchase deal.

If you take one thing from this section: an investor deal on a house in foreclosure written on a standard contract is a problem waiting to surface. Get the right forms out before you write it.

Where I can help

These files live or die on information you can get in a day:

• Owners & Encumbrances report — every recorded lien on the property, usually back to you same day or next.
• Current sale date — confirmed, so you''re not working from what the seller thinks it is.
• Payoff and demand coordination — ordered early and re-ordered when they expire.
• Short sale escrow — settlement statements the servicer can actually approve from, rebuilt as fast as the file moves.
• A realistic net for the seller before they make a decision they can''t undo.

Send me the address as soon as you get the call. Day 1 and day 95 are different jobs, and the earlier we look, the more options your seller has.

• Email: ben.gosz@ctt.com
• Phone: 719.602.9431

This article is general information for real estate professionals, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Statutes and deadlines change, and every file has its own facts. Homeowners facing foreclosure should consult their own attorney, and a HUD-approved housing counselor is free.

Frequently asked questions

How long does a Colorado foreclosure take from start to sale?

The public trustee sets the sale date 110 to 125 calendar days after the Notice of Election and Demand is recorded for ordinary residential property, and 215 to 230 days out for agricultural property. That''s the statutory window under C.R.S. 38-38-108. It does not count the months of delinquency that came before the NED, which is usually why your seller feels like this happened overnight when it didn''t.

Can a Colorado homeowner get the house back after the foreclosure sale?

No. For foreclosures started on or after January 1, 2008, Colorado eliminated the owner''s right of redemption. The homeowner''s last opportunity is to cure before the sale — Notice of Intent to Cure filed at least 15 days out, funds delivered by noon the day before — or to close a sale that pays off the loan. After the sale, only junior lienholders have redemption rights.

Can the public trustee sale date be pushed back?

Sometimes. The holder of the debt can request a continuance, and sales do get continued — often when an approved short sale is close to closing. But it''s the lender''s decision, not yours and not the public trustee''s, and nobody is required to do it. Confirm the current sale date directly with the public trustee and re-check it weekly rather than trusting what a loss mitigation rep said three weeks ago.

What''s the difference between curing and paying off?

Curing means paying the past-due amount plus allowable fees and costs, which puts the loan back on its original schedule. A payoff retires the entire debt and releases the deed of trust. Under C.R.S. 38-38-104 the right to cure belongs to the owner, anyone liable on the debt, and junior lienholders — a buyer can''t cure, which is why a purchase has to be structured as a payoff and has to close before the sale.

Can I list a home that''s already in foreclosure?

Yes, and it happens constantly. The owner still holds title until the trustee sale, so they can list and sell like any other seller. The difference is that the sale date is a hard deadline on your closing, and if the property is underwater you''re also running a short sale approval on the servicer''s timeline. Pull title before the listing goes live so you know the full lien picture while you still have time to work with it.

What happens to a second mortgage or an HOA balance at the sale?

A second recorded after the foreclosing deed of trust is extinguished at the sale, subject to that lienholder''s right to redeem. HOA assessments are the exception worth knowing: Colorado gives the association''s lien a limited super-priority over a first deed of trust for up to six months of common expense assessments under C.R.S. 38-33.3-316. On any specific file, confirm what the association is actually claiming rather than assuming.

Does the seller still owe money after the property sells at the trustee sale?

Possibly. If the winning bid is less than what''s owed, the shortfall is a deficiency, and whether the lender can pursue it depends on the loan, the bid, and Colorado''s bidding statutes. There can also be a 1099 issued for forgiven debt. That''s an attorney and CPA conversation, and it should happen early — not after closing.

Where do I find the foreclosure sale date and the filings?

The county public trustee. In our market that''s the El Paso County Public Trustee, which publishes the foreclosure list and sale dates. The NED itself is recorded with the Clerk and Recorder, and an O&E report will show it along with every other lien on the property. Ask me and I''ll pull it for you.