Colorado Real Estate Broker Cheat Sheet.
The night-before summary, built like the exam.

Colorado exam at a glance

Two separately scored portions. National: 80 questions, 120 minutes, 60 correct to pass. State: 74 questions, 110 minutes, 53 correct to pass. That is 90 seconds per question nationally and about 89 on the state portion. A 15-minute tutorial precedes the exam and does not count against your time. A passing portion is banked for one year while you retake the other.

Colorado numbers to memorise

• Qualifying education 168 hours, by component: 48 law and practice, 48 contracts, 32 practical applications, 24 closings — 152 of the 168.
• Exam fee $44.95. Renewal fee $252. Licence history document $15.
• Pass marks as percentages: 60 of 80 is 75 percent; 53 of 74 is about 72 percent. The national portion is the stricter bar.
• No salesperson tier — every Colorado licensee is a broker.

Duties: OLD CAR

Obedience, loyalty, disclosure, confidentiality, accounting, reasonable care. Two boundaries carry the hard questions: obedience stops at lawfulness, so an instruction to hide a material defect is refused rather than weighed; and confidentiality survives termination, so an expired listing does not release you. Agency ends by completion, expiration, mutual agreement or revocation. A customer is owed only honesty, fair dealing and disclosure of material defects.

Trust accounts

Safeguard entrusted funds; never commingle. Pooling several transactions in one account is allowed, but the amount held for each party must be identifiable at all times. A shortfall — even from a bank fee — is restored from the broker's own funds and documented; that deposit is the recognised exception to the commingling rule because it protects rather than mixes. Restore, document, disclose.

Contracts

Elements: competent parties, mutual assent, consideration, lawful object, writing under the Statute of Frauds. Colorado brokers complete Commission-approved forms, which is what separates filling in authorised terms from drafting them.

• Revocation before acceptance ends the offer with no contract formed.
• Any change of terms is a counteroffer, which rejects and terminates the original.
• Time is of the essence makes deadlines strictly enforceable; missing one is breach.
• Earnest money is a good-faith deposit held in trust, not a penalty fund.

Listings — who gets paid

• Exclusive right to sell: broker paid whoever finds the buyer.
• Exclusive agency: broker paid unless the seller finds the buyer personally.
• Open: only the procuring broker is paid; seller may list with several.

The listing belongs to the brokerage, so a departing licensee does not take it with them.

Fair housing

Seven protected classes: race, colour, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, disability. Steering, blockbusting and redlining are defined by conduct, not intent — and a buyer raising the subject is no defence. Discriminatory advertising is illegal even where the transaction would be exempt. Mrs. Murphy (owner-occupied, four units or fewer) never reaches race, because the Civil Rights Act of 1866 has no exemptions, and never covers a licensee. Assume no exemption is available to you.

Valuation

Three approaches by property type: sales comparison (adjust the comparable toward the subject — downward if superior), cost (new or special-purpose), income (NOI ÷ cap rate). GRM = price ÷ monthly gross rent. Four principles: contribution (what it adds, not what it cost), substitution (ceiling set by alternatives), conformity, anticipation. Depreciation: physical, functional, external — external is always incurable.

Land use and ownership

• Zoning is police power: no compensation. Eminent domain via condemnation: just compensation required.
• Legal nonconforming use is grandfathered, usually not expandable; a variance or conditional use permit is granted on application.
• Deed restrictions and zoning apply independently — the more restrictive controls.
• Fee simple absolute is the benchmark; life estate ends on a measuring life; fee simple determinable ends automatically on a condition.
• Joint tenancy carries survivorship (outside probate); tenancy in common shares are inheritable and may be unequal.

Closings

Seller delivers marketable title. A lender's policy insures only the mortgage interest and shrinks with the balance; an owner's policy covers the owner's equity. Neither covers physical condition. Deed validity requires competent parties, words of conveyance, adequate legal description, grantor's signature, delivery and acceptance — recording gives constructive notice and priority but cannot cure a defective instrument. Warranty scope: general (all defects, any time) > special (grantor's ownership only) > quitclaim (no warranties, clears clouds).

Proration and finance

Proration splits taxes, rent and interest at the closing date. Prepaid: buyer reimburses seller for the unused portion. In arrears: seller credits buyer for the seller's share. Watch for a 360-day banker's year. The note is the promise to repay; the mortgage or deed of trust is the security. A due-on-sale clause blocks assumption. One discount point equals one percent of the loan. Conventional means no government backing; PMI generally attaches below 20 percent down.