What should I check in a written cash offer on my Denver house before I sign?
SEVEN LINES DECIDE WHETHER A CASH OFFER IS CASH, AND THE COLORADO FORM HOLDS ALL SEVEN.
Read seven lines of the Colorado contract before the price. Whether the buyer represents that funds are immediately verifiable (Section 4.4.3, VERIFIED), how much earnest money is tendered and who holds it (4.3), the three inspection deadlines (10.3), whether the appraisal deadlines are blank so the contingency is deleted (3.2 and 6.2), who pays closing and title costs (15.1, 15.2, 8.1), and whether the contract is assignable (2.2). A cash offer that skips any of them is a promise, not an offer.SELLING · SHOWN
Seven lines on one form. Read them in this order, and the price last.
- 01FUNDS
Section 4.4.3
The buyer represents whether it does or does not have funds immediately verifiable and available for the cash at closing (VERIFIED). Ask for the proof behind the box.
- 02EARNEST
Sections 4.3 and 20.1.2
Earnest money is tendered with the contract and held in trust by the named holder for both parties; on a buyer default it is liquidated damages, not a penalty, when that is the remedy elected in Section 20.1 (VERIFIED).
- 03DEADLINES
Sections 10.3, 3.2 and 6.2
Three inspection deadlines set when the buyer can object, terminate or lose the right. Appraisal deadlines left blank delete the appraisal contingency (VERIFIED).
- 04COSTS
Sections 15 and 8.1, then 2.2
Closing and title costs are checkbox choices between buyer, seller or split; the contract is not assignable unless Additional Provisions says so (VERIFIED).
The money lines.
The contract's cash representation is Section 4.4.3: the buyer represents that it does or does not have funds that are immediately verifiable and available in an amount not less than the cash at closing (VERIFIED). A real cash buyer checks the box and sends the statement. Earnest money under Section 4.3 is tendered with the contract, or by an agreed alternative deadline, and is held by the named earnest money holder in a trust account on behalf of both seller and buyer (VERIFIED). If the buyer defaults and the contract's Section 20.1 election is liquidated damages, Section 20.1.2 makes that earnest money the seller's liquidated damages and not a penalty (VERIFIED); check which remedy box the offer marks, because that is what makes its size the seller's real protection.
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The appraisal lines matter in reverse. The form's appraisal deadlines exist for a lender's appraisal, and Section 3.2 says any deadline left blank or marked N/A is not applicable and the corresponding provision is deleted (VERIFIED). A cash buyer who leaves them blank has removed the appraisal contingency; a seller should confirm that was the intent on both sides.
The time lines.
Section 10.3 sets three inspection dates: the inspection termination deadline, the inspection objection deadline and the inspection resolution deadline. If the buyer objects in time and the parties have not signed a settlement by the resolution deadline, the contract terminates on that date unless the buyer has withdrawn the objection (VERIFIED). A cash offer with a long inspection window is a financed offer's risk without the financing.
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Possession under Section 17 is delivered on the possession date and time written in the contract, cash or not (VERIFIED). Whether the sale closes quickly or slowly is set by these dates and by the title work, not by the word cash.
The cost and the assignment lines.
Sections 15.1 and 15.2 have each party pay its own closing costs in good funds and let the parties choose who pays the closing services fee, and Section 8.1 lets either party's box be checked to select the title company and pay for the owner's policy (VERIFIED). None of that is fixed by the word cash, so read which boxes the buyer checked. Section 2.2 makes the contract not assignable by the buyer unless Additional Provisions say otherwise (VERIFIED); if the buyer added assignability, ask who will actually close.
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Then compare the offer to the same house listed. Robert prices the written cash offer beside a lower-cost listing and a full listing on one net sheet with the source beside every number, so the price is judged last and in context, and the contract language itself goes to an attorney when a buyer supplies its own form.
THE RECEIPT
Every number and every section, with its source.
VERIFIED means the text was fetched and read on the date shown. PROBABLE means a snippet or a secondary page carried it, and the primary text or an attorney confirms it.- SOURCE · VERIFIED
- Colorado Real Estate Commission, Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), for use on or after January 1, 2026 (Sections 2.2, 3.2, 4.3, 4.4.3, 6.2, 8.1, 10.3, 15, 17, 20.1.2)
Read 2026-09-24.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- Colorado Division of Real Estate, broker advisory on signed agreements and advising a consumer to seek legal advice on a principal's own contract
Read 2026-09-24.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - SOURCE · VERIFIED
- The three exits priced on one house, on this site
Read 2026-09-24.
OPEN THE SOURCE ↗ - AS OF
- September 2026
- GEOGRAPHY
- Colorado; Denver metro
- DOES NOT PROVE
- Whether a particular offer is legitimate, what your house will net under it, or the legal effect of a buyer's own contract. The page reads the Commission form, not your offer.
WHERE ROBERT STOPS
Robert compares a written cash offer line by line to a listed net sheet. Reviewing contract language for legal effect, and any nonstandard buyer-drafted contract, belongs with a real estate attorney.
THE RECORD, PUBLICLY CHECKABLE
5.0 across 32 Zillow reviews · 54 recorded sales, 18 in the last twelve months.
Robert S. An, broker associate at Compass, Colorado license 100084328. Checked on the public Zillow profile September 24, 2026; a public profile changes, so read it yourself rather than taking this line for it. Those sales are residential, across the Denver metro.READ THE CLIENT ACCOUNTS WHOLE →THE NET SHEET, ON YOUR HOUSE
Send the address.
Send the address and the offer. The net sheet comes back with the cash offer, a lower-cost listing and a full listing priced on the same house, source beside every number.SEND ME THE ADDRESSPRICE IT
See what each way out leaves on this house.
OPEN THE NET SHEET →WHEN IT IS YOUR HOUSE