BUY · PROPERTY
Read what the listing cannot.
Use the seven-station Buyer story, then carry the unknowns into inspection instead of treating the showing as the inspection.
THE SEVEN-STATION READ
THE FIVE KINDS · CHECK WHAT YOU NOTICED
Turn the showing into a sorted list.
Check anything you saw on the walkthrough or read in the seller’s disclosure. Nothing here is a pass or a fail: this is not a home inspection, and it does not replace one. Every checked item just tells you which of the five kinds it is, so you know what to do with it before the deadline does.Nothing checked yet. Your sorted list appears here.
THE WORK
Four parts move together.
- 01VISIBLE
Elevation, roof, grade, glazing
Read the exterior system before the finishes create attachment.
- 02HIDDEN
Mechanical, soil, sewer
Pages 05–07 show why listing photography cannot answer ownership questions.
- 03DOCUMENTED
Permits, age, repairs
Compare what exists with what the public and seller records can establish.
- 04UNKNOWN
Name it before pricing it
An unknown becomes an inspection, document request, specialist, reserve, or contract term.
The showing is not the inspection.
A showing runs in the order the listing chose: finishes first, then the rooms, then the yard on the way out. Reading the house runs in the order the money moves: the exterior system first, because the roof, the grade and the glazing decide the insurance line, the water line and the first repair, and the finishes last, because they are the only part a buyer can change on a Saturday.
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Along the Front Range the roof is what the insurer is pricing, so get an insurance quote on the actual address and roof age before you write the offer (the financing page on this site). The county pages here list what the ground adds by area: expansive clay, grading, drainage and foundation history on the plains; hail, soil and irrigation together in the south metro; wildfire, radon and past movement at elevation.
None of that shows in listing photography. The four stations above are the reading order the photos cannot give you: visible, hidden, documented, unknown.
What the records can establish, and what still needs eyes.
Public records answer part of it. Permits say what work was declared and when. The assessor's record gives the age and the square footage the county is taxing. A metropolitan district, where one exists, is a local government under Colorado's Special District Act (Title 32) with its own debt and mill levy, and it is found in the district's filings, not in the listing (the metro district file on this site).
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The seller's records answer the next part: repair invoices, the roof's age and its claim history, the system ages, the written disclosure. At a condo or townhome the association's reserves, assessments, minutes and master policy deductible are part of the property's value file, not paperwork for later (the condo evidence file on this site).
What neither record can establish still needs eyes: the sewer line, the roof's actual condition, the crawlspace, the grade against the foundation. Those are the inspections, and a Denver showing does not include any of them.
Turn every unknown into a contract term.
An unknown is not a reason to walk away or to pay less on instinct. It becomes one of five things: an inspection, a document request, a specialist, a reserve, or a contract term. Name which one before the price is set, because the price is the only place an unnamed unknown ever lands.
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The Colorado contract carries an inspection objection deadline and an inspection termination deadline, and you choose both dates in the offer. Before the objection deadline you can ask in writing for repairs, a credit or a price change; before the termination deadline you can walk away with the deposit; miss the date and the right is gone, not postponed. Seven to ten days is common in the metro (PROBABLE), and the sewer scope, the roof read and the association documents belong inside that window (the offers and closing page on this site).
So the list you leave the showing with is the list the deadlines have to fit. Send the address and the list comes back sorted into the five kinds, with what each one costs to answer.
THE NEXT USEFUL PAGE
Keep the decision moving in order.
CONTINUE →WHEN IT IS YOUR HOUSE