Foreclosure in Colorado: the public trustee process, step by step
What happens after the Notice of Election and Demand is recorded, how the Colorado foreclosure timeline runs, where the deadlines fall, which dates can move, and what an owner in Northern Colorado can still do before the sale.
Colorado foreclosure runs through the county public trustee (Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38). The lender’s attorney files a Notice of Election and Demand, the trustee records it, and a house’s first sale date falls 110 to 125 days later. To cure, file a notice of intent fifteen days before the sale and pay the full cure amount by noon the day before.
How to use this guide, and where it stops.
Amy and Jenny at Expert Cash Buyers see this process from the owner’s side in Northern Colorado, because some of the houses we buy are somewhere between the first missed payment and the sale date. This page lays out the steps as the statute sets them, so you can see where you’re on the calendar and what’s still open to you.
If you already have a notice from the public trustee in your hands, start by finding the sale date printed on it. Every decision below is measured against that one date, and the timeline further down this page shows where it sits in the sequence. Know that it’s the first scheduled date, not a locked one: sales are continued week to week for missing paperwork, a pending loss mitigation file or a bankruptcy, so confirm the current date with the public trustee before you treat any printed date as final.
This page stops short of advice. It’s general information, not legal advice; confirm with a Colorado attorney, and treat the county public trustee’s office as the source for your exact dates and figures. Two free calls come before any investor, including us: the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline, whose number your lender is required to mail you before the notice is filed, and a HUD-approved housing counselor. If you’re behind on the mortgage and live in the house, Colorado also gives you specific protections when you sell to an investor; a counselor or a Colorado attorney can walk you through them before you sign anything.
How does foreclosure work in Colorado?
In Colorado, a residential foreclosure runs through the county public trustee, the county office that administers foreclosures under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38 (Title 38, Article 38). The process begins when the lender’s attorney files a Notice of Election and Demand, usually shortened to NED, with the public trustee, who reviews the filing and, within ten business days, records it with the county clerk and recorder. That recording is the moment a late mortgage becomes a foreclosure in the legal sense, and it’s the date every later deadline counts from.
The public trustee then sets the sale date and mails the combined notice to the owner and to others with a recorded interest, within twenty days of recording and again forty-five to sixty days before the sale. Separately, the lender must get a court order authorizing the sale under Rule 120, and you’ll receive notice of that hearing. The owner keeps title to the house through all of it. Nothing changes hands until the sale itself.
Which office handles the file comes down to where the house sits. When a borrower falls behind and the lender decides to foreclose, the lender’s attorney files with the public trustee of the county the property is in. The office is the same in every county, and so is the calendar it follows. County follows the parcel, not the town name: Windsor, Longmont, Erie and several metro suburbs straddle county lines, so use the county on your deed and tax bill.
- The Larimer County public trustee, for Fort Collins, Loveland and Wellington.
- The Weld County public trustee, for Greeley, Evans and the Weld side of Windsor.
- The Boulder County public trustee, for Boulder, Lafayette and the Boulder County side of Longmont.
- The individual metro counties, each with its own public trustee, for Denver and its suburbs.
How long does it take to foreclose on a house in Colorado?
Measured from the recorded Notice of Election and Demand, the Colorado foreclosure timeline is set by statute. For a house or any other non-agricultural property, Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38-108 requires the public trustee to set the first sale date no fewer than 110 and no more than 125 calendar days after the NED is recorded; agricultural property gets 215 to 230 days. In practice that’s roughly four months between the recording and the auction, and the exact day is printed on the notice you receive from the public trustee. Write that date down before you do anything else, because every decision on this page is measured against it, and then check it again, because the sale can be continued week to week, up to twelve months from the original date, for good cause or at the lender’s request.
The part that isn’t fixed is everything before the NED. Servicers differ in how many missed payments they tolerate and how long their review takes before their attorney files the notice, so the stretch from the first missed payment to the NED varies. There’s a floor, though. For most home loans, federal servicing rules bar the first foreclosure filing until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent (12 CFR 1024.41), and Colorado requires the lender to mail you a notice with the foreclosure hotline number and a loss mitigation contact at least thirty days after the default and at least thirty days before the NED is filed. If you have missed payments and haven’t yet received a recorded NED, you’re in pre-foreclosure, and you have more room than you’ll have at any later point.
After the NED, the calendar runs from the statute, with the sale date the one thing that can still move. The owner’s right to cure has two deadlines: the notice of intent to cure must reach the public trustee at least fifteen calendar days before the sale date, and the full cure amount on the public trustee’s cure statement must be paid by noon on the day before the sale, or by the statement’s own expiration date if that comes first. After the sale, the former owner has no redemption right in Colorado; only certain junior lienholders do. That’s why the timeline matters so much for a seller: a sale that needs to close before the auction has to be built backward from the sale date, with room for the contract, the title work, the payoff figure and the signing. A cash closing fits inside that window in a way a financed purchase, with its appraisal and underwriting, often can’t.
What are the legal requirements for foreclosure in Colorado?
The requirements that matter to an owner come down to five things in Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38. A letter from the servicer isn’t a foreclosure; the recorded Notice of Election and Demand is. Once that notice exists, the statute controls the sale date, the court order the lender needs, the owner’s right to cure and what happens after the sale.
- The lender’s attorney must file a Notice of Election and Demand with the county public trustee, who records it with the county clerk and recorder. That recording starts the foreclosure and the clock.
- The public trustee must set the first sale date no fewer than 110 and no more than 125 days after the NED is recorded for a house (215 to 230 for agricultural land), the window Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38-108 fixes; the sale can then be continued. The lender must also obtain a court order authorizing the sale under Rule 120 before the sale can be held; a sale without one is invalid. You get notice of that hearing and can file a response, generally at least seven days before the hearing date, if you dispute the default.
- When the default is missed payments, the owner has the right to cure, meaning pay the full cure amount on the public trustee’s cure statement (the missed payments, late charges, the lender’s attorney fees and costs and the trustee’s fees), by filing a notice of intent to cure with the public trustee at least fifteen calendar days before the sale date. The cure amount is then due by noon on the day before the sale, or by the statement’s expiration date if that’s earlier.
- Once the sale happens, the former owner has no right of redemption. Only certain junior lienholders can redeem after the sale.
What does pre-foreclosure mean in Colorado?
Pre-foreclosure isn’t a term in the statute; it’s the everyday name for the stretch between a missed payment and the public trustee sale. It has two distinct halves. Before the NED is recorded, the file sits with your servicer, the missed payments and fees grow month by month, and nothing is yet public. After the NED, the foreclosure is on record with the county public trustee, the sale date is set, and the letters and phone calls from investors, attorneys and rescue services begin, because the recording is public and people read it.
In both halves the owner’s options are the same: bring the loan current, or work out a repayment plan, forbearance or modification with the servicer; sell the house and pay the loan off at closing; let the sale happen; or, less often, negotiate with the lender to hand the house back. A complete loss mitigation application matters here: if the servicer receives one more than thirty-seven days before the sale, federal rules bar it from holding the sale while the application is decided, and Colorado lets you file the servicer’s written confirmation with the public trustee at least fourteen days before the sale to have the sale continued. A bankruptcy filing also stops the sale while the stay lasts, at a cost that needs a bankruptcy attorney’s advice before the sale date. Which option is right depends on two numbers: how much equity is in the house, and how many days remain. Equity plus time favors listing with an agent, and if that would clearly net you more, we’ll tell you. Equity without time favors a direct sale that can close inside the window. Little or no equity means the conversation is with the lender before anyone else.
The cure isn’t the only way to end a foreclosure, and it’s worth being clear about the difference. Curing means paying the full cure amount, not the whole loan balance, and it leaves you in the house with the mortgage continuing. Selling means the lender is paid off through the title company; when the price covers the payoff, the lender’s attorney withdraws the notice and the foreclosure ends, and when it doesn’t, the sale needs the lender’s written approval first. The two routes are set out side by side further down this page. Our page on selling a house in foreclosure walks through the sale route in detail: what the offer looks like, how the payoff is handled at title, and what has to happen by which day. This page is the map; that page is the route.
Read more: Sell a House in Foreclosure: Close Before the Sale Date, Colorado →
Can you look up if a house is in foreclosure?
Yes. A Colorado foreclosure becomes public the day the Notice of Election and Demand is recorded, and the county public trustee is the office of record. Each public trustee keeps a list of active foreclosures in its county, with the property, the recording date and the scheduled sale date, and the larger counties publish a searchable version online. For Northern Colorado that means the Larimer County public trustee, the Weld County public trustee and the Boulder County public trustee; for Denver and its suburbs, each metro county keeps its own.
If you’re the owner, the practical point is that once your NED is recorded, anyone can find it. That’s where the mailers and the voicemails come from. Sort the senders by one test: will they put a number in writing, with the math behind it, before asking you to sign anything? Ignore the rest. If you’re looking at a foreclosure list because you want to buy, the auction questions in the FAQs below explain why buying at a trustee sale is a different transaction from buying a house from its owner before the sale.
The searches people run as Larimer County foreclosure search, Weld County foreclosure list or Larimer County foreclosure auction all end at the same place: the public trustee. What that list holds is narrower than most people expect.
- It shows houses with an NED recorded and a sale date pending. Those are the foreclosures.
- It doesn’t show houses where the owner has simply missed payments, because those aren’t yet foreclosures.
- It doesn’t show houses that were sold or cured before the sale date, because those foreclosures ended.
What happens to your mortgage and your equity if you sell before the sale date?
A sale before the trustee sale is a real closing with a hard deadline. The title company orders a payoff statement from your lender, the buyer’s funds pay it at closing, and the lender is paid in full. The lender’s attorney then files a withdrawal of the notice with the public trustee and the foreclosure ends, because there’s no longer anything to foreclose; the release of the deed of trust itself runs through the public trustee. If the price won’t cover the payoff, the closing needs the lender’s written approval of the shortfall first, and that runs on the lender’s clock.
Equity is the difference between what the house sells for and what those payoffs total. A foreclosure eats into it two ways: the missed payments, interest and fees grow every month, and a house that goes to the trustee sale is sold for whatever it brings that day, with the former owner holding no right to redeem it afterward. An auction doesn’t automatically erase equity. If the bidding goes above the lender’s bid, Colorado law pays that overbid first to junior lienholders who filed to redeem and then to you, the borrower, and the public trustee holds it for you at no charge (unclaimed money goes to the state’s unclaimed property fund after six months, where you can still claim it). What the auction does take away is control: you don’t know the price until that morning, and lenders often bid the debt. The other half of that risk is the shortfall. If the sale brings less than the debt, the holder can pursue the difference, and C.R.S. 38-38-106(6) assumes exactly that: the bid amount may be raised as a defense by any person sued on a deficiency. Selling before the sale, even at a cash price below what a listing might have brought, gives you a known number on a date you choose and lets you see the shortfall before you sign rather than after. That’s the honest trade-off: a price you can see in advance, against an auction result you can’t.
If the payoffs total more than the house is worth, the sale needs written approval from every lienholder who won’t be paid in full, and that process runs on the lender’s clock, not yours. Ask for the release of the remaining balance in writing, because a lender can release its lien and still pursue the shortfall, and forgiven mortgage debt can be taxable income. Our payoff and liens guide covers that case, including tax liens and second loans. With Expert Cash Buyers, you receive a written offer within 24 hours and we walk you through how we reached it, so you can set it next to your payoff figure and see quickly whether a sale before the date works. Closing can be in as little as 14 days at a local title company, on the date you choose. Here’s the order the money moves in at that closing.
Read more: Can I Sell My House If I Still Owe on It? Payoff and Liens →
- Property taxes owed come first, then the lender’s payoff, which includes the missed payments, the accrued interest and the foreclosure costs the lender has added.
- Then any other recorded liens: a second mortgage, a line of credit, a judgment or IRS lien, an HOA balance (up to six months of HOA dues can actually rank ahead of the lender under Colorado’s common interest ownership act).
- Then the closing costs, which on a sale to us are covered for the seller, with no fees or commissions taken out.
- Whatever remains is wired to you. That’s your equity, at a number you saw before you signed.
What happens after the public trustee sale?
The sale is held by the public trustee on the scheduled date. The high bidder, or the lender if no one outbids it, receives a certificate of purchase, not a deed. Title vests after the junior lienholders’ redemption periods run, or eight business days after the sale if no lienholder filed to redeem, and the public trustee then records a confirmation deed; a lender that takes the house that way holds what the listing sites call a bank-owned property. Under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38 the former owner has no redemption right after the sale; only certain junior lienholders do. For the owner, the sale date is the end of the line rather than the start of a waiting period, which isn’t how every state works, and it’s the reason every option on this page has to be exercised before that morning. Two things can follow the sale: if the bidding went above the lender’s bid, the overbid is yours to claim from the public trustee after junior lienholders are paid; and if the sale brought less than the debt, the lender can still sue for the difference, though Colorado requires it to bid at least its good faith estimate of the house’s market value and a lowball bid is a defense.
Occupancy after the sale is its own legal question with its own notices and its own timeline, and we don’t summarize it here; a Colorado attorney or the public trustee’s office can explain what applies. What we can say plainly is that the protections on this page have deadlines: the notice of intent to cure must be filed at least fifteen calendar days before the sale, the full cure amount is due by noon the day before the sale (or by the cure statement’s earlier expiration date), and the ability to sell the house and pay the lender off ends at the sale itself. Knowing both dates is the first step, and the public trustee’s notice carries them.
Cure the default or sell before the sale date.
Cure the default
- What it means Paying the full cure amount on the public trustee’s cure statement (missed payments, late charges, the lender’s fees and costs), not the whole loan balance.
- What you file A notice of intent to cure with the public trustee, at least fifteen calendar days before the sale date.
- The deadline The cure amount is due by noon on the day before the sale, or by the cure statement’s expiration date if that comes first.
- Where it leaves you In the house, with the mortgage continuing as before.
- Who to ask The public trustee’s office, for how to file the notice of intent to cure and how the cure figure is provided.
Sell before the sale date
- What it means The lender is paid off through the title company and withdraws the foreclosure; if the price won’t cover the payoff, the lender has to approve the shortfall in writing first.
- What you sign A contract, then the ordinary closing paperwork at a local title company.
- The deadline The closing itself, built backward from the sale date with room for the contract, the title work, the payoff figure and the signing.
- Where it leaves you Out of the house, with whatever the payoffs and the costs leave, wired to you at closing.
- Who to ask A buyer, for a written number with the math behind it, before you sign anything.
How it unfolds, start to close.
Missed payments: the servicer’s clock
Before anything is recorded, the file sits with your mortgage servicer. Late notices, calls and a loss-mitigation packet come from them, not from the county. Nothing is public yet, and every option is still open, including listing with an agent if there’s time and equity.
The Notice of Election and Demand is recorded
The lender’s attorney files the NED with the county public trustee, who records it with the county clerk and recorder. That recording is the legal start of a Colorado foreclosure and the date the statute counts from. The public trustee sets the first sale date and mails the combined notice to the owner. From here on, the foreclosure is a public record.
The sale window: about four months
Under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38-108 the public trustee sets the first sale date for a house no fewer than 110 and no more than 125 days after the NED is recorded. The exact date is on your notice, and it can be continued, so confirm it. The lender also has to obtain the Rule 120 court order before the sale. If you intend to sell, this is the date to build backward from: contract, title work, payoff figure, closing.
The cure deadline: noon, the day before
The owner may cure a payment default by filing a notice of intent to cure with the public trustee at least fifteen calendar days before the sale date, then paying the full amount on the cure statement. Payment is due by noon on the day before the sale, or by the statement’s earlier expiration date. A sale that closes before the sale date also ends the foreclosure when the price covers the payoff, because the lender is paid off through the title company and withdraws the notice.
Sale day at the public trustee
The public trustee holds the sale. The successful bidder, or the lender if no one outbids it, receives a certificate of purchase; title vests once the junior lienholders’ redemption periods run, or eight business days after the sale if none filed to redeem. The former owner has no redemption right afterward under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38; only certain junior lienholders do.
After the sale: what is left of the equity
The house now belongs to the buyer or the lender. Any remaining occupancy questions run on their own legal timeline, which is a question for a Colorado attorney. If the bidding went above the lender’s bid, the overbid belongs to you after junior lienholders are paid; ask the public trustee, there’s no fee to claim it. If the sale brought less than the debt, the lender may still pursue the difference.
What to have on hand.
- The Notice of Election and Demand you received, showing the recording date and the scheduled sale date
- Your most recent mortgage statement, plus any second mortgage or line-of-credit statement, so the title company can request payoffs
- Any letters from the public trustee, including the cure figure if you have requested one
- Notices of other liens: property tax, HOA, judgment or mechanic’s liens, if you have received any
- Your deed or the owner’s title policy from when you bought, if you still have it
- Government photo identification for everyone on title; if two people own the house, both sign
- The Colorado Seller’s Property Disclosure form if the contract calls for it; selling as-is never removes your duty to disclose defects you know about
Read it from the source.
- Understanding the Colorado Foreclosure Protection Act the Colorado Division of Real Estate's own plain-language explainer
- Colorado Foreclosure Hotline: 1-877-601-4673 the number the state prints on its own foreclosure notices
Questions homeowners ask us.
How long does it take to foreclose on a house in Colorado?
Counting from the recorded Notice of Election and Demand, the public trustee sets the first sale date for a house between 110 and 125 days later under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38-108, so about four months, and the sale can be continued week to week for up to twelve months. The time before the NED varies with the servicer, though federal rules generally bar the filing until the loan is more than 120 days delinquent. The owner’s right to cure requires a notice of intent to cure filed at least fifteen calendar days before the sale date and payment of the full cure amount by noon the day before the sale, and a sale that closes before the sale date ends the foreclosure when it pays the loan in full and the holder withdraws the notice of election and demand under C.R.S. 38-38-109(3)(a). If the price won’t cover the full payoff, the holder has to approve a short payoff in writing first.
What are the legal requirements for foreclosure in Colorado?
Under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38 the lender’s attorney must file a Notice of Election and Demand with the county public trustee, who records it; the public trustee must set the first sale date no fewer than 110 and no more than 125 days after that recording for a house; the lender must obtain a court order authorizing the sale under Rule 120, which you receive notice of and can respond to; an owner in a payment default must be allowed to cure by filing a notice of intent to cure at least fifteen calendar days before the sale date and paying the full cure amount by noon the day before the sale; and after the sale the former owner has no redemption right. This is general information, not legal advice; confirm with a Colorado attorney.
Can you look up if a house is in foreclosure?
Yes. Once the Notice of Election and Demand is recorded it’s a public record held by the county public trustee, and each county keeps a list of active foreclosures with their sale dates. The Larimer, Weld and Boulder County public trustees cover Northern Colorado; the metro counties cover Denver and its suburbs. A house whose owner has only missed payments doesn’t appear on the list, because no NED has been recorded yet, and a house that was cured or sold before the sale drops off.
Is it wise to buy a foreclosure?
It depends on which kind. Buying at the public trustee sale means bidding with cash, without an inspection contingency, taking the house as it stands, and accepting that certain junior lienholders can still redeem after the sale. Buying a bank-owned house after the sale is closer to a normal purchase but still as-is. Buying from an owner before the sale is a closing with a deadline, and it’s the version where the owner knows the price in advance instead of finding out at the auction.
Will there be a lot of foreclosures in 2026?
We don’t forecast it, and we’d be cautious of anyone who does with confidence. The honest source is the count of Notices of Election and Demand recorded with each county public trustee, which the larger Colorado counties publish and update through the year. What we can say from our own work in Northern Colorado is that foreclosures happen in strong markets and weak ones, because they follow individual events: a job loss, a death, a divorce, an illness, a payment that reset.
What is the cheapest way to buy a foreclosed home?
Auction prices are often lower because the bidder takes on the risk that keeps other buyers away: cash payment, no inspection, unknown condition and the possibility of junior-lien redemption, though the lender’s own bid sets the floor and competition varies house by house. Bank-owned houses after the sale tend to carry less risk. Buying directly from an owner before the sale is a negotiated price, and it’s the route where the seller knows the outcome before the sale date, which is the side of the transaction this guide is written for.
What is a Notice of Election and Demand in Colorado?
The Notice of Election and Demand, or NED, is the document a lender’s attorney files with the county public trustee to start a Colorado foreclosure under Colorado Revised Statutes 38-38; the public trustee records it with the county clerk and recorder. It states that the lender elects to foreclose and demands the amount owed. Its recording date sets the timeline: for a house, the first sale date falls no fewer than 110 and no more than 125 days later. Until it’s recorded, missed payments are a matter between you and the servicer; after it, they’re a public foreclosure with a deadline.
Pages that usually come next.
When the sale date is set and you want a number, here is how to get one.
Tell Amy or Jenny about the house and the date on your notice, by the form or at (970) 406-3595, and a written offer with the math shown is in your hands within 24 hours, with no obligation to take it and no cost to ask.