Transaction coordinator in Colorado: CBS1 deadlines, CP-20 and costs

What does a transaction coordinator do in Colorado?

A Colorado transaction coordinator manages a sale from mutual execution of the contract to closing. Every residential resale in the state runs on one form: the CBS1 Contract to Buy and Sell Real Estate (Residential), which the Colorado Real Estate Commission promulgates. The current version was adopted on August 5, 2025 and became mandatory on January 1, 2026. Users can't modify the printed text except as the Commission's broker rules allow.

That makes Colorado coordination unusually consistent from Grand Junction to Pueblo. The same section numbers, the same deadline names and the same notice rules apply on every file. What changes from deal to deal is the dates the brokers write into the deadline table, and that table is long.

Does a transaction coordinator need a license in Colorado?

No license is required for clerical coordination, but the Commission has said exactly where the line sits. Its position statement CP-20, revised August 4, 2026, calls coordinators Real Estate Administrative Professionals, or REAPs, and names transaction coordinators in the definition.

An unlicensed REAP, or a licensed one without a brokerage relationship, may:

• complete forms as a scrivener when a broker has prepared and directed them
• order title commitments and send contract copies to the lender and title company
• collect due diligence documents and send disclosures to the parties
• review the whole file for missing documents
• collect and receipt for earnest money deposits

They can't independently complete standard forms, and they can't offer opinions, advice or interpretations of them. They also have to tell the other broker, the lender and the consumer that they aren't licensed or aren't acting as a broker, and name the broker they work for.

Pay needs care too. CP-20 warns that paying an unlicensed REAP only when a deal closes may violate RESPA, which bars splitting commissions with unlicensed people. Charging the consumer a separate fee for work that helps the broker meet the broker's own duties may be a second violation. A licensed REAP who starts negotiating inspection items or preparing contracts needs a brokerage relationship with the client.

Which CBS1 deadlines does a Colorado TC track?

Section 3.1 of the CBS1 lists 43 dated items, from the Time of Day Deadline to the Acceptance Deadline Time. None has a default length. The brokers fill in each one, and under §3.2 a deadline left blank or marked N/A deletes the provision that goes with it. A blank appraisal row means there is no appraisal contingency, so read the table line by line.

The counting rules are in §3.3. A day ends at 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time unless the parties set a Time of Day Deadline, which then governs objection, resolution, examination and termination deadlines. When a period is counted from an event, the first day is excluded and the last included. A deadline that lands on a weekend or holiday moves only if the "Will" box is checked. If neither box is checked, it doesn't move. Our contract deadline calculator and the guide to counting days by contract form walk through the math.

How does closing work in Colorado?

The buyer tenders earnest money with the contract unless the parties agree an Alternative Earnest Money Deadline. The Earnest Money Holder named in §4.3 keeps it in a trust account for both parties and may pass it to the closing company at or before closing.

Unless the buyer-selects box is checked, §8.1.1 has the seller choose the title company, pay for the owner's policy and furnish the title commitment by the Record Title Deadline. Section 12.2 has a box for whether the Commission's Closing Instructions are signed with the contract. At closing, the county clerk and recorder collects the documentary fee: one cent for each $100 of consideration over $500. On a $540,000 sale that is $54.

Which associations and MLSs will a Colorado TC work with?

Colorado REALTORS is the state association. Its monthly reports, prepared by ShowingTime, draw on the Colorado MLSs and cover all MLS-listed residential sales in the state. The Denver Metro Association of REALTORS sources its market reports from the REcolorado MLS.

How is the Colorado market doing?

Colorado REALTORS reported 6,526 closed sales statewide in September 2026, down 15.1% from a year earlier, with a median price of $540,000. The single-family median was $575,000, and townhouses and condos had a $395,000 median. Active inventory stood at 34,824.

Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs gets its own section here rather than its own page. The same CBS1 form, CP-20 rules and documentary fee apply, so a separate page would repeat most of this one. In the Colorado REALTORS release, the Colorado Springs section counted 4,253 active single-family and patio homes in September 2026, up 6.1% from a year earlier.

Sales of those homes fell to 926 from 1,026. The median price was $479,000, against $479,450 a year before, and the average was $545,660. Homes averaged 53 days on market with 4.6 months of inventory. The release also said nearly half of El Paso County listings had a price cut.

What is different about a Colorado file?

Blank means deleted. CBS1 sets no fallback for a missing date. It deletes the provision instead, so a missed blank changes the deal.

Missing a termination notice costs earnest money. In the new loan provision at §5.2.2, if the seller isn't in default and doesn't receive the buyer's written notice to terminate on time, the earnest money becomes nonrefundable, except as the contract otherwise provides. The buyer's inspection termination right under §10.3.1 also ends as soon as the buyer delivers an inspection objection. Those are the two notices to calendar first.

Metro districts. Section 8.4 prints a capital-letter warning that special taxing and metropolitan districts can raise costs for residents. Section 8.5 requires a tax certificate listing those districts by the Record Title Deadline, and the buyer can terminate if it is unsatisfactory.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in Colorado?

Two Colorado coordinating firms publish their prices, and both ask $400 for one side and $700 when they handle both. The 20 one-side cards we found nationally in October 2026 ranged from $300 to $550, with $400 as the median, so the Colorado cards match it. The TC fee per file calculator shows how a per-file fee compares with hiring.

How do you hire a transaction coordinator in Colorado?

Start with CP-20. Ask whether the coordinator is licensed and, if not, how they disclose that to the other side. Ask how they are paid. A per-file fee that depends on closing is the arrangement the Commission flags under RESPA, so talk it through with your managing broker.

Then test them on the form. Hand a candidate an executed CBS1 with a few N/A rows and ask what each deletes. Ask whether weekend deadlines roll on that contract. Our transaction coordinator checklist covers the rest of the interview.

DeedSpring is a technology-based transaction coordinator. It takes the executed CBS1, turns the filled-in rows into a deadline list, rechecks each file on the hour and queues draft emails that go nowhere until the broker approves them. It has no Colorado office or license and doesn't interpret the CBS1 for anyone.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a Colorado agent?

The table sets the usual options side by side. A good freelance TC is worth every dollar on a messy file. What most agents are really paying for, though, is someone who never misses a date and always chases the lender. Software does that on every file at once.

To see what the gap means across a year of files, put your numbers into the TC fee per file calculator.

Compare plans on the DeedSpring pricing page.