In Colorado real estate, the “Contract to Buy and Sell” is approved by the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) and is updated periodically as laws change. Professionals only use the DORA contract.

If you are presented with an assignable contract, your “buyer” is actually a wholesaler. A wholesaler is a middleman who just takes a piece of your equity and resells the contract to the investor who actually buys the property.

A true as-is sale allows you to leave anything behind that you don’t want to deal with. You don’t have to clean or fix anything. You just take what you need and leave the problems behind.

Inspections in traditional real estate are used to renegotiate the price. A qualified investor will often waive inspections. They may request a walk-through, but waiving all inspections is part of a very solid offer.

Normally the earnest money deposit (EMD) is returned to the buyer if the contract falls apart. Sometimes called “hard” EMD, a non-refundable deposit is a strong guarantee. If the deal fails, you keep the EMD!

A legitimate investor would not offer less than $5,000. Over $10,000 shows you they are legit and serious.

In a traditional sale, the seller picks the title company and pays closing costs (often several thousand dollars). Some investors want to choose their own title company, but still have YOU pay for closing. That’s a no!

You want to be clear what the actual bottom line is. A qualified investor is a Realtor or works with one. So a commission may just be extra profit. They raise the offer price, but get the money right back in commissions.

Not all “cash” offers are the same. Some investors use cash on hand while others seek hard money loans. A true cash offer is always faster and more guaranteed than some other kind of “cash” offer.