What is this guide about?
How to investigate a Boulder County property as a collection of connected rights, structures, systems, and obligations rather than as a house. It covers fifteen areas, from jurisdiction and title through permits, Site Plan Review, flood, wildfire, geology, water, associations, conservation easements, historic status, and what the surrounding land may become.
Who is it for?
A buyer investigating a specific property, and in particular a buyer of acreage, mountain, or aviation property, where the copy is explicit that access may be one of the most important elements of value. It is also for a buyer whose plan depends on an addition, an accessory dwelling, or a rental use that has not yet been verified.
What is the most important conclusion?
The purpose of due diligence is not to prove that a property has no limitations. It is to understand the limitations, decide whether they are acceptable, and avoid building a purchase decision around an assumption that has not been verified.
What should you do next?
Work the fifteen areas against the timeline at the foot of this page, starting with jurisdiction, because zoning, permits, floodplain, historic review, roads, and utilities all follow from it. Jacob can identify the major property questions and coordinate the real estate process while reserving legal and technical conclusions for the appropriate professionals.
A property is a set of connected parts
A property should be investigated as a collection of connected rights, structures, systems, and obligations. The home may look straightforward while the land, title, permits, access, insurance, association, utilities, or future use creates the larger decision.
Fifteen areas follow. The timeline at the end of the page places them against the deadlines in a contract, because the value of an answer depends on whether it arrives while there is still a right to act on it.
The five questions due diligence should answer
Every investigation on this page exists to answer one of these. If a piece of research does not move one of them forward, it is not due diligence, it is reading.
The property as it stands
03- What does the buyer legally own?
- How can the property be used?
- Are the structures and systems approved and functional?
The property as it will be held
02- What risks and ongoing costs affect ownership?
- Can the buyer's future plan be carried out?
Confirm the governing jurisdiction
Jurisdiction is the first question because almost every other answer depends on it. A mailing address does not settle it, and two properties that share a city name can be governed by different authorities.
Boulder County publishes that its Land Use Code applies to unincorporated property rather than incorporated municipalities.
Which rules apply, and what they decide
Settle the first group before spending time on anything else on this page. The second group is what the answer controls.
Where the property sits
05- Inside an incorporated city or town
- In unincorporated Boulder County
- In a municipality crossing a county boundary
- Subject to additional special districts
- Governed by an HOA or private agreement
What that answer decides
11- Zoning
- Building permits
- Floodplain
- Historic review
- Roads
- Utilities
- Short-term rentals
- Accessory dwellings
- Animal use
- Home occupations
- Development review
Establish the legal property
What is legally owned is established from the record rather than from the listing or the fence line. The Boulder County Clerk and Recorder provides public access to deeds, liens, subdivision plats, and other recorded real estate documents.
Documents to request
Grouped by what each one establishes: the boundary of what is owned, the rights other parties hold in it, and the agreements and resources that come with it.
Ownership and boundary
06- Current deed
- Title commitment
- Title exceptions
- Legal description
- Recorded plat
- Survey
Rights others hold
05- Easements
- Covenants
- Liens
- Rights of first refusal
- Conservation easements
Access and resources
04- Access agreements
- Shared-maintenance agreements
- Water documents
- Mineral reservations
A driveway is not proof of access
A visible road or driveway does not prove legal access. Compare the recorded route with the route used on the ground.
For acreage, mountain, and aviation property, access may be one of the most important elements of value.
Access to confirm
The first group is whether the right exists, the second is whether it stays usable in February, and the third is whether a lender and an insurer will accept it.
The recorded right
03- Recorded access
- Public or private road
- Road owner
Keeping it usable
06- Maintenance
- Snow removal
- Cost allocation
- Gates
- Bridges
- Culverts
Who else has to accept it
04- Emergency access
- Alternative egress
- Lender acceptance
- Insurer acceptance
Confirm that the parcel is a legal building lot
A vacant parcel should not be marketed or valued as buildable based only on acreage or zoning. Buildability is a set of separate determinations, and a parcel can fail on any one of them while passing the rest.
What a legal building lot requires
The first group is whether the parcel exists as a lot in law. The second is whether anything can actually be built on it.
Legal standing
03- Whether the parcel was legally created
- Whether it has legal access
- Whether a legal building-lot determination is required
Physical and regulatory capacity
04- Whether it is physically buildable
- Which zoning applies
- Whether utilities can serve it
- Whether floodplain, geology, conservation, or access prevents construction
Research permits and existing uses
Boulder County makes building permits, planning applications, septic records, code-enforcement cases, and other permit records available online. Records from 2009 forward can also be searched through its building-permit system.
The work is a comparison: what the record says was approved, against what is standing on the property today.
Compare the permit record with the property
Every line below is somewhere a home can differ from its own approvals.
The house itself
05- Residence size
- Bedroom count
- Addition
- Basement
- Second kitchen
Structures around it
06- Deck
- Garage
- Barn
- Guest house
- Accessory dwelling
- Solar
The land and the use
03- Retaining walls
- Grading
- Change of use
Site Plan Review is a separate approval
Boulder County publishes a Site Plan Review process for unincorporated property and states that the process is separate from the building permit itself.
A buyer planning an addition should not assume a building permit is the only approval required.
What can trigger Site Plan Review
Boulder County identifies these among the activities that can require Site Plan Review on unincorporated property.
Building and land work
03- Development on vacant parcels
- Cumulative floor-area increases greater than 1,000 square feet since September 8, 1998
- Grading
Use, district, and easement
04- Certain changes in use
- Development in rural community districts
- Certain development involving conservation easements
- Other activities identified by county code
Investigate flood and drainage
Boulder County participates in the National Flood Insurance Program and maintains floodplain regulations for unincorporated property. The county reports that flood maps continue to change as state and federal studies are updated.
A property outside the mapped regulatory floodplain can still experience drainage or flooding.
Flood and drainage review
Where the parcel sits on the map is only the first group. The second is the building's own history with water, and the third is what the mapping costs and forbids.
Where the parcel sits on the map
04- Official regulatory floodplain
- Municipal or county jurisdiction
- Elevation certificate
- Creek or ditch proximity
What water has already done here
06- Prior flooding
- Drainage
- Groundwater
- Basement history
- Sump pumps
- Culverts
What the mapping costs and limits
03- Flood insurance
- Renovation limitations
- Public projects
Investigate wildfire and insurance
Boulder County describes the home ignition zone as the house and surrounding area, with conditions within approximately 100 feet playing an important role in whether a structure survives a wildfire.
Obtain a property-specific insurance quotation before the contractual insurance deadline.
Wildfire review
The building, the land around it, and what happens if a fire arrives anyway.
The building
05- Home construction
- Roof
- Siding
- Vents
- Decks
The land around it
04- Wildfire zone
- Defensible space
- Forest condition
- Prior mitigation
Response and recovery
05- Road access
- Fire district
- Water supply
- Insurance
- Rebuild cost
Wildfire has a guide of its own
Wildfire zones, construction and home hardening, defensible space, and the insurance review are covered at length in a separate guide.
Review geology, slope, and soils
Boulder County has released updated geologic-hazard maps for planning information. The county states the maps have not yet been adopted into regulation and may be revised after further review, so they should be treated as a screening tool rather than a site-specific conclusion.
A structural engineer or geotechnical professional may be appropriate when conditions are material.
Geologic conditions to screen for
The third group is the useful one on a walk-through: it is the property telling you what it has already been dealing with.
Ground and bedrock
03- Expansive soils
- Steeply dipping bedrock
- Mine history
Slope movement
04- Landslide
- Rockfall
- Debris flow
- Erosion
What the property already shows
04- Retaining walls
- Drainage
- Foundation movement
- Unstable road areas
Confirm water, wastewater, and water rights
Water is several questions rather than one. A physical well, well permit, groundwater right, surface-water right, and ditch-company share are different interests.
Water and wastewater to identify
Determine which of these the property actually uses, and which of them it owns.
Where the water comes from
04- Municipal water
- Community water
- Private well
- Shared well
Where the wastewater goes
03- Municipal sewer
- Community wastewater
- Septic system
Treatment, storage, and rights
04- Water treatment
- Storage
- Surface-water rights
- Ditch shares
Wells, septic, and water rights in detail
Radon, private wells, septic systems, and the difference between the several water interests listed above have a dedicated guide.
Verify roads and private infrastructure
Private infrastructure comes with an agreement and a cost structure behind it, both of which transfer to the next owner. Determine whether the current funding structure is adequate for future repair.
Private infrastructure to verify
Anything shared is a small utility with no rate regulator, so the agreement and the reserve behind it are part of the property.
The road itself
05- Public or private road
- Road agreement
- Snow removal
- Bridges
- Drainage
Shared systems
04- Community water
- Shared well
- Private wastewater
- Irrigation
Other shared infrastructure
03- Shared gate
- Airport access
- Common utility infrastructure
Review the HOA and other districts
A monthly figure says very little on its own. The Colorado Division of Real Estate advises buyers to review both governing and financial association records rather than relying only on dues or amenities.
Association and district records
Request the first three groups from the association. Identify the fourth group separately, because a property can sit inside districts that have nothing to do with the association.
Governing documents
05- Declaration
- Bylaws
- Rules
- Amendments
- Meeting minutes
Money and risk
07- Budget
- Reserves
- Insurance
- Deductibles
- Assessments
- Litigation
- Delinquencies
What owners may and must do
04- Maintenance obligations
- Architectural requirements
- Rental restrictions
- Violations
Districts to identify
06- Metropolitan district
- Fire district
- Water district
- Sanitation district
- Road district
- Other special districts
Identify conservation easements
Boulder County reports that its conservation easements protect more than 40,000 acres and nearly 850 private properties. Each agreement is individually drafted, so the actual recorded document controls.
What a conservation easement can control
Read the recorded agreement for the property rather than a summary of easements generally. These are the terms to look for.
What may be built
05- Building envelopes
- Residence limits
- Outbuildings
- Roads
- Fencing
How the land may be used
03- Agricultural use
- Tree removal
- Commercial activity
Who approves and inspects
02- Approval requirements
- County inspection or enforcement rights
Investigate historic status
Historic requirements do not announce themselves in a listing, and they reach ordinary maintenance rather than only major work.
Within the City of Boulder, all exterior changes to individual landmarks and properties inside historic districts require a Landmark Alteration Certificate.
Where historic requirements apply
The first group is whether the property is covered at all. The second is what the City of Boulder certificate can reach once it is.
Properties that can be covered
05- Individual landmarks
- Properties inside historic districts
- Older buildings subject to demolition review
- Rural historic structures
- Properties covered by preservation agreements
Exterior changes a certificate can cover
08- Roofing
- Repainting
- Equipment
- Fences
- Additions
- Solar panels
- Hardscaping
- Mature-tree removal
Zoning, permits, and historic review in depth
The approval paths behind these requirements, and what they mean for a renovation plan, have a separate guide.
Research beyond the lot line
What is planned, approved, or simply owned by somebody else nearby is part of the purchase. Research each of these before treating the current view or the current traffic as the permanent condition.
The plan on paper
03- Current zoning
- Comprehensive plan
- Annexations
Already in the pipeline
04- Approved projects
- Pending applications
- Commercial development
- Airport plans
Public works and neighboring land
05- Transportation
- Utility extensions
- School or public facility plans
- Open-space ownership
- Neighboring parcel ownership
The due diligence timeline
Four stages. Each one closes off questions that the next stage cannot reopen, which is why the screening work happens before an offer rather than after acceptance.
Before an offer
Screen jurisdiction, property type, public records, access, flood, wildfire, insurance availability, obvious permit questions, intended use, and financing.
Immediately after acceptance
Order or request title, seller disclosures, association documents, inspections, an insurance quote, well and septic records, a survey, permit records, specialist reviews, and attorney review where appropriate.
Before objection deadlines
Resolve material defects, access, intended use, insurance, financing, appraisal, association, title, water, septic, and legal and regulatory questions.
Before closing
Confirm agreed repairs, permit completion, final loan approval, insurance, title, transfer documents, possession, safe wiring instructions, and final property condition.
Due diligence questions
What due diligence is for
The purpose of due diligence is not to prove that a property has no limitations. It is to understand the limitations, decide whether they are acceptable, and avoid building a purchase decision around an assumption that has not been verified.
Discuss a specific property
Bring an address and an intended use. Jacob can identify which of the fifteen areas above actually apply to that property and coordinate the research against the deadlines in the contract.
