Second Mortgage in Boulder

Not on a rental you do not live in. Colorado's homestead exemption applies only while the property is occupied as a home by the owner or the owner's family, and the exemption amount is tied to that occupancy as well. A Boulder, Longmont or Louisville rental leased to tenants carries no homestead exemption. Occupancy is a fact question, so expect it to be confirmed, not assumed. This is not legal advice; your attorney or title company has the final say on your property.

The second is wiped out unless its holder files a notice of intent to redeem within 8 business days of the sale. Colorado forecloses deeds of trust through the county Public Trustee, with a court order under Rule 120, and a non-agricultural sale is set 110 to 125 calendar days after the notice of election and demand is recorded. A second recorded before that notice gets mailed notice, but only if its recorded deed of trust carries an address. After the sale the owner has no redemption right; only junior lienors can redeem. Any overbid goes, in recording order, only to junior lienors who filed that notice, and once redemption ends the title is free of liens junior to the one foreclosed. The Boulder County Public Trustee holds sales weekly, on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m., per the county's page. If you refinance the first later, the second-lien holder generally has to sign a resubordination agreement. Read lien position explained before you stack debt.

Boulder County lists a flat $43 recording fee per document, and a deed of trust owes no documentary fee. The Clerk and Recorder's fee page shows $43 per document from July 1, 2025, the result of a 2024 state law that replaced per-page pricing. A deed of trust is not itemized on that page, so confirm the figure with the office before closing. Colorado's documentary fee applies to deeds that convey title, and the statute exempts any document given to secure payment of a debt, which is what a deed of trust is. The county recommends eRecording, through vendors such as Simplifile, eRecording Partners, CSC and Indecomm; the recording office is at 1750 33rd St., Suite 201, Boulder. These are county and state charges, not USA Mortgage fees.

The program accepts short-term rentals, but each Boulder County jurisdiction licenses them differently. The City of Boulder licenses short-term rentals only at the owner's principal residence, and a tenant subletting is an illegal use. Longmont lets a city resident hold one investment dwelling as a short-term rental, and in its R-RU and R-SF zones only one may operate on each side of the street per block without conditional use approval. Unincorporated Boulder County caps whole-home vacation rental licenses by census division: 194 in Upper St. Vrain, 83 in Bald Mountain and none in the Plains, and neither county license transfers. Rules in Louisville, Superior and Erie were not confirmed, so check the jurisdiction before you count nightly income.

Colorado draws the line at purpose. The state's mortgage loan originator law covers a residential mortgage loan, defined as one primarily for personal, family or household use secured by a dwelling of four or fewer units, and it does not distinguish first liens from junior ones. The Uniform Consumer Credit Code says a consumer loan does not include a loan for a business, investment or commercial purpose. We found no Division of Real Estate or UCCC Administrator guidance on business-purpose seconds, so this is not a licensing opinion, and it is why we ask what the funds are for. Talk to your attorney about your own structure.

The rental license and the tax area. Every rental in the City of Boulder needs a city license, which runs four years and needs an inspection by a privately licensed inspector to issue, to renew and after an ownership transfer. Each licensed unit must also meet the SmartRegs energy standard, in force since January 2, 2019: 100 energy efficiency points on the prescriptive path. A lapsed license means the collateral cannot legally be rented. On taxes, ask which tax area, not which town: Boulder County's tax-area levies run from 70.836 to 199.108 mills, and Superior alone spans 96.949 to 199.108 because of stacked metro districts. Talk to your CPA about your own numbers.