Second Mortgage in Denver

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 too. A Denver rental you lease 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 acts 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, and only by filing a notice of intent to redeem within 8 business days. 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. In Denver, the Public Trustee holds its auctions online, Thursdays at 10 a.m. If you refinance the first later, the second-lien holder generally has to sign a resubordination agreement. This is not legal advice. Read lien position explained before you stack debt.

The Denver Clerk and Recorder lists a flat $43 recording fee per document, and a deed of trust owes no documentary fee. Since July 1, 2025, Colorado clerks charge a flat fee per document instead of per page. Denver's page lists $43 per document without itemizing deeds of trust, so confirm the figure with the clerk 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. No state mortgage recording tax was located. The Denver Clerk and Recorder takes eRecording through four contracted submitters (eRecording Partners Network, Indecomm Global Services, CSC and Simplifile), and its office is at 200 W. 14th Ave. A rental in Aurora, Lakewood or another suburb records in its own county, so check that county's clerk.

Not in Denver unless it is your primary residence. Denver licenses stays of 1 to 29 days only at the operator's primary residence, so a property you own but do not live in cannot be licensed. Aurora also limits short-term rentals to a primary residence, with a 180-day cap on whole-home rental. Arvada is the exception in the metro: a non-resident investor may hold permits on up to three properties citywide, each capped at 240 days a year, under rules that changed on May 1, 2026. Rules differ by city, so check the one your rental sits in 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 makes no distinction between first and junior liens. The Uniform Consumer Credit Code says a consumer loan does not include a loan for a business, investment or commercial purpose, unless the parties elect to bring it under the code. We found no Division of Real Estate or UCCC Administrator guidance on business-purpose seconds, so this is not a licensing opinion. That is why we ask what the funds are for. Talk to your attorney about your own structure.

The property tax bill and the city rental license. Denver's total general mill levy was 79.202 mills for tax year 2024, but suburban districts vary widely: one Castle Rock tax district in Douglas County carries 279.845 mills because of stacked metro districts, so pull the parcel's tax district before you size any new payment. Inside Denver, every long-term rental needs a city residential rental license, which runs four years and requires a third-party inspection at the owner's expense. Confirm the license is current before you borrow against the property. Talk to your CPA about your own numbers.