Buying land in Colorado: what to check

Terranown covers 64 of Colorado's 64 counties. Find a parcel on the map.

Colorado’s mountain and plains land is beautiful and tightly governed in ways that are not obvious from a listing. Water first, then minerals, fire, and the road in.

Water rights are separate property

Colorado follows prior appropriation: water belongs to the public, and the right to use it goes by seniority, decreed through the water courts. A creek through the land does not mean you may take water from it. Ditch shares and decreed rights are bought and sold separately from land, so confirm in the contract exactly which water rights, if any, come with the parcel.

Check what kind of well the land can have

Wells need a permit from the Division of Water Resources, and what kind you can get often depends on the parcel’s size and history. Parcels of 35 acres or more generally qualify for a household well, and that threshold is also the line below which county subdivision review applies. Smaller lots in older subdivisions may be limited to in-house use only. Ask for the existing well permit and read its conditions.

Ask who owns the minerals

Split estates are common: the surface owner and the mineral owner are different people. A mineral owner or their lessee may be able to drill, subject to state rules and surface-use agreements. The Energy and Carbon Management Commission keeps maps of wells and permits.

Look at wildfire exposure

Much of the foothills and mountains sits in the wildland–urban interface. Wildfire risk shapes insurance availability and cost, defensible-space work, and building requirements in some counties. The State Forest Service publishes wildfire risk maps you can check by address.

Make sure you can get there all year

Mountain parcels are often reached by private or seasonal roads. Confirm legal access, who plows and maintains the road, and whether the county will issue a building permit on a road it does not maintain.

Septic, slope, and floodplain

On-site wastewater systems are permitted by county public health agencies under state rules; rocky, steep ground can limit them. Narrow valleys concentrate flash floods, so read the flood zone and look at where water would run.