CHFA SmartStep & SmartStep Plus.
The flagship Colorado Housing & Finance Authority program, and the structure matters more than the headline number. You choose either a non-repayable grant of up to the lesser of $25,000 or 3%, or a zero-percent silent second of up to the lesser of $25,000 or 4% — and that second is not forgiven. It is repaid in full when you sell, refinance, or stop using the home as your primary residence. SmartStep is FHA, VA and USDA-RD only; CHFA Preferred is the conventional product. Statewide income limit $178,920 on credit-qualifying income, no purchase price limit, 620 minimum score, $1,000 minimum borrower contribution.
Pairs with FHA, VA, USDA, or conventional. Income limits scale with household size; typically $145K-$175K depending on county. No first-time-buyer requirement on most products.
CHFA Schools to Home.
Colorado’s genuine educator program. At least one borrower must be a full-time employee of a Colorado preK-12 public school, district, charter, BOCES or innovation zone. Assistance is a zero-percent silent second of up to 25% of the first mortgage — far deeper than SmartStep — but it carries shared appreciation: at payoff you share appreciation in proportion to the original DPA amount divided by the purchase price. Fannie Mae loans only, $178,920 statewide income limit, plus an extra CHFA financial-commitment course. There is no CHFA program giving first responders, healthcare workers or military a discounted rate.
metroDPA.
A separate program with its own first mortgage — it does not layer on top of CHFA. Assistance is 3% or 4%, rising to 5% inside the City and County of Denver. Structure: a 0% interest, 30-year deferred second that is never forgiven, repaid in full on sale, transfer, refinance, payoff of the first, or when you stop occupying the home. No first-time-buyer requirement, no purchase price limit, 620 minimum score, DTI per AUS with no program maximum. Coverage runs to roughly 50 named municipalities plus the unincorporated areas of nine counties — as far out as Fort Collins, Greeley and Castle Rock — so the property address decides eligibility, not the mailing address.
VA Loans In Colorado.
Colorado has roughly 380,000 veterans, with major concentrations around Colorado Springs (Fort Carson, USAFA, Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, Cheyenne Mountain), Denver, and the Northern Front Range. The 2026 baseline VA loan limit in most Colorado counties is $832,750. Mountain-resort counties — Eagle, Pitkin, Routt, San Miguel, Summit — hit the high-cost ceiling of $1,249,125. Boulder County sits in an intermediate tier (~$890K).
Mountain & Jumbo Loans.
The Aspen-Vail-Telluride corridor is one of the most sophisticated jumbo markets in the country. Pledged-asset structures, interest-only periods, short-term-rental income consideration, second-home conventional, and Non-QM bank-statement loans all come into play. We have direct relationships with the portfolio lenders that handle these files routinely.
FHA In Colorado.
2026 FHA single-family limits run from $524,225 (baseline) to $1,089,300 (high-cost mountain counties). Most Front Range counties hit higher tiers due to property values: Denver $649K, Boulder $797K, Adams/Arapahoe/Jefferson $649K. We confirm county-specific limits at pre-approval.