I attended a Commission Update Course earlier this week taught by Oliver Frascona - world famous real estate 
attorney who happens to live just up the street from me (okay, 40 miles away). The topics covered in the course were dull as dirt, but Mr. Frascona had us all on the edge of our chairs the entire four hours. He's the speaker I aspire to be.
But anyway, among the many tidbits and factoids I learned during the course; this one seemed blog-worthy, especially considering the number of bank-owned properties for sale these days.
There is no such thing as marketing a property "as is" in Colorado. Oh, sure, a seller can refuse to make repairs to a property and even advertise that intent, but what he or she can't do is not disclose known defects.
I've often seen bank-owned or otherwise non-owner-occupied properties either refuse to provide a Sellers Property Disclosure (SPD) or simply provide one with a big X across every page, implying that the seller has no knowledge of the condition of the property. If this is the case - that the seller truly don't know nuthin' ‘bout the place, then that's fine. The Colorado contract does not require that the seller complete the Real Estate Commission's SPD.
But if the seller, whoever that may be, has knowledge of a latent defect (defined by Mr. Frascona as "that which cannot be discovered upon a reasonable inspection of the property"), it must be disclosed. It's not legal here in Colorado to feign ignorance just ‘cause the seller never occupied the property.
To those of us raised in the world of Colorado real estate, this may seem kinda obvious. Of course you have to disclose! But it ain't necessarily so elsewhere. A few years ago I purchased three properties in Alabama which is a Buyer Beware state. At the time, I asked my agent for the Sellers Property Disclosure - and got a blank look in return. Apparently, sellers in Alabama are under no obligation to provide a written disclosure of defects, although I read somewhere that they ARE s'posed to disclose them, somehow. But as far as I can tell, it doesn't happen (one of the homes I purchased had a year's worth of latent defects that I spent thousands repairing and was told by my agent I had no recourse).
But I digress. If you're a real estate agent listing a home in Colorado and your seller doesn't want to complete the SPD, you need to make sure he understands his disclosure obligations.
And, as a side note, if you're working with a buyer, know that just because a property is advertised as "as is" doesn't prevent your buyer from inspecting it and making objections or even terminating the contract under his inspection rights. (This seems obvious, but I can't tell you how many rookie agents I've talked to who think that "as is" means that the buyer has to abdicate his inspection rights).
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