VA Assumable Homes in Aurora and Denver, CO

Buckley and the VA medical center

Aurora is the military center of the Denver metro. Buckley Space Force Base, on the city's east side, has an economic impact of $2.44 billion and supports more than 15,000 personnel, according to the 2026 State of the Base figures published by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce. Sentinel Colorado's report on the base counts more than 13,000 personnel, including about 3,000 active duty members and 4,000 National Guard members and reservists, plus thousands of civilians and contractors. The two totals are counted differently, and both describe a large federal workforce buying homes within reach of the base.

Buckley's tenants include the Aerospace Data Facility, which the Sentinel describes as a joint intelligence ground station, and the 140th Wing, an Air National Guard unit that flies fighter and homeland air defense missions. That mix matters for assumptions. Active duty members leave on assignment cycles, which puts VA-financed homes on the market at fairly predictable intervals, while the guard, reserve and civilian workforce supplies buyers who may hold VA entitlement of their own.

The Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center, at 1700 North Wheeling Street in Aurora, is the second anchor. It has 227 beds, including a 20-bed spinal cord injury and disorders unit, and heads a system that logged 904,478 outpatient visits and 3,960 admissions in 2025 across 12 locations in eastern Colorado and western Kansas, per the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System. Veterans who rely on the hospital, and the clinicians who staff it, add to demand for homes in north Aurora and the neighborhoods around it.

Aurora, Denver, and the suburbs between

This guide is anchored on Aurora because that is where Buckley and the VA hospital sit, but buyers searching for VA assumable homes in Denver are shopping the same housing market. Aurora itself spans three counties, mostly Arapahoe with portions in Adams and Douglas. Denver lies directly west. Centennial, Parker, Littleton, Englewood and Highlands Ranch sit to the south; Thornton, Northglenn, Brighton, Commerce City and Broomfield to the north; and Arvada, Westminster, Wheat Ridge, Lakewood and Golden to the west, much of that western ring in Jefferson County. The listings grid on this page covers all of them, and the county matters later in this guide, because recording fees, insurance data and metro district disclosures are all handled county by county.

The gap at Denver metro prices

Denver-area home values climbed about 41 percent from early 2020 to mid-2022 on the FHFA house price index for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro, then moved sideways: the index has stayed within about 5 percent of that mid-2022 level ever since. In the second quarter of 2026 it sat about 0.5 percent below its level a year earlier.

Local figures tell the same story. A Colorado Association of REALTORS market release quoted an Aurora agent putting the city's August 2026 median at $525,000, with prices down roughly 3 to 13 percent depending on ZIP code, and county single-family medians of $600,000 in Arapahoe and $514,000 in Adams. Across the Denver metro, the Denver Metro Association of REALTORS reported a year-to-date median close price of $650,000 for detached homes through September 2026, matching each of the past two years, and a current median of $365,500 for attached homes such as condos and townhomes, down about 6 percent from a year earlier.

An Aurora home bought for $440,000 in 2021 with a VA loan might carry a balance near $400,000 and sell for around $525,000 today. The gap, roughly $125,000, is the cash a buyer brings to closing or finances separately. Flat prices cut both ways: they have stopped the gap from growing, and they leave the difference in interest rate as the main thing an assumption offers over a new loan. How much cash do I need covers funding the gap; the assumable mortgage rate gap covers when the numbers still favor assuming.

Colorado closing costs: a flat recording fee and almost no transfer tax

The documentary fee is small. Colorado charges one cent per $100 of consideration on sales above $500 under C.R.S. 39-13-102, and the statute measures consideration inclusive of any lien or encumbrance, so an assumed balance stays in the base. On a $525,000 sale the fee is about $52.50. We found no Aurora or Denver real estate transfer tax, and a 2017 proposal to delete the state constitution's prohibition on new or increased real property transfer tax rates, SCR17-002, was postponed indefinitely.

Recording is now a flat fee per document. HB24-1269 replaced per-page recording charges with a flat $40 fee per document starting July 1, 2025, with some exceptions. County totals can differ: Jefferson County, which covers much of Arvada, Lakewood and Golden, announced a flat rate of $43 per document. Each recorded document is charged separately.

Hail drives the insurance bill. Colorado Division of Insurance data showed hail accounting for about half of total homeowners premiums along the Front Range and Eastern Plains, as Colorado Politics reported. An assumed loan's escrow reflects the seller's policy, and a new owner's quote can differ materially, so roof age and roofing material are worth asking about before comparing payments.

Metro districts: the tax line to check first

The City of Aurora has backed metropolitan districts as a way to finance and build the public infrastructure that new development needs, and describes them as independent units of government granted authority through the state of Colorado. They issue tax-exempt bonds to build infrastructure and levy property taxes to repay them, and since 2004 Aurora has required new districts to follow its Model Service Plan, which includes a maximum property tax mill levy. Levies still move within those limits: when the Blackstone district raised its levy from 1 to 6 mills in 2024, residents faced roughly $380 more in taxes per home, CBS Colorado reported.

This matters on an assumption because the payment a buyer takes over includes the seller's escrow, and that escrow reflects the levy at the last escrow analysis, not necessarily the next one. Colorado requires sale contracts to state that special taxing districts may be subject to general obligation debt repaid from annual tax levies, and to direct buyers to the county treasurer and the certificate of taxes due under C.R.S. 38-35.7-101. Every special district must also record a public disclosure document and a boundary map with the clerk and recorder of each county it sits in under C.R.S. 32-1-104.8, so a district's existence and boundaries are a matter of public record before closing.

The disabled veteran exemption

Colorado exempts 50 percent of the first $200,000 of actual value of a qualifying veteran's primary residence, a constitutional exemption adopted in 2006 and reimbursed by the state. The El Paso County Assessor's summary of the program lists who qualifies: a veteran with a service-connected disability rated 100 percent permanent, or one granted individual unemployability status. Individual unemployability was added by HCR23-1002, which voters approved as Amendment G in 2024, as Denver7 reported. The veteran must have owned and occupied the home as a primary residence since January 1, and the filing deadline is July 1.

The exemption belongs to the owner, not the loan. A seller's exemption does not carry over to the buyer, and a buyer who qualifies applies in their own name under the January 1 ownership and occupancy rule. The filing route can be confirmed with the county assessor where the home sits or with the Colorado Division of Veterans Affairs.

Entitlement, timelines, and finding them

The seller's VA entitlement stays tied to the loan unless an eligible veteran buyer substitutes their own; VA entitlement and substitution covers how that works. With Buckley's guard, reserve and civilian workforce and the veterans drawn to the medical center, Aurora sellers have a real chance of finding a buyer who can substitute. The assumption funding fee is 0.50 percent of the balance under 38 U.S.C. 3729, and no fee is collected from a veteran who is receiving VA compensation; the VA funding fee on assumptions has the details.

Servicer timelines of weeks to months do not bend to the reporting date on a new set of orders. The assumption approval process and closing timeline: ASAP vs. deferred cover how to structure around that. For the search itself, how to find assumable mortgage listings covers the routes, and current VA assumable listings show the assumed rate and remaining balance together. Buyers weighing the southern Front Range can compare the Colorado Springs guide, which covers Fort Carson, Peterson and Schriever.

This is educational information, not financial, legal, or lending advice. Colorado fees, metro district levies, exemptions, insurance, and loan terms vary by property and change over time. Confirm district levies with the county treasurer and exemption details with the county assessor.