About the Director: Marcia Waters

Marcia Waters has been with the Colorado Division of Real Estate since August 2005. Ms. Waters started with the Division as a Criminal Investigator for the Real Estate Commission and was promoted to Chief Investigator in 2006. In 2007, she was promoted to the position of Investigations and Compliance Director. In that capacity, she managed the investigatory and settlement programs for the Division. On October 15, 2010, she was promoted to the position of Division Director. The Division of Real Estate licenses and regulates approximately 75,000 real estate professionals. Ms. Waters serves as the administrator for the Real Estate Commission, the Board of Real Estate Appraisers, the Board of Mortgage Loan Originators, and the HOA Information and Resource Center.

Ms. Waters manages the Division’s $9 million budget, oversees a staff of approximately 60 full-time employees, and establishes the direction of Division programs based on market and industry trends.

Consumer Protection is the primary mission of the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) and the Division of Real Estate. Through licensing, discipline, education, and informed policy, the Division works to protect consumers every day.  In honor of National Consumer Protection Week, the Division of Real Estate, along with fellow DORA divisions, held a Day at the Capitol on March 4, 2026. 

Designated Brokerage and Informed Consent

Real estate brokers are responsible for a wide variety of duties when serving Colorado’s consumers. Certain responsibilities are common across all transactions.  These are referred to as Uniform Duties. Additional duties apply when brokers serve as an agent.  All licensees are taught about these important duties in pre-licensing education (qualifying education), but, importantly, are responsible for them in every transaction. 

For many years, the real estate industry has struggled with one topic in particular: confidentiality. Colorado statute expressly identifies confidential information in the Real Estate Practice Act, describing what information is confidential and that the informed consent of the seller, landlord, buyer, or tenant is required before disclosure. Brokers should review the following statutes:

• Section 12-10-404-Single Agent engaged by seller or landlord
• Section 12-10-405-Single Agent engaged by buyer or agent
• Section 12-10-407-Transaction Broker

Because the Designated Brokerage relationship does not extend to the employing broker nor to any other broker employed or engaged by that employing broker, obtaining informed consent prior to discussing confidential information with any third party is required. 

Knowing this, many licensees have questioned the definition of informed consent.  Informed consent is a requirement, and licensees must understand that informed consent is a client’s agreement to allow disclosure of confidential information, which is based on the full disclosure of facts needed to make the decision intelligently. 

Failure to protect the confidentiality of a client may result in damage to the client and to the broker and brokerage firm, including, but not limited to, financial loss, reputational damage, and license discipline. 

On Friday, March 13, Director Waters offered an informational webinar presentation on this important topic.  If you missed this live webinar, you may view the recording here:

From time to time, the Education Program at the Division of Real Estate believes that education providers may benefit from an update on changes and new policies utilized in the continuing education course approval process.

As many of you know, on December 2, 2025, the Colorado Real Estate Commission (CREC) held a Rulemaking Hearing where numerous rules found in Chapter 4 of the rules governing real estate brokers (4 CCR 725-1) were updated. Accordingly, the Education Bulletin, linked below, carefully details the changes that took effect on January 30, 2026.

Do Not Delay Your
Continuing Education

Every professional understands they must be competent to practice.  If they are not competent, whether that is because they are unfamiliar with the type of property, the geography of the local market, or other factors, they should not accept that business.  This is the case for brokers, appraisers, and mortgage loan originators alike.  The essential role of continuing education is to obtain competency, maintain competency, and help licensees understand current trends, legal updates, and practice changes. 

The Division, on behalf of the Colorado Real Estate Commission and the Board of Real Estate Appraisers, approves continuing education for real estate brokers and real estate appraisers.  The Division carefully reviews and approves course applications for continuing education on a wide range of topics.  For brokers, those topics can be found at CREC Rule 4.4, and for real estate appraisers, those topics can be found at BOREA Rule 7.6. 

As many licensees are aware, the Division conducts continuing education audits on renewing licensees.  Too often, the Division sees licensees fail to comply with their professional requirements for continuing education.  In other situations, the Division sees licensees take all their continuing education all at once, commonly very close to the deadline.  While the Division does not mandate that continuing education be taken at specific intervals throughout the license cycle, other than the Annual Commission Update, this practice can result in large knowledge gaps. 

Adult students learn and retain information better when courses are not taken under duress.  Since continuing education is an imperative component of competency, taking courses throughout the license cycle and on topics that are relevant to one’s practice should be carefully considered by every licensee.  In addition, delaying continuing education does not serve the profession or the public interest.  Therefore, do not wait until the last minute.  Begin your professional improvement today with the many courses that are available for continuing education, and select courses that are relevant to your practice. 

2027 Broker Contracts and Forms Comments

Both licensees and the public benefit from understanding the forms process and participating in the process.  Transparency and a broad community of engagement best serve the interests of all parties involved in a real estate transaction while ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations.  An essential component of this is the Colorado Real Estate Commission’s periodic review of the Commission-approved contracts and forms.  When revised, these forms are often effective on January 1, but a common question received by the Division is: What happens between spring and the effective date of the revised documents each year? 

1.  Direction from the Commission: Early in the calendar year, the Commission holds a public meeting. At that meeting, it directs the Division of Real Estate to review specific contracts and forms.

2.  Initial Drafting: Following that meeting, the Division makes initial modifications to the identified forms.

3.  Publication of Initial Edits: The Division established a website where the initial modifications are available in draft form for review by all.

4.  Public Comment: Next, the Division solicits comments from practitioners, industry, legal professionals, public interest groups, and consumers on those forms. This year, the Division is soliciting comments in multiple ways:

• In writing on the Division’s website by completing a simple questionnaire.
• Via webinar. Two of three meetings have already been held at this time. 
  • The first meeting was held on March 6, and the recording can be viewed here.
  • The second meeting was held on April 3, and the recording can be viewed here.
  • A third meeting will be held on May 15 at 1:00 p.m. A registration link will be available on the Divisions homepage shortly
• Oral and written comments are then provided to the Commissioners for review and consideration.

5.  Adjustments: In light of the comments received from interested parties, additional edits are made by Division staff.

6.  Presentation to Commission: At a public non-rulemaking hearing, the Colorado Real Estate Commission will consider the proposed revisions and publicly vote whether to adopt the changes, make additional changes, or refuse to adopt the changes to each document.

7.  Upon Adoption: For any contracts and forms approved at the Commission meeting, the Division will provide the forms in redline format and in a clean format with a watermark to distinguish between versions of the document that are available for use. These versions are made available in early October each year so that practitioners and education providers can review the changes, understand the changes, and develop a plan on how to implement the changes in their practice.  These edits can be found on the Division’s Contracts and Forms webpage. 

8.  Effective Date: On the effective date, which is commonly January 1 of each year, the documents will be released on the Division’s Contracts and Forms webpage. Upon downloading, these forms are fillable and available for use by the real estate industry across Colorado. Concurrently, various forms providers are granted access to the documents for use on their respective platforms. 

For decades, the Commission has approved contracts and forms for use in real estate transactions, and these documents are designed to be consumer-friendly.  Since they are between two consumers, the focus of the forms is to be clear, concise, and easy to understand.

New Real Estate Appraisal Rules Now in Effect

January 8, 2026, was the Division of Real Estate’s first rulemaking hearing of 2026.  At this public hearing, held by webinar, the Board of Real Estate Appraisers (BOREA) voted to adopt changes to certain rules found at 4 CCR 725-2.

The Board considered changes to Board Rules 9.2 and 11.3, which pertain to service member and service member’s spouse credentialling, and revisions to an existing rule to further clarify what is considered to be appraisal consulting. The board members approved changes to Rule 9.2, regarding service member and service member spouse credentialing, but voted to keep Rule 11.3 unchanged. The new rules took effect on March 2, 2026.

As always, current and past versions of the rules governing real estate appraisers can be viewed at the following link:

April HOA Forum:

2025 Annual Report from
the HOA Information &
Resource Center

The HOA Information & Resource Center is pleased to announce it has released its 2025 Annual Report. The report may be found by navigating to the HOA Information & Resource Center’s website by utilizing the following link: 

https://dre.colorado.gov/about-the-hoa-center#report

The HOA Information Officer further invites you to join the HOA Center for a high-level overview of the report to better understand the issues confronting unit owners, declarants, and unit owners' associations in Colorado. 

The Annual Report addresses the important topics listed below:

• Registration information, including the number of Common Interest Communities in Colorado and the number of Coloradans living in Common Interest Communities in Colorado
• Analysis of complaints received by the HOA Center
• 2025 Legislative Session Updates
• Other statistical data relevant to HOAs in Colorado.

Please join the HOA Information Officer on Friday, April 24, at 1:00 p.m. (MT) for an online-only webinar review of the report. All are welcome to attend.

Presentation Details: 

• Date: Friday, April 24, 2026
• Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. (MT)
• Location: Online Webinar Only

Register here: 

Quarterly Discipline

This serves to inform the public of the current and/or most recent disciplinary action taken against the individuals listed. It does not, nor should it be intended to, serve as a complete listing of any and all discipline taken against the individual licensees. 

2026 Disciplinary Actions and License Relinquishments Spreadsheet

Find the program you want to view by toggling through the tabs at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

To obtain a complete public disciplinary history for a specific licensee, visit the Division's Records Management System and search a licensee's personal record by name or license number.

Recent Webinar Replays

Were you unable to attend a previous meeting or forum? We have you covered! You can still access recent webinars at your convenience to stay informed on key topics, regulatory updates, and industry insights from the Division of Real Estate.

- April 3, 2026 - Stakeholder Engagement Meeting (2nd of 3) Colorado        Estate Commission (CREC):
  Webinar - Video

- April 7, 2026 -Colorado Real Estate Commission (CREC) Meeting:
  Webinar - Video

The Division of Real Estate makes an effort to have all public meetings and educational opportunities live and accessible to the public by signing up for a webcast.

Find the meeting or event you want to attend on the Division Calendar, click on the “more details” and follow the directions to sign up for the webcast.

Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet? You can find webinar recordings, educational videos, bite-sized advisory videos and watch various LIVE hearings and board & commission meetings.

Watch & Subscribe at @DORADivisionRealEstate and never miss our most current content!