Renovating A Northern Colorado Home: 5 Ways To Make It Work

Making The Move To Northern Colorado

Renovating a home in Northern Colorado can be a fun and exciting challenge for people from all walks of life. With the famous Rocky Mountains framing the entire region, cities like Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor and Wellington are filled with beautiful scenery and enchanting views that make the Northern part of Colorado one of America’s most beautiful places to live.

After all, being so close to nature is always an attractive proposition, and the idea of moving here is quite intriguing for everybody from mountain-lovers and hiking enthusiasts to urban dwellers that are looking for a drastic change of pace.

Like anything worth doing, though, renovating a home is a complex task which requires detailed planning, strategic foresight, and the proper team to get the job done fast.

Starting and Planning the Renovation Project

Depending on how complex the project is, everybody from real estate brokers to carpenters and various other tradespeople will likely be involved, not to mention a possible project manager or two for overseeing the entire rehab operation. With so many people involved, things can easily go sideways without the proper plans in pace from the start.

The good news, however, is that even though finding and organizing the right group of people may involve some up-front effort and take a little bit of time, being the proud owner a newly-renovated northern Colorado home makes all of the complexity involved in endeavor well worth it.

With the right strategy and a detailed mental checklist of exactly what you’re looking to achieve with your move to Northern Colorado, 98% of your problems will be solved before they even have the chance to arise.

These Top 5 Tips will make sure your move is exactly what you dream it to be:

#1: Investigate thoroughly before you decide to invest.

So many sources of information are available today that a house which needs work is actually the easy part. Likewise, finding a house that appears to be a bargain can also seem to require little effort. Finding a house which is actually a bargain, however, is an entirely different ball game.

That’s not to say that great deals aren’t available, but finding them requires a strict discipline when it comes to understanding exactly why the house is actually for sale. As a home buyer, the last thing you’d ever want to happen is to be hit with unforeseen maintenance issues and surprise problems after the purchase.

Having a good real estate broker to act as your eyes and ears on the ground always helps, but ultimately it falls on you as the purchaser to make sure due diligence is conducted properly. When evaluating the property, you’ll always want to have access to historical records like town and village assessments and maintenance and inspection reports. Furthermore, you’ll want to have access to county court records, and you’ll want to hear first-hand opinions from residents in the area about further specific issues which may arise after your purchase.

Hiring your own inspector to conduct a detailed audit of the true condition is always a good idea, even if it costs a little more than you were planning on. 

#2: Organizing yourself and your diligence team before you start is key.

Make sure you have a proper system in place for documenting any issues uncovered during the diligence process, as well as a detailed list of the pros/cons of each specific property as these thoughts arise. In addition, you’ll want to make sure to have a dedicated space in your files for jotting down notes from all of your meetings with brokers, inspectors, village officials, and even nearby neighbors.

Paper notebooks are always an option for keeping these notes and records, but digital storage systems like Evernote or Microsoft OneNote work well too.
If you own multiple digital devices, it’s not a bad idea to keep your notes in a secure cloud storage environment so that even if you find yourself with only your cell phone in toe, you’ll have access to all of your information.

Putting in so much effort up front might seem like a lot of work for a property you haven’t even committed to purchasing yet, handling things this way will save a ton of effort over the long-haul. In the event you decide to move forward, you’ll be able to direct your renovation team with a clear sense of exactly what they need to consider to get you the exact results you’re looking for.

#3: Having a clear vision will help you find the proper contractors.

After you’ve put in the hard work to find a property worth acquiring, the next step is to figure out exactly how you want to transform the house. With so many options, handling all of the details can certainly feel overwhelming, and contracting with a professional can help take a load off of your plate.

Many people think that working with a personal architect may not be in their budget, but the reality is that online freelancing platforms have brought these professionals well within reach for even the smallest of budgets. Sites like Guru.com make it easy to high-quality and affordable freelance architects that can help you clarify your vision for the project and make it much easier to communicate exactly what you want your renovation contractors to do. 

#4 Hire the best tradespeople you can find.

When it comes to renovating a house, everybody knows that general contractors are a dime-a-dozen.

reliable contractor, however, is worth his/her weight in gold. In fact, some might even say that finding a contractor you can depend on will require just as much due diligence as sourcing the renovation property itself, if not moreso. 

Even though the process can feel intimidating, the internet has made it incredibly easy to vet general contractors and specialized tradespeople alike, with sites like Angie’s List making it their entire business to help you source vetted tradespeople with a transparent track record of third-party reviews. 

If Angie’s List isn’t quite to your liking, additional options include Thumbtack, Porch, and HomeAdvisor

#5: Always negotiate with your contractors, and not just over the price.

With so many contractors now competing for businesses on digital platforms like those mentioned above, you’ll be receiving plenty of bids on your project. 

This puts you in the driver’s seat, and you’re going to want to use that to your advantage. 

Without getting in to advanced negotiation tactics, the general rule of thumb is this:

Always make sure that a contractor/tradesperson is willing to match a competitor’s bid for your job. 

The marketplace is wide open, and you are well within your rights to take advantage of that fact. 

Conclusion

Renovating a Northern Colorado is an amazing idea which appeals to a wide variety of people, and if you’ve read all the way to the end of the article, the odds are that it appeals to you. 

With proper planning, impeccable organization, and the right attitude, achieving the northern CO home of your dreams is well within your reach.