Save Money and Time This Year - Get a Home Office!
When we opened up our own real estate brokerage we discussed the different options available to us for where our office would be.
The time was at the peak of the housing boom. Many of our friends who are agents became brokers and started leasing space in fancy shopping malls, inside of the malls and on different commercial plazas.
Nestor is known for being the "Norstrodomus of real estate" (his BNI nick-name). Also, at this time our little guy was 3 years old and I did not want to have to contain him in a leased office space. We had been working from home as agents for a large franchise and we liked working from home.
We decided to take the money that it would cost us for first, last, security and for build-outs, permits, plumbing, flooring, desks, etc, etc, etc, and use it to convert our 600 square foot garage into a real office with exterior exits and the rest of the real deal. We also wanted a traditional office look and feel. Here is an overview of half of the office.
We had concrete poured on the garage floor to make it level with the rest of the house and to get rid of the down-slope that garages have. We made a laundry room off of the garage because prior to that the laundry machines were in the garage. Then we had a hurricane 5 impact garage door put on the garage and built it up to enclose that door so that if there is a hurricane and the door does move there is give there and hopefully not ruin the rest of the office. We encased that entire wall in.
Then we added A/C venting into the new office.
We did a lot of research on lighting. We did not want to go with regular flourescents because they can cause depression and nothing looks natural in that lighting. We went with full spectrum lighting that is used for different medical treatments and mimicks pure daylight. We put in a new knock-down ceiling finish. Here are Nestor's desks and space and desk for agents when they need to use the office:
There was electrical work to be done and some minor plumbing because we switched from the hot water heater to a waterless electrical heater that take up only a few inches in one of our closets. We did not want the water heater to ever break and ruin our office floor and we also wanted the space ( Florida has no basements and is not know for storage spaces) for our office supplies. Then we custom built two very large closets with custom shelving all to organize all the office supplies. On the closets are the boards with our listings and on the board on the left are the marketing plans.
Then we chose an impact glass window larger than was originally in the garage. It add a lot of nice natural lighting to the office. We added a door that also has a window in it for more natural light and also so we can see who is knocking on the office exterior door. We also added a really nice glass interior door that leads into the main part of the house.
Outside of our office, there is a seperate pathway from our driveway to the office. We moved the yucky garbage cans out of sight and added an outdoor seating area with flowers and shade trees around it for cooler days. I love to blog out there:).
We chose to go with a very durable hand-stressed wood floor that can take a beating. I love this flooring. It was expensive but oh so worth the cost because it is nearly maintenance free and durable. I love the different colors it brings out. We then added crown molding to the ceiling. I always stain our crown molding myself because the contractors never get the color right. I mix the different stains together to come up with the best match for the molding so it looks almost the same as our wood floor.
A feng-shui consultant was hired to help me organize our elements and choose the correct colors for who we are. She was perfect! We love our office. The black cabinets I painted look great above our black legal file cabinets. Then we have our furnishings which are cherry woods. There is a conference table, chairs and 5 desks. Of course no desk would be complete without our Apple computers! Here is our prosperity area of the office:
I learned so much because before we make any major expense we do a lot of research. I learned so much about wood flooring in Florida, about lighting, health issues and I learned so much about Feng Shui. We learned about impact glass and which ones are good and which ones are not. Here is my space with my dream board and desk area.
Well, back to many of our friends who opted to spend all this same amount of money on leasehold spaces where you don't get any equity back out of- most of them when the real estate boom busted- went bankrupt and lost those spaces. Many of our friends went back to work for franchises because they had lost their capital and their spaces.
Not a month goes by where Nestor and I don't look at each other and thank God and nod our heads in concurrance of the right decision we made for our business so that we are still in business today and still have our brokerage. We are happy and grateful that our overhead serves more than one purpose and that we made it through those toughest years here in South Florida.
Our businesses have flourished and so this past fall we were in need of a second office. So stay tuned for the making of our second office.
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82 Comments on Save Money and Time This Year- Get A Home Office!
Brad- That is SOOO cool! As a child growing up and then living in San Francisco for a couple of years, I always thought that those who live and work in China Town had it made. I thought as a young entrepreneur- wow, how blessed they are to have their home on top of their store or restaurant, etc. Of course, we don't have those kinds of options in Wellington:)
Karen- You don't need permits to do a home office. We left the garage door up, a hurricane 5 garage door but built the drywall behind the garage door. The Village of Wellington Code enforcement already came over during the remodel because one of our neighbors ( long story- they don't live there anymore) called because they said we needed a permit. The city said no we did not. As long as we did not turn the garage door into a different form, like making sliders there or something else, we do not need a permit. As long as you are only doing cosmetic remodeling you don't need a permit. :)
Frank- You choice of black is one you will be happy with. With white cabinets you would be constantly cleaning them from fingerprints and printing ink , etc. I am glad i was able to help out:) Yes, another great reason to be here in the rain.
John- Aha, even if I did have them, I certainly would not post a photo of them here where the IRS could see them:) They don't allow any items from your family in your office, stupid I know. I had a long grueling fight with them that took over 2 years and even though in the end I was right, I was still wrong according to them. They did not audit us because of our home office but our accountant told us that before they get there, that whole office better have no sign of a child in it. Like moms and dads are going to lock their kids out of the office during a work day!!! I better not start.... I can not stand them....
Cynthia- Yes, zoning is an issue. We are allowed in Florida to have a brokerage at home now. The law changed the year we remodeled and made the office. Our town also zoning rules and we are not allowed to have more than a certain amount of cars in front of our house for over a certain period of time and can not have more than a certain amount of employees, and on and on.
Scott- Our clientele is different. The market that we work and who we fit with is not the same as most other agents. I read Think and Grow Rich once a year. This is one of the reasons that we chose this path with our home office. We grow our company through agents and we are at the age where we are looking at retirement and what that is going to look like.
Our business model changes with the markets and we chose to stop being the mega agents after I learned my lesson trhough 4 miscarriages. We left Re/Max as top producers and never looked back. That was years ago. Since then we have never had in our business model to be in markets where the average agent is. I have really no desire to be the customer service provider as you are speaking of. We bring other skills to the table in our market. We chose after leaving Re/Max that we wanted a business that we worked 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. We went into land assemblages and ended up making more money than 99% of the agents here in those boom years and NEVER sold a residential property or had a listing in the MLS. Loved it, but the market was going to crash, Nestor knew that so then we did a HUGE City redevelopment project where I won't even quote here how much money we made that year, but suffice it to say, that is why I got audited. It was way over the top. THen the state legislature passed the eminent domain changes and the project we were working on went away as fast as it came:)
THen we started short sales. We had been doing short sale since the 90's recession and the 80's recession so we knew more than 99.9 % of the agents here. In fact, there was no place in the MLS at that time to disclose the listing was a short sale. We became the #1 broker in short sales and had the top 2% closings in our MLS. That made those years rock.
Now we are moving back into my first love, horse properties. I love horses and that is a market we know. The clients in that market could care less about a parking spot with their name on it. They care that we know how to get their property out front and center on the International venue on the internet and through our Foreign connections in South America and Europe. We can have our inventory scaled way down becuase the price point is way up there. We only need to sell one of two horse properties each year in order to be way ahead.
But also, real estate is not my only means of income. I am an entrepreneur and love to start business ventures and then create the systems and then delegate those systems and go on the the next business idea. We are growing our brokeage now through hiring new agents and I like to stay at home getting them buyers to work with. I have not shown a house to a buyer in over 9 years. Strictly listings is the way that I have mostly been throughout my career and our sellers don't come to our office. Most of our sellers are absentee owners and second or vacation owners so all of our dealings with them are through email and fax and phone.
It is not about the office so much as about your business model. We certainly don't "think small". Katerina
P.S. Scott- You are right, you have to spend money to make money. That is why we choose to spend our money back into the internet where most of our business is generated, conducted, concluded. Spending the money on our virtual office space- the internet- is the smartest move we can make along with attending the charity balls and our equine events.
OK, I just finished editing the photos of the second office. I am going to work on getting those uploaded now depending on how fast or slow AR is to get that done. Then I can come back and respond to more of your comments. Thanks for all of your comments!!!
OK everyone here is the link to the second home office remodel. This one is exact opposite of our main office here. This one is a traditional and the new one is modern: home office remodel #2
A wise investment. I love the cabinets and flooring. Beautiful job.
This looks great! Congrats on the new office.
Home offices are wonderful. Yours is lovely. It sounds like you put a lot of thought and planning into it. Thanks for sharing. (Gotta love those Apple computers.)
Katerina,
You and Nestor did a beutiful job designing your home office. You were wise to invest your money there!
Katerina - that's a great looking office! We opted to take space in a co-working building. We pay $350 per desk per month and have a month-to-month lease. For that, we get a two person, windowed cubicle space in an office building in Tribeca. The price includes use of color copiers, gorgeous conference rooms (10 hours per person, per month), a decked out kitchen, T1 Internet lines, WiFi, and a lounge area. There is a receptionist and other staff in the lobby from 8 - 6pm on weekdays to greet clients. We find that the other tenants are all entrepreneurs as well. It's a great place to work and a 10 minute walk from home.
Like you, my business partner is my spouse. We learned early on that we needed to separate business from personal life. I'm sure your office allows that to. It's important for spouse-partners to have a place to call "the office" that isn't "the living room!"
Now that morning cup of coffee is the office coffee, the morning paper is the morning research material, the comfy new cotton robe is "office attire, etc.". Smart thinking!
Nice looking home office! We have a home office too and always have - I've never worked in a traditional office ever, and we've been doing this for 8 day snow. However, ours isn't as nice as yours, it's just the back addition to our home. -Kasey
Katerina, what a great looking home office! I'm envious, I want one as nice as yours! Thanks for sharing this great post, keep up the good work as a top Wellington short sale agent!
Hi Katerina,
This is a fantastic home office! You and Nestor are doing a great job as Wellington short sale agents, I wish you plenty more success!
Awesome idea guys! I don't own a brokerage, so I don't need much space, but I do have a large office (and smaller office for my assistant) at my brokers building for an extremely affordable rent. I also have a home office which allows me to spend some days at home, spending time with kids, and saving money on gas and eating lunch out. It's so important to have a space that feels comfortable and has good lighting in order to enjoy your work. Great post!
Thanks Matt! I am glad you get to spend time with your kids!
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