Home Office Vs. Rented Office Space?

[Tony Lehn]

It has been a long time since I've posted here. Good to be back.

A little background...I own a small appraisal company of 3 appraisers, including myself, a fully licensed appraiser, and a trainee who is close to being fully licensed as well.

At the moment, we all share a 12' x 12' room that is rented in an office space. The company, me, picks up that cost, as well as the computers and the network system. We did this because it made it more effecient to work with wintotal on the network, as opposed to being seperate and having the other two email everything to me in order to keep the company's file records current.

Anyway, I'm considering disbanning the office space and sending the other two back to their homes, and I'll be in my home. Possibly doing a virtual network, although wintotal is very sluggish on a network so we may drop that in lieu of paying for 3 seperate licenses, or just using the xsite to keep financials for the company current. As the owner, I take care of all business related tasks for the company, and therefore need all file information centralized.

I am wanting some advice from those wiser than myself who have been in both situations to see the pros and cons. I am sure that there are pieces of info that I'm not considering and I would love to hear from some of you.

Thank you for your time.

 

[wyecoyote]

Perhaps you might consider if you have the space on your property. Building a "shop" on your property then using it as an office.

The pros for having a centralized office as I see is that it forces you to work when you are at work. It also gives access to easily go through the work files and double check everything. Also just turning around and asking questions or bouncing ideas off of each other. Also you get to see first hand how they handle setting appointments if there is any conflicts you know about it right then and there.


The cons cost.

The pros of having a home based business is that it can reduce overhead. Gives you more flexibility to work. Say if you are a nightowl then you can work at night. IF you like to sleep in then you can.

The cons to home based is that you have to be self motivated. Instead of saying well gee I can mow the lawn or watch a little tv then work later. The disctractions. Also what if a client calls with a specific question about an appraisal one of the other appraisers did? Would you have to three way the call or hang up call the other appraiser then have them call the client?

 

[TC]

Ryan makes some good points, especially about being able to "bounce" ideas off of the other appraisers in the office, that is probably the only thing I miss about working in a larger office. Well, that and the hot secretary at my last job. You might want to consider setting them up at their homes, I have an assistant who I see about once a year who does a lot of data inputting for me, her ACI license cost me 100 bucks, pretty cheap if you ask me. And until you are comfortable with the arrangement have mandatory days when they must report to your office.

You do have to be self-motivated to do this work at home. My guess is that Ryan has become even more motivated since he acquired his new very young female assistant. B)

TC

 

[Walter Kirk]

I started my appraisal business in my real estate office. When I got out of the sales business I moved into my house, after a while I rented an office and expanded. When I outgrew the rented space I bought a building (an old cheap corner store).

When I consider the tax advantages of owning my building as well as the increase in value over the past eight years I realize that my office building is the best investment that I could have made.

 

[Michael Hinnant]

I agree with Walter. Owning a building is probably the best senario due to appreciation. Another cheaper alternative is to buy a small cheap house on a busy street and run your business out of it. Just make sure you don't put any signage out front. You will be able to have access to everyone and get some appreciation. I have rented space and have worked from home. Rented space in my opinion is just a waste of money. But on the other hand working from home is much easier on the wallet however, if you have kids at home sometimes it gets hard to get anything done. I tend to start working between 5 to 5:30 am just to get some stuff done before my 3 year old starts bugging me...daddy...daddy....daddy...you know the routine....buy a building or a house.

 

[Walter Kirk]

I had a friend who bought a residential condo, an efficency, and used it as his office. He got a good place to work, tax advantages and the bonus of a kitchen and bathroom.

 

[TC]

Originally posted by Walter Kirk@Nov 23 2005, 11:29 AM
I had a friend who bought a residential condo, an efficency, and used it as his office. He got a good place to work, tax advantages and the bonus of a kitchen and bathroom.

How did he get around the zoning issue, I served on a condo board and that was stictly verboten.


TC

 

[Stone]

If I had employees, or just wanted an office away from home, I would buy a duplex or two-flat. Rent one side (floor) and use the other as office space. As it stands right now, I don't have the desire to leave the house. But it seems like it would be a good investment.

One disadvantage to working at home that hasn't been mentioned is that you never leave the office. This would apply more to you than your employees, but it takes some time to get used to the fact that you can always pop in to the office and work for a bit. At times, the fact that a report is sitting on your desk can detract from a relaxing evening of doing nothing.