THREE HOME OFFICES DESIGNED TO SUIT
These practitioners show how you can adapt your home to create an office that works.
Have you ever really given much thought to your home office? For many people who work from home, the home office is an afterthought--a garage-sale desk and computer squeezed into a corner of the basement or the bedroom of a son who’s gone off to college.
But as technology improves, allowing real estate salespeople to spend more and more time working from home, the home office is becoming the cornerstone of many real estate businesses.
If you’re ready to take your home office to the next level, read on for a look at three distinct approaches to setting up at home. One of these three professionals may have the insights you need to take your home office from an afterthought to a class act.
Turn the page and see for yourself how these real estate pros have created home office headquarters that enhance their businesses.
HIGH STYLE
Image matters for this sales pro who recently brought her office home.
Shirley Buford, CRS, GRI
Pardoe Real Estate ERA, McLean, Va.
Home office space: 13’ x14’
Shirley Buford’s home office is all about style. It’s filled with silk, antiques, and treasured mementos.
“I’m a lot more productive in an environment I feel good about,” she says.
After almost 30 years selling real estate, Buford created her first home office about two years ago at the urging of her husband, who wanted her home in the evenings instead of at the office. So Buford, who’s with Pardoe Real Estate ERA in the Washington, D.C. area, converted their smallest bedroom into an office.
“I wanted a cozy and pleasant place just for me where I would enjoy working,” she remembers. But she quickly found herself growing out of the small space. She began to meet clients at her home office, but she felt awkward taking them up to the second floor of her home.
So last year she decided to convert the rarely used first-floor library into a deluxe home office. She had the spacious 13x14 room professionally decorated in soft taupe tones, custom window treatments, animal print accents, and antiques.
Buford surrounds herself with things she loves: an antique mirror that belonged to her beloved mother-in-law, an antique Victorian desk she found at an auction, and mementos from her foreign travels.
“From my desk chair I look at my mother-in-law’s mirror and can see the reflection of one of my favorite paintings. I just love it,” she says.
Buford divides her time equally between her home office, the Pardoe office, and on the road with clients. Her primary reason for going to the office is to coordinate with her full-time assistant, who only occasionally comes to her home.
Some might call Buford’s home office extravagant, but she credits her attention to detail for the fact that 80 percent of her business comes from personal referrals.
“A real estate practitioner needs to look professional,” she explains. “I drive a nice car, I take pride in my home. I think it makes clients feel confident that I’ll exercise the same pride in finding the right home for them.”
Tips and tricks
Money saving tip: Buford says she likes nice things but rarely pays top dollar. “Search for sales and don’t feel pressured to buy everything at once,” she says.
In the basement: Instead of going to the gym on the way to the office as she used to, Buford set up a home gym. “I work out in the morning before work, and save the time I used to spend going to the gym. To me it all goes together.”
HIGH TECH
Ric Parker, CRS®, GRI
Coldwell Banker, Los Altos, Calif., www.ricparker.com
Home office space: 11’ x11’
For this tech guru, the cutting edge shaves time and money.
Ric Parker, a salesperson with Coldwell Banker in Los Altos, Calif., is a self-proclaimed technology junkie. His home office is outfitted with the best and the newest equipment and he’s constantly on the prowl for the next upgrade.
“I buy everything as soon as I hear about it, then test it out,” he says. “Of course, a lot of it ends up in a pile on the floor, but it’s the only way I can find what works best for me.”
Parker says his Silicon Valley clientele values his tech savvy and appreciates tools like the in-dash navigation system in his car. “All my clients are high-tech and they expect me to be,” he says. “Sometimes, I even have something they haven’t seen before.”
Parker set up his first home office 10 years ago for the usual reasons: to avoid growing traffic, gain privacy, and limitthe distractions of a cubicle office environment.
He recently bought a new four-bedroom townhouse to accommodate his growing needs. Two of the bedrooms serve as offices: one for him and one for his part-time assistant.
For networking and camaraderie Parker still spends 15 hours a week at the Coldwell Banker office. But he spends at least as many hours working at home, where he’s most productive. “It’s hard for me to walk into the [CB] office and actually get things done. Everybody knows I’m the technologist, so they all ask me questions.” Parker even teaches tech seminars for his office and the Silicon Valley Association of REALTORS®.
The other 30 hours he’s on the move--on tours, in the car, or meeting with clients, either at their homes or at the brokerage office. Client meetings are something he won’t do at his home office. “It doesn’t feel professional. My home office is for me, to enable me to better utilize my time.”
Parker admits that he spends more money on technology than most real estate professionals would. “It’s my hobby and I enjoy it. But also my time is money. I want to find things that make me more productive.”
Invisible insights
Critical software: Most of us use the free version of Adobe Acrobat to read .pdf files, but the full version ($249) lets you create .pdfs. “I scan all my documents and save them as .pdfs so I can e-mail them to clients.”
Fantasy furniture: Next year, Parker plans to have office furniture custom made to house his equipment attractively and make more efficient use of the space.
Seconds count: Parker’s high-speed DSL line, for around $39/month, speeds up MLS searches and reduces photo-download time to almost nothing.
Next purchase: Ricochet high-speed wireless modem, $299 plus $79/month, that will allow Parker to e-mail photos from the car.
Favorite place to shop: www.cnet.com. Enter the name of an item you’re shopping for, and it finds the lowest price among online vendors.
TIGHT FIT
Real estate spouses squeeze two offices into a two bedroom home.
Bob and Ruth Friedman
Coldwell Banker , Woodland Hills, Calif., www.toproducers.com
Home office space: 14’ x12’ master
bedroom and 16’ x18’ extra bedroom
With two home offices in their two-bedroom townhome, Bob and Ruth Friedman, of Coldwell Banker, Woodland Hills, Calif., have learned to use space creatively.
When Ruth joined Bob’s 20-year-old business four years ago, the couple first tried to work together in the second bedroom. But they quickly decided that was too close for comfort.
“We have different organizational styles, we’re both on the phone all day, and we have so many files that it got too confusing,” says Ruth.
So Bob moved his office into the master bedroom, creating office space by making some inventive alterations to the bedroom furniture.
The change didn’t come without some reservations.
“When you put a desk in your bedroom, you have to make certain tradeoffs,” says Bob. “You must have the cooperation of your partner, which, of course, I do.”
Separate offices make sense because the Friedman’s also practice a division of labor. Bob is the salesperson while Ruth handles the marketing and technology functions. Bob’s daughter, Sandra Kaye-Bennett, is also a member of their sales team.
Bob spends about 15 hours a week working at home and another 30 hours at the office. Ruth does just the opposite: 35 hours at home and 15 hours at the office.
For the Friedmans, having an office at home is more than a convenience; it’s a necessity for good customer service.
“In real estate, you get calls at 10 o’clock at night,” he says, “and you need to have all kinds of information accessible.”
The Friedman’s accept the extended work hours as part of the deal and use their home offices to help them be at clients’ every beck and call.
“We deal with people who, at that moment, are making the biggest decision of their lives,” says Bob. “They don’t want to work with someone who’s casual or frivolous about their needs.”
“If someone asks me, ‘Can you fax it to me in the morning,’ I say ‘How about now?’”
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