For many Americans it has been 6 or months since they were last in their employer’s office. Since then, many have been forced to adjust their living arrangements to accommodate their now remote working conditions. With this said, we all know that you can only modify the dining room table to a home-based office for so long!
Buyer demand for home office space has accelerated during the pandemic. In a realtor.com survey conducted this summer, 63% of respondents indicated that they plan to buy a new home in light of their ability to work remotely. On average, listings featuring a home office command a 3.4% price premium and sell nine days faster than listings without one, according to realtor.com data.
Should you convert a room to a home office?
This is a common question being asked by sellers in the current market. As a rule of thumb, you never want to sacrifice a bedroom for a home office. With this said, you may want to consider creating a dual-purpose space. For example, perhaps you have a bedroom that you might consider installing a murphy bed and office cabinetry in? This way, the room may still be utilized as a bedroom when necessary. Otherwise, it could primarily be utilized as a home-based office. After all, how many guests are visiting during the pandemic anyways? In addition, you may also want to pay close attention to the closet space to be more conducive to a home-based office.
Transform an unused area into a workspace
You may want to take a look around at the underused areas in your home, and you can probably find a place to carve out a workspace buyers will covet. For example, the area underneath the staircase or the dead space at the top of a staircase, or even an alcove, makes a compact office. This may be an ideal space to place a small desk conducive to a working environment?
Summary
In the end, sellers should think about marketing the flexibility of the home. In other words, you may want to approach the living space as maximizing every square foot. Although you never want to sacrifice any bedrooms which will negatively impact resale value, you do want to showcase the various options that your home offers. In the end, buyers are looking for usable space now more then ever. This should be accounted for when staging a home for sale.
