As your home business grows, you may find yourself needing more room. Upsizing to a larger home more suited to the demands of your business is a smart move. With the right steps, it can also be a simple one.
1. Establish What Your Business Needs
You may already know that you need more room, and that should be at the top of the list, but you also need to consider what else you’re looking for in a new home to accommodate your business’s growing needs. Perhaps you need an area that can be your workshop for the design and production of your products, or maybe your largest concern is adequate space for storing inventory.
Home offices need to be technologically capable and likely require an appropriate background for video calls. You also want a room with windows when possible, as natural light has been shown to help focus, anxiety and productivity.
If clients or customers will be coming to your home, they will need a place to park, and you may want to have a space dedicated to these meetings. Make sure it is easily accessible with adequate electrical outlets for any technology you need to use yourself and for presentations you need to give. You may also want to have a restroom adjacent to the space for customers and clients to use when needed.
2. Figure Out What You Can Afford
An upsized home will likely come with an upsized mortgage, so you need to determine ahead of time what you and your business can afford. First, apply for mortgage preapproval to see how much lenders are willing to lend to you for the purchase of your new home.
Then, figure out how much you can afford to spend on your mortgage each month. If you don’t want to do this by hand, there are free online calculators you can use to determine the number for you. With both of these figures in hand, you can figure out what a manageable mortgage payment is for your situation and what your price range should be when looking at houses. Do some research to see what the median sales prices are in the neighborhoods you’re looking in to get an idea of which areas will work best for your price range.
3. Hire a Real Estate Agent
Once you know what you’re looking for and how much you can afford, engage a quality real estate agent who can help you find exactly what you want. An experienced real estate agent knows the market and can quickly show you the available homes that are suited to your needs. They may also have ideas based on their history with the area about which neighborhoods would work best for your business. Real estate agents understand the paperwork that goes with homebuying and can expertly navigate you through the process so that you can focus on your business.
4. Don’t Forget the Nitty Gritty Another way to save time and energy in running your home-based business is to form an LLC. LLCs offer many perks, including less paperwork, more flexibility and tax advantages such as pass-through taxation. You don’t even need a lawyer to file; you can form an LLC in Connecticut online all on your own. Regulations do vary between states, so research your state’s rules before proceeding.
Let your business grow to its full potential by giving it the space it needs. With the right research ahead of time and the help of an excellent real estate agent like Maria Phillips, you’ll find yourself and your business in the home of your entrepreneurial dreams in no time.
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