As many businesses allow telecommuting for different positions and as contractors find it easier to work out of a home office, the standards for those home offices continue to rise. If you're moving to a new home and need to follow home office standards, there are a few housing options that could handle most of the requirements with few changes needed--or no changes at all. Here are a few home office-friendly features to keep in mind as you search for a new home.
Noise Reduction
Many telecommuting jobs require a quite work space. This is usually to make sure that clients aren't subjected to constant and distracting background noise. The background noise of a call center or the sound of regular traffic is constant and is usually fine, but a friend or relative trying to talk to you or the sound of a television in the background can be a problem.
Your main focus should be looking for thick walls or walls that can reduce sound. It's all about the material, and although there are many different wall types and thickness levels to consider, the important part is that you simply test the walls and the door.
Invite others with you as you check out different homes. Close the door to potential home office rooms and ask others to hold conversations at different levels, and have someone make noise in the kitchen. Banging a few pots and pans together at a normal kitchen work level should be fine.
Construction and traffic can't be controlled, but there are some situations where overbearing noise becomes too much to ignore. For the sake of your job and person comfort, try to avoid areas that are directly outside of police departments, fire departments, train tracks, and cargo loading areas.You may need to visit a location during the morning, noon, evening, and night to get a good sample of local sound.
Electrical And General Tech Options
Every home being sold on the market needs to have a reliable electrical inspection. No matter how old the home may be, if you plan on living there and using electricity--log cabins and similar homes for rustic appeal excluded--you need to move into a place nearly perfect electrical layout.
If the electrical wiring is bad, it becomes your problem to fix. Even if you can afford, that's time away from living comfortably without contractors in the way. Either ask for the issue to be repaired before you move in, ask for a final sale discount before purchasing, or look for another home.
If you need wireless internet, be sure to test the signal first. The thick walls feature can work against older wireless signals, and you'll need to figure out the best place to mount your wireless modem or access points before moving in. You may also need to identify interference, although this may take a specific Information Technology (IT) professional with specific wireless/radio frequency knowledge.
Contact a real estate professional to discuss different features to support a telecommute work and lifestyle.
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