How important is office location?

[das317]

How important do you think that office location is for both agents and clients? I am going to be opening an office in the coming months and am scoping out office space. I am struggling a bit with the size of an office I want and the location. I am planning on opening in my town which is a smaller town with only one real estate office in town. I have found a location that is 2000 sq ft which is probably bigger than I need for now, but is only $900/mnth. That works out to just over $5+/sq ft and includes everything except electric. There are a few other spaces that are newer that come out to $18-20/sq ft with CAM. The cheaper spot is in the back of a building, so is not visible from the main road, besides the sign. The other issue is parking doesn't seem fantastic if there were many agents that ended up coming to the office.
I am going to be trying to set up an office where most don't work in the office, but wanted to have enough space in case more people did want to work in the office. Initially there will probably only be about 5 agents, but my goal is to grow over a couple years to 50+. Again, I will be looking for most agents to be home based.
I would ideally like to buy a building, but in the area I am looking, very few buildings go up for sale.
Can anyone help me through my planning and thinking? It seems hard for me to pass up a potential space as cheap as it is.

[jasoncrouch]

In general, I would opt for the lowest overhead possible when you are opening a new office. Anything you can do to lower your stress and risk would seem to be a wise move. However, make sure you don't cut yourself too short on the parking. When we started our office, we had a marketing agreement with our mortgage company to pay us a monthly fee (more than covered the rent in our case) in exchange for us agreeing to market them on our website, put out brochures in our office, etc. I don't know if this is something you could do in your area or not, but this might help you to cover or at least defray some of your monthly expenses as you are getting your office up and running.

[Malok]

Where is your business going to be derived from?

If its already "built in" through referrals, past client base, internet marketing, etc - then go with the cheaper space.


If on the other hand, clients are going to be generated primarily through the branding of your name in that market - I'd probably eat the costs on the front end for the more visible space to get your name out there fast.

[das317]

My plan is to initially mainly bring on agents with experience and they are responsible for generating their own leads.

[Micheal Pannell Realtor]

I have an office, I am in process of closing down. We dont meet people there . It is just a waste of money. All my agents want to work from home. I dont need the 2000 Dollars worth of bills.

[jasoncrouch]

Our office is used pretty much daily (not as much on weekends). Many of our agents feel like they learn and contribute more by being around the office.

[Malok]

My plan is to initially mainly bring on agents with experience and they are responsible for generating their own leads.

Do the cheap office IMO then.

[Jessemontana]

I can say that our agents work from home and they are pretty happy about that. So I don't see any reason to pay extra for the office.

[Malok]

To offer a different perspective:

I live on a farm 20 miles away from my office. And I service multiple counties.

Do I work at home? You betcha.



But, I like having a place to meet clients personally beyond the "I'll see you at the McDonalds parking lot".

A brokerage that didn't offer an "office" would not be one that I could consider.

[Lloyd_Skicountry]

As for me I prefer to meet with customers at our office not at home. Home is a place to rest