The home office is one hot Montana real estate trend that is likely to stick around long after the pandemic ends. According to a survey by Upwork, 27 percent of employees will work remotely in 2021, and 20 million workers have moved during the course of the pandemic, or are currently planning to relocate.
At PureWest, we are seeing a demand for functional home offices continue in both our residential real estate market and our luxury real estate properties. Interestingly, home office space had actually been a declining priority over the past 20 years. Remember what computers were like in the year 2000? You probably had a large monitor attached to both a processing tower and a large, bulky printer. A dedicated office space was essential—that setup wasn’t traveling around the house. As computers became smaller and more portable, the idea of a dedicated office space seemed less important. With a wireless laptop, any flat surface in a house could be an instant space to get a little work done.
As we all know, that philosophy changed abruptly in the spring of 2020, as our homes became schoolhouses and workplaces in addition to everything else. Suddenly, we were eyeing our closets and seeing office potential: a place to close out noise and distractions and get a little work done.
With the right creativity, a closet can actually make a good workspace, says Whitefish-based interior designer Jennifer Zetooney. “We had a client that had a house with two master closets, so instead of utilizing both for closet space, they converted one to a small office. That was a nice use of space,” she explains.
A closet certainly isn’t the only place to do your Zoom meetings. Many Montana properties for sale are showcasing the versatility of their floor plans and coming up with creative work-from-home possibilities. Another current trend in home offices is built-in cabinetry that allows a workspace to fold up and disappear when the workday is over.
Montanans considering a new construction build might want to factor in a dedicated office space on their floor plans, as many businesses have seen the value of continuing remote work, at least on a partial basis. The best home offices have a door to create privacy and some form of natural light, but they don’t need to be large.
For more thoughts on home office trends, see the article in our 2021 Pure Montana magazine.
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