One of my favorite things about snowy, icy, windy, cold days.... is not leaving the house (or my pajamas!). Working from home is one of the best things that has happened to my career since I quit my job and joined the ski patrol over at Loon Mountain! (Of course the ski patrol did nothing for my actual "career", but it was a blast while I was there!) I have heard a handful of people express that they would get nothing done if they worked from home. I think, when your livelihood (and capacity to pay the mortgage) depends on getting things done, the motivation shows itself. For me, I've never had trouble getting to work. Often it is the opposite!

It is not just the "pajama factor" that makes telecommuting so attractive either. Taking one more car off the road is always a plus. Saving money on meals and coffee is fantastic. Companies save around $11,000 for every half-time worker they employ as well. (And did I mention not having to scrape off your car in the freezing weather?!) Since working from home is growing in popularity (up 115% from 2005 - 2015) buyers are now looking at all the rooms of a home with a bit more creativity. Not only are those rooms important for growing families, they are now being sized up for growing businesses. Let's take a look at how you can highlight the extra room(s) in your home and attract the telecommuting crowd.

If you are staging your home for the sale (always strongly recommended) I would consider setting up one of the rooms as a dedicated office. There are a couple benefits to this. If one of the spare rooms is really small, this is a fantastic place to set up a desk, chair and maybe a small couch. Tucking a bed and dresser into smaller spaces can make them feel cramped (and cause fights among the kids!). The beauty of a home office is that it does not need to be large. Most folks working from home are in a computer-heavy field anyway so the space necessary is minimal. Aside from a couple of large monitors, I am entirely confined to my desk. I truly don't need anything else for what I do.

Consider the office location when you are staging the home as well. There are really two directions to go here. On the one hand, you can select a perfect office location and set that up exclusively. The other path, slightly more attractive) is to setup multiple rooms as the home office. The primary goal here is to express the flexibility of the floorplan. Obviously a dining room directly in the middle of the "flow" of the home is a terrible room for an office. But you can most certainly add a small desk and laptop (or cardboard cutout of one!) in almost any room in the house. This shows the flexibility of the home as well as showing a home capable of handling a growing family.

I noted the dining room as a terrible location for the office. One primary consideration is going to be privacy. For as long as I've owned this business I have either lived alone or with someone who works during the day. This affords me a quiet place to work during the week. When considering a room for the office, keep in mind that not all families are this sparse during the day. Many partners have flexible working schedules - and don't forget about school vacations. Locate the office in a place that, at the very least, has closable doors and maybe even some sound-proofing through insulation or even just distance from the main part of the house (think: basement).

And speaking of the basement, this is an area that often goes unfinished and certainly un-highlighted (is that even a word?). "If you are the smart seller who is staging the home, I strongly encourage the actual staging of the basement over just offering suggestions," notes Badger Peabody & Smith Realty (formerly Badger Realty) agent, Peter Pietz. "Adding an area rug, desk, loveseat and a lamp or two can transform the otherwise bare basement into a real living space and virtually expand the usable area (and attractiveness) of the home," he continued.

Last but not least is your proximity to "town", whatever size that town may be. Of course you can't actually relocate the home to take advantage of this, but highlighting certain aspects of it can go a long way to make the property more attractive. If you have nearby bus stops, commuter trains or other amenities that make the city accessible, be sure to make them known. Some telecommuters will need to work in the office a few days a week or at the very least have access to town. Even if you're in a more rural area, make note of the ease of getting to and from the city.

Telecommuting is one of those things in life that make me love my job even more. It affords me the freedom to start work early or late without ever having to drive to an office. Since this is a growing trend and will likely continue on that path, be sure to keep those people in mind when you're selling (or even building!) your home. It will expand your buyers pool, and highlighting flexibility in a home's floor plan will never go out of style.