There’s a big difference between working out of a spare bedroom and having your very own professional home office suite like the ones at Bigelow Homes’ Live-Work homes in HomeTown Aurora.

These homes offer a full-floor suite with its own outside front entrance for clients and customers, a separate living area upstairs, ample parking just steps away, a great location and a mortgage that may be less than what you’d pay to rent an office alone.

With prices starting in the $150,000s, these maintenance-free live-work homes are just steps from the community’s award-winning Town Center Park, which features a fountain, gazebo, and amphitheater. They’re also across from the central Town Center, which includes shops and boutiques.

These 1,760-square-foot Live-Work rowhomes includes first floor office space with oversized windows and the professional open layout found in today’s most desirable offices. The flexible office floor plan – with a small kitchen and full bath - can be designed to meet the specific needs of your business and can even convert to living space.

The urban-designed upstairs – which also has its own outside front entrance - includes two bedrooms and two full baths. The open floor plans include a contemporary kitchen with a central island and General Electric appliances. There is also a two-car garage.

New technology has made working from home the sensible choice for a growing number of professionals who want to enjoy the following benefits:

· Significant tax advantages: When offices are used exclusively and regularly for business, owners can deduct the office portion of the real estate taxes, mortgage interest, utilities, insurance, painting, repairs, and depreciation.

· Fewer distractions - privacy and a place to focus: Unlike trying to work in a spare bedroom – or worse yet – on the kitchen table, a separate workspace provides a place to focus on work. The HomeTown Live-Work Rowhomes also offer a private place to work that’s separated from the living area, so family members won’t disturb.

· A short commute – a staircase vs. an hour or more in traffic: Imagine being able to roll out of bed an hour later every morning, taking a quick shower, sliding into your favorite pair of jeans, and taking a bowl of breakfast cereal into the office with you. Imagine having an extra hour in the evening.

· Lower daycare expenses: Young grade school aged children can play happily and safely upstairs while you work undisturbed. Juggling home life and work becomes much easier.

· A pet’s company – Every day is “Bring your pet to work day”: Studies show that one of the best ways to lower stress at work is having the company of a pet. People that work from home enjoy those benefits everyday.

· Flexibility: If children need to stay home from school, or you want to take an extra hour or two off for lunch to soak up some sunshine, you have the flexible work arrangement to accommodate it.

· Enjoy the comforts of home: Watch TV while collating a presentation, throw in a load of wash, start dinner at 3 p.m.

· Save gas and the environment: No commute means saving a considerable amount of money every week on gas and keeping a little carbon out of the environment in the process.

HomeTown Aurora is close to a number of business support services, within three miles of the Westfield Fox Valley Shopping Center, and less than 10 minutes from the Naperville and Aurora business centers, I-88, Route 59, and the Aurora and Naperville train stations. Express trains go from Aurora or Naperville to Chicago in less than an hour.

To get to the Live-Work Rowhomes at HomeTown Aurora, take Route 59 to Ogden Avenue, west to Montgomery Road, then north one mile.

The sales center is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. For more information on the Live-Work Rowhomes at HomeTown Aurora, call 630-851-8040 or visit: Town Center Rowhomes. For more information on all Bigelow Homes communities visit: http://www.bigelowhomes.com/.