An evacuation plan is a necessity for every home, especially if you live in an area where fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding, and other disasters are a possibility. Many homeowners create evacuation plans for their homes and practice them with their kids, but far fewer have considered one for their pets. Take these steps to add your pets to your evacuation plan.

Assign pet evacuation to an adult. Everyone should know how to act during an evacuation, and that includes assigning one parent or adult to the pets. This allows the other parent and the children to focus on their part of the evacuation plan, so there’s no confusion during a high-stress moment when time is of the essence.

Keep evacuation maps and pet carriers readily accessible. If you need to evacuate, you should know exactly where every important item is. If you pets require carriers, keep them in a place that you can access easily.

Practice your plan. Include your pets in your home evacuation drills. It’ll help you see how they will respond and make changes to your plan if necessary. Getting your dog out of a window may not be as simple as you think!

Be prepared in case you get separated from your pets. No matter how much you drill your evacuation plan, it’s possible that a dog or cat will run off while you’re focusing on keeping your family safe. A microchip or a GPS-compatible tag can help you find your pets once it’s safe to return to the area.

There are so many types of flooring: hardwood, luxury vinyl plank, carpet, tile, and even vinyl. Most houses have a mixture of these flooring types. When a potential buyer walks through your house, you can be sure that they will look down to check out the floors.

As with other things in your house, the floor’s condition should be taken into consideration as you go to sell your house. Are your floors in good condition? Make sure to look over the entire floor when looking for any major issues that might need to be repaired.

Repairing your floors can become expensive, quickly. Always consult a real estate professional before moving forward with major repairs. Sometimes you won’t have to worry about your floors. If your hardwood floors or luxury vinyl plank floors are in good condition, you could wind up getting top dollar for these flooring types. If you have carpet, you will want to think about the current real estate market. If the market is a seller’s market, your agent may be able to use this in their negotiating strategy.

Ultimately, you want to make sure your floors are cleaned up and are clean. When a potential buyer walks through your house, you want them to be impressed with how clean it is and how easy it will be for them to move in. If you are interested in finding out if you should replace your own floors before selling, reach out to J King Real Estate and chat with one of our experienced agents today.

Painting can be an inexpensive way to improve your home before you sell it. While it is not critical that you paint, you should consider the market before you choose whether or not to paint. If you and your real estate agent decide that painting will be helpful, be sure to keep the colors you choose to neutral colors. You want the walls to be a nice, neutral color such as agreeable grey. This helps the potential buyer imagine your house becoming their home. Most buyers are able to see past most colors unless you pick something wild or vibrant. It also may be a scenario where you do not need to paint your whole house. You may need to do some touch-ups to make the trouble spots look better. Again, I always recommend consulting a real estate professional to see what their opinion is before moving forward with any improvement projects if you are planning on selling your home.

Photo by Janine Meuche on Unsplash

Author: Tina Martin of Ideaspired.

Creating the right environment for your home-based business might mean looking beyond the here and now. Your current home might have possibilities — such as a renovated garage or redesigned bonus room — or you may need to buy a new house entirely. Running your business from home means you need space that encourages growth and supports success. J. King Real Estate has come up with four options that can help you create the kind of home office that can take your business to a profitable future.

Sell your current home.

If you need equity to purchase new property for your home-based business, selling your home first can give you the cash needed for a high down payment on the right home. The closer your down payment is to 20 percent, the less you’ll pay in mortgage insurance and other fees.

When you can sell your home before buying a new one, you add to your equity and give your business the best financial footing possible. J. King recommends this route — business owners can get pre-approved for a better mortgage or annual percentage rate.

Buy new property.

Right now is a great time to consider buying property. Entrepreneurs looking for a new home to expand their home-based business find the culture, climate, and economy of South Carolina to be very profitable.

Running a home-based e-commerce site? Look for large, climate-controlled basements or attics that can help you store inventory. If you are forming a consulting firm, ask for a house with a separate entrance so you can meet with customers without disturbing your home. In general, though, most home business owners look at square footage, HOA requirements, and parking options.

Renovate your space.

A renovated garage, attic, basement, or spare room can be a cost-effective way to build your home office. If you can look beyond the bones of the space, you can see the potential for growth. Many entrepreneurs invest more than time, they also invest money into building their home-based businesses.

Some home-based business owners decide to form a limited liability company (LLC), giving them access to business loans and business lines of credit that can help offset the costs of some of these renovations. Each state has slightly different boxes you have to check when forming an LLC, so do your research ahead of time to make sure you are compliant.

Redesign a small room.

Your home office should be a reflection of both who you are and the kind of business you run. It’s a place to be productive and innovative, to design and build, and to meet with clients. In short, whatever your industry is, your ideal home office must be designed to support that.

Small home offices can motivate entrepreneurs by staying clutter-free and organized with a minimalist design approach. For people who produce goods or store inventory, vertical wall storage is another way to help a small area feel bigger. Entrepreneurs who need space to ideate and innovate can paint the walls white and hang window treatments close to the ceiling to give the illusion of more open space.

Whether you are setting up your home-based business in a renovated attic or are in a brand new property entirely, how you proceed now will impact your success down the road. J. King Real Estate knows how much is on the line when you begin a home-based business and can be your partner for growth, innovation, and success. Start by looking over featured properties and calling 803-386-9488 today.

1721 Wheat Street, Columbia, SC 29205

Located in highly sought after Wheeler Hill neighborhood in downtown Columbia, SC.

This 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath home is perfect for a couple or college students. Convenient to the University of South Carolina.

This home has plantation shutters, a newer HVAC system, newer hardwood floors, a low maintenance backyard and 2 ornamental fireplaces.

The updated kitchen features painted cabinets, butcher block countertops and a panty.

The larger of the two bedrooms features a fireplace while the second bedroom has his and her closets and the walk-in has a unique barn door.

All of this with no HOA, off street parking and downtown convenience. Walk to class, dining and entertainment.

We are happy that this property went under contract. There are other buyers looking for properties just like this. If you are interested in selling your house, please contact us today.

Located in the well-established, mature neighborhood of Old Friarsgate, this 3 bedroom, 2 bath home has an array of features.

This all brick home includes newer windows, roof, gutters (full), water filtration system, tankless water heater and appliances along with updated cabinets, kitchen features and bathrooms. The HVAC system and ductwork are new with a transferrable warranty.

Most of the floors are beautiful hardwoods and the rooms are large.

Directly from the living room is a large, four season sunroom; perfect for year-round entertaining and relaxing. Two gas fireplaces accent this home; one in the living room and one in the sunroom.

The oversized backyard is completely fenced. All this and the awarding wining Lexington/Richland School District Five.

We are happy that this property went under contract. There are other buyers looking for properties just like this. If you are interested in selling your house, please contact us today.