How to Navigate Between 2 Homes When You Have a Pet

Whether you live in Texas and Tennessee or Illinois and Florida, many of us choose to maintain a residence in separate states. While our reasons may be different, the challenges we face are the same, especially when we have pets. Today, Big Texas Home Buyers offers a few top tips on how to navigate between the two without sacrificing your sanity or that of your pup.

Save Money Where You Can

Living in one home is expensive, and living in a second home can almost double these costs. If you’re diligent, you can find ways to save. A few ideas here include using only streaming services that will travel with you, buying your health and vehicle insurance in the cheaper state, and making sure that you maintain each home to avoid expensive surprise repair bills.

Stay Organized

Swapping back and forth means lots of moving parts, at least a few times each year. To stay organized, the How Money Walks blog recommends planning your travel as early as possible, letting your insurance company know when you’re there and when you’re away and turning off the main water valve. You may also consider digitizing your paper records, such as your home insurance so that you can access these no matter where you are.

Keep Pet Items In Both Homes

While most dog trainers typically recommend taking your dog’s bed with you when you move, it’s a bit different when you’re swapping back and forth. If possible, purchase the same food bowls, toys, and bedding for each home. This will help your dog feel more comfortable in a strange area, at least for the first few times you change addresses. This also goes for your pet’s food – it’s a good idea to have the same brand and flavor in both places. For wholesome and nutritious meals, go online to see what appealing options are available.

Make Sure Their Tags Are Up-To-Date

Perhaps most importantly, make sure that your dog’s tag or microchip is fully up to date. Being in two different places means twice the opportunities for Spot to skip out and go exploring on his own. If he’s not familiar with the location, you don’t want to risk him not making it back to the front porch.

No matter how much you prepare, it’s never a bad idea to have a grasp on common expenses you might expect to pay across the country. A few of these include:

• If you’re looking for an offsite storage unit, you can expect to pay on average $180 per month, depending on the size of the unit and other factors, according to Move.org.

• When you need a pet sitter, you can expect to pay around $12.50 per hour, although this will vary depending on which state you are currently in.

• Living in Nashville, you can expect to spend an average of around $340 per month to $564 per month for health insurance.

• Rent in Wichita, Kansas, may be as low as $598 per month; an apartment in New York or Boston will likely run $2600 per month or more.

• An inexpensive meal in New Orleans will usually cost a minimum of $15 per person.

While having two different homes that you travel between when you have pets presents challenges, there’s nothing you can’t handle with a little preparation. From saving money by buying your insurance in the cheaper state to squeezing out every last penny’s worth of your streaming TV, the tips above can help you save money on your dual-living arrangement.

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The team at Big Texas Home Buyers are Dallas real estate Investors dedicated to helping homeowners with problem houses who need to sell a house fast. Give us a call today for more info! 214-444-9385