if you were renting your house, would you rent to me?

[Anonymous]

DH and I have steady employment, ready cash, and would be looking for a 2 year lease at least.
We are careful homeowners (will be renting out our current house), take care of our stuff (although I don't know how you would know this...), etc.
We are not shady, and at the risk of flamers, we do not "look shady." We appear to be a nice, middle class professional couple with a young child. Which we are.

Oh, and two small dogs. Reasonably well behaved dogs, but they DO occasionally bark and they probably would have some... adjustment issues... related to the move. But they won't chew the walls or anything.

We'll give you a really nice security deposit and pay to have the carpets (if any) cleaned when we leave. Or yearly if you want.

Would you rent your house (non-furnished) with fenced backyard to us? DH is worried that the mere presence of two dogs will put us out of the running and we shouldn't even bother.

[Anonymous]

You guys sound like the ideal renters but for the dogs. My husband and I rent out four apartments/houses, but none to anyone with pets. For us, it is not worth the risk of possible property damage and increased liability exposure. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Do you rent now? If so, get your current landlord/landlady to write a reference or agree to verbally confirm that your dogs have not harmed your current rental.

[Anonymous]

We rented to a couple that had pets. We used a property management company, that does house inspections every six months + a security deposit. We did not have a problem with our renters at all!

The carpets had to professionally cleaned once they moved out.

So you should be able to find a nice rental in the area.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Is "adjustment issues" code for "will pee everywhere"? Because simply cleaning the carpets won't get that smell out.

I'd be more inclined to say yes if the dogs had Canine Good Citizen certificates or other proof of training/socialization.

[Anonymous]

Landlord here

It depends on a number of factors and what the other applicants you are going up against look like.

To be honest I would prefer no pets at all. I have allowed a small cat with a large deposit when the recession hit. Now that the economy is a little better I have had a better pool of applicants without pets.

[Anonymous]

No. When we rented a TH we owned we did not allow pets. One tenant had one anyway, which we discovered when they moved out. The carpet/pad in the basement had to be replaced, which cost more than the security deposit.

[Anonymous]

Pets are a luxury for home owners

[Anonymous]

No dogs or cats.

[Anonymous]

No because of the pets. Animals smell and you can smell that a house has pets as soon as you walk into a house. Pets ruin houses.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't rent to you because of the dogs. I could find a couple just as nice as you are but without pets.

[Anonymous]

Only if I couldn't find any non-pet owning tenants.

[Anonymous]

No pets.

[Anonymous]

We own a condo that we rent out, but our rule is no pets. Even if we did allow pets, I would strongly consider other similar candidates that didn't have pets. If I did rent to someone with pets, I would add a monthly amount to the rent (I've seen many places add $100-250 per month) and I would take carpet cleaning out of your security deposit.

Sorry, but most landlords don't want to deal with pets. Like others have said - they can certainly be just fine, but then we have to deal with neighbors complaining about barking, damage (sometimes permanent) to the carpets, scratching, the pet being there for servicemen, etc.

[Anonymous]

Pp here - if you do interview with someone, I would leave out the "adjustment" issues, and offer upfront to pay double security deposit and sign a 2-year contract. Then I might consider you.