Looking for a rental with 3 dogs (Portland, Gresham: apartments, renters, motel)

[cincykc]

My wife and I will be relocating to Portland in late August/early September and we have three well-mannered dogs (boxer-mix and 2 pitbull/bulldog/mixed breeds). Most of the rentals I'm finding through internet searches have a 2 dog maximum policy and/or breed restrictions.

I'm wondering if anyone on here can help me out with specific apartments or landlords that will accept renters with multiple dogs and our type of dogs. We have very good references from our last three landlords over the past 5 years, all of whom have rented to us with our dogs. My wife will be attending and working at PSU, so proximity to the college or public transportation would be a plus. Also, we don't need much space (1 bedroom at the largest)

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Twilighter]

Here are some resources for you:

Portland Pooch - Portland, Oregon Dog-Friendly Apartments
Lovers NOT Fighters Pit Bull Rescue
Operation Keep-a-Bull
Pit Bull Friendly Properties Page « The Portland Pit Bull Project

I hope you are prepared to buy if you are unable to rent. I assume you were aware of the challenge of finding housing before making a lifetime commitment to these three and that you will do whatever is necessary to honor that commitment (within legal and ethical constraints.)

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Be warned, you are going to have to put up with a lot of crap because they are pitbulls......

[Steve Pickering]

I love when perspective tenants call their Pit Bulls, some kind of mix, as if that made them less pitbull.

Either this is a joke, or if you are serious, I would suggest you look to some of the more ethnic areas of town or less reputable rentals.

Three Chihuahuas would be hard to place. Your three, near impossible.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

With 3 pitbulls, you are going to have an extremely difficult time finding a rental. It's hard enough to find a landlord who will take big dogs, let alone 3 of them. Virtually no landlord will take pitbulls.

No landlord is going to buy the "boxer mix" attempt to side step the rules. They have all heard that too many times.

You might not be able to get a motel room, either.

Better start looking to see if you can afford to buy something. Maybe a cheap old mobile home on its own land. I suspect that you won't be able to keep the dogs in a mobile home park, so you would have to buy something where you own the land under it. Check CCRs before you buy.

[AndyAMG]

3 is your problem. 2 you could find something fairly easy. Its hard to balance you getting a decent place to live and finding a place that accepts 3 bully type dogs. Like others have said look into a mobile home a little way out of the city. Besides apartment living is no good for 3 dogs, they need to run and frolic. Even a small back yard is tore up in no time by 3 dogs of any breed. Just the fact that the ground is soft and wet means a destroyed lawn. I rent to people with a mastiff and a chihuahua and my yard is destroyed. If renting to animal lovers wern't so lucrative i would say no dogs period. I'm sure you already have heard this. There were some people on here bot long ago in the same situation. I don't believe they found a solution they were happy with. Try and find other threads. Your not the only one in this situation.

Look in areas like St. Helens, Scappose.

[Minervah]

It isn't only the breed of dog, it's the size and number. I know of two rental management companies that will rent to people with dogs but the maximum is two and the size is limited to two small dogs. Pet fees are high. At one apartment I had to pay $200 for one cat. Some apartments are asking for a monthly pet fee.

Your best bet would be to find ad rental management company that lists houses for rent either in the more distant parts of the city or the suburbs.

[christiner81]

I'm allowed to have unrestricted pets in my rental, but I live "out in the country." You will likely have to trade the convenience of a shorter commute in order to find a situation that will accommodate you, if you intend on keeping all 3. What is your budget? What will you be doing (staying home, working, going to school, etc) while she's at PSU?

[cincykc]

Thanks for the links Twilighter.

Steve - Thank goodness my wife is black, we should have no problem fitting into the 'ethnic' parts of town if that is what we have to do.

chritstiner81 - My wife is the urban dweller, I would actually prefer to live in the country. My only worry about living "out in the country", if its anything like Ohio, is that some white folks aren't always so nice to mixed couples/black folks. But, I've been surprised before. Maybe she will have to make the sacrifice since I'm agreeing to move across the country for her. Both of us will be working, and I'd say $1000 month would be the most we want to pay.

[skiffrace]

Look in Gresham, not far from Max line. As others said, finding a place in urban core will be very difficult.
Gresham is a far suburb, with many rough spots but some nice areas too.
Gresham is the type of place where 3 pitbulls may be tolerated, because many people there actually have them.
Parts of it have a bit of rural feeling - the lots are large and neighbors far away.
At the same time, the Max line starts there, so your wife can use it to get to PSU without fighting the awful traffic on I84
Otherwise, any rural place in PDX area + the necessity to travel to downtown = long, long time spent in the car.