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My husband and I are very excited to be relocating from Texas to the Rock Springs Area. We have lived in Wyoming previously and met in Jackson Hole. We know all about the change in climate and are looking forward to a break in the heat. I am wondering why it is so difficult to find a pet friendly rental that will allow 3 pets? I understand that when I tell someone I have 3 Golden Retrievers that they get defensive, but I shouldn't have to sell, surrender, or re-home any of my AKC registered and trained pet/family members in order to relocate. Aren't there enough animals homeless? I have excellent rental references and continue to offer higher deposits even though my animals will not cause any damage. No one is even willing to give us a chance, is Rock Springs really this unfriendly to responsible pet owners?
I'll take a guess on this one...
I lived in an apartment complex (in another state) that did not allow pets. When the vacancy rate got high they ran ads that "pets are welcome" and they filled up. Many towns in wyoming have shortages of rental housing so landlords do not need to take the risk on tenants with pets.
I can't speak for the other rental property owners here on the forum ...
But I sure can relate my experiences with over 35 years of rental property ownership.
Every time I've accepted the representations that somebody's "fido" or "fluffy" is a model pet, well trained, calm, absolutely housebroken, wouldn't damage anything ... let alone allowing two pets into a residence, even with a damage deposit equal to a couple month's rent ...
I've had dogs claw their way through doors, including solid panel exterior doors, break down closet doors, tear up window coverings, destroy window screens. I've had destroyed cabinet doors. I've had household furnishings chewed or clawed.
Cats have chewed, clawed, rubbed up against surfaces, destroyed furniture. I've had leashed pets outside destroy stands of trees, or grind their way through 4"x4" posts for a deck or stairway. And those aren't even the damage problems from "accidents" where I needed to replace floor coverings all the way through the sub-floor. (I got so tired of carpet/underlayment replacement in one house that I ripped out all of the carpeting and replaced it with either tile or a 3/8" thick industrial broadcast epoxy floor ... if the tenants wanted a soft surface underfoot, they could buy their own throw rugs and let those get destroyed)
I've wound up losing far more money in damages to the premises than I ever recovered in forfeited damage deposits. It's not been unusual to spend several thousand dollars to mitigate the damage from somebody's pet. Three large dogs would be a daunting financial proposition for me as a property owner doing a make-ready for a new tenant or maintaining my property in decent condition during your tenancy.
I appreciate your position re caring for and providing a lifetime home for the pets. I've got 3 rescue Corgi's and up to 4 rescue cats at a time in our house ... in addition to 4 large breed (100+ lb) rescue LGD's and around 12 cats outside the house that can and do tear up our barns.
The difference here is that I know how much damage my well behaved housebroken household pets cause in my house, and I take full responsibility for those expenses. I can see the clawed up furniture, rubbed on doorways and furnishing, damaged window screens and coverings, and other damage my wonderful pets have caused. If this was a rental property, I'd be spending thousands of dollars to mitigate/repair the damage so that the house showed properly and was in true "rental ready" condition. I tolerate this as a house owner and pet owner. I cannot tolerate this for a rental property.
I couldn't imagine what you must have gone through with pets and I'm not like anyone you've ever met before with pets. Obviously some people take better care of the things in their lives than others. For some one with as many different pets as you own it's easy to see why you think the way you do, and I would have a germ fit just thinking about how your house smells. It doesn't matter where I live my pets are well trained and are neve left to roam my house when no one is home. I value the things in my life including my furniture and belongings. It doesn't matter what anyone says or does, the move will either work out or it won't. I have faith that things will turn out exactly the way God wants them too even if RS isn't part of our future. If not I can happily stay in my completely undamaged, extremely clean home where we are all happily together now.
I couldn't imagine what you must have gone through with pets and I'm not like anyone you've ever met before with pets.
Even if I were to take you at your word that you're completely different than all the other 1,000's of pet owners I've ever known ... friends, acquaintances, rental tenants who made the same claims that you do ...
the bottom line is that I've been down the path before with too many very responsible pet owners over the decades with the same outcome every time. It winds up costing me money to have your pets in my rental properties.
My rental property managers, who have dealt with at least 10,000 unit rentals over the last 4 decades all say the same thing. Renting to multiple pet owners consistently is a losing financial proposition on nice, clean, well presented properties. A neighbor's son, who is a regional property manager supervisor for a chain of property management companies across CA, UT, CO ... with 9,000 units under their management, apartments, SFH's, duplexes ... will not rent to any pet owners due to the losses they've sustained through the years.
Obviously some people take better care of the things in their lives than others.
Yes, true. Upon their departure, some of the people left the units in better condition than others. But my experience has been consistent for decades: I lose money on every rental damage deposit I've received for pet owner tenants.
For some one with as many different pets as you own it's easy to see why you think the way you do, and I would have a germ fit just thinking about how your house smells.
You obviously missed that my pets are well housebroken, well behaved, and given plenty of time and opportunity via pet doors to go outside to do their business.
My wife is allergic to pet dander and smells, so she's an absolute clean house fanatic ... and we don't have any carpet in our house. All of our floors are hardwood or tile so that we can use easily removable/cleanable small area rugs. The litter box is cleaned twice a day and you'd not be able to "smell" it in the house since it's located in a remote pantry area ... an old "root cellar" portion of the house that has excellent ventilation and separation from the rest of the house.
But like any other cat, ours will from time to time barf up a hairball or scratch and claw at furniture,
rub against the corners of walls or furniture, or swipe at a window screen with a bird on the outside of the window. And the dogs may, from time to time, barf up something they ate when outside, or have some intestinal distress reaction to their normal food. My bet is that your dogs do, too ... it's just part of being a dog when they're outside to explore those things that attract them.
It doesn't matter where I live my pets are well trained and are neve left to roam my house when no one is home.
So they're either kenneled, put outside, or confined. Well, bully for you and your well trained pets. You're the one in a million exception to the norm and you've got perfect pets. Unfortunately,
rental property owners only have your word on this and they've been trained by thousands of renters before you arrived. The odds for them that you're 100% absolutely perfect with your dogs isn't very good.
Having 3 large breed dogs doesn't help the odds for them.
I value the things in my life including my furniture and belongings. It doesn't matter what anyone says or does, the move will either work out or it won't. I have faith that things will turn out exactly the way God wants them too even if RS isn't part of our future. If not I can happily stay in my completely undamaged, extremely clean home where we are all happily together now.
Sounds to me like you've already got your best option ... stay in your completely undamaged, extremely clean home where you and your pets are the one in a million of perfection.
Better than moving into a rental property where somebody before you had less than perfect pets to leave behind a trail of dog-detectable odors to lead them down the path of temptation.
You asked why rental property owners wanted to force you to abandon your pets in light of the distress and hardship that it brings to the pets ... and I told you why based upon my personal and my property managers experiences of decades. A sad state of affairs, but that's the reality of the rental property business.
By way of comparison, I'm certainly interested in hearing from all those rental property owners that do rent to multiple large dog families ... and how they've fared with damage deposits and condition issues for their properties. From prior threads, I know that there's plenty of other rental property owners here on C-D? What's your results? Would especially like to hear from rental property owners that rented to multiple large breed dogs in a residence/apartment.
We couldn't find a rental in our area of Wyoming that would allow us to bring our pets. We had a golden retriever and a saint Bernard. No one was willing to take a chance on us and our big dogs. So despite all the advice to rent before buying here, we had to just buy a house here and hope for the best. Not sure if buying is an option for you, but that may have to be the only way to make the move with your pets.
After moving here we rented out a room in our house for my husband's co-worker and her Shih Tzu. She couldn't find a place to rent that would allow her dog. She assured us her dog was well behaved and would not be a problem.
From the start the dog kept jumping on our furniture and rubbing it's face and claws on it, so I put down a towel so she wouldn't damage our new couch. Not a big deal, but already an issue with the dog.
Then the dog started having potty accidents in the house because she didn't like to poop outside in the snow. One accident became multiple and the renter knew we were becoming upset, so she started locking the dog up in her room while she was at work. Well the dog hated being trapped in the room so she started barking and scratching at the bottom of the door incessantly.
The co-worker realized the dog was a huge issue and we were not happy so she found another place to rent and moved out.
She moved into a place that doesn't allow dogs and now they are doing an apartment inspection and she needs a place to stash the dog for the day so she asked her boss if the dog can come with her to work. She started to assure her boss that the dog was well behaved and wouldn't be a problem at work, but then she saw my husband standing there and she stopped talking because she knew he knew the truth.
My point is you can say your dogs are the best behaved dogs in the world, but any property owner who's been burned before is not going to believe it, because that's what they all say. Everyone says their dog is the best behaved dog ever, because if they didn't say that they know they wouldn't have a chance of getting the rental.
Do what you need to do, I'm not advocating taking them to a shelter, because I know you love them and promised to care for them for their entire lives, but just know that finding a renter who will allow pets is going to be really, really tough if not impossible.
I know you are safely partnered but theres a whole thread on the seediness of Rock Springs (one person is worried about her sister and the dating scene there, but with the description of all the single, hungry, predatory men and the drug scene- it is pretty worrisome)
"Stats don't tell the whole story. Rock Springs is a pretty rough town. I grew up in Salt Lake and one of my aunt's moved their with her husband. It's a mining town, very blue collar when she lived there had lots of drugs/crime. My advice to your sister would be to move on to greener pastures. Not a great place to live. Salt Lake or Denver are much nicer."
(I am just saying its sounds like a not so great place to live, in general - hope the money is good- also you have Goldens- there are rescues devoted to them, look in to that as a last resort, not the shelter!)...
Last edited by CAjerseychick; 04-13-2017 at 10:45 PM..
Reason: more info
My experience with renting to pet owners has been similar to that of "sunspirit's."
Everyone moves here with the perfect pet. I have met a few of the animals before the move-in and really liked them.
Then the owner of the pet takes possession of one of my rentals and something happens. Something bad.
So, if you can't fathom your dogs having typical canine behaviors, perhaps blame it on Wyoming. The clean air. The water. The type of flora and/or fauna, maybe it's the paper we use to print leases on... rentals and pets don't mix here.
Personally, I have chosen to no longer contribute to the delinquency of animals.
Last edited by branDcalf; 04-14-2017 at 08:12 AM..
Sounds terrible for you landlords, but I'll gladly continue to be the exception for any landlord until we are ready to buy our own place. I'm at home full time and yes when we are not at home our pets are happy in their crates. Nothing against the law about that and we scoop poop every weekend or mow into the bag. So sad there are so many people who let their animals run amok but I will never be one of them. Rock Springs was never my first choice in Wyoming so making housing harder to find with pets just makes it worth our while to go elsewhere. Besides, I prefer the mountains, not a dust bowl desert outside of the mountains and beautiful terrain.
There's a work around to the "pet" problem.
Try to get them certified as emotional support animals and get yourself diagnosed with one of the disabilities listed before. Very easy to do.
Best of all, you won't have to pay those exorbitant pet deposit fees.
Individuals with disabilities who believe they would benefit from an ESA must have a psychological diagnosis as a disabled person from a licensed mental health professional.
Emotional and psychological disabilities applicable for an ESA letter may include:
Stress Disorders
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Depressive Disorder
Panic/Anxiety Disorders
Personality Disorders
Phobias
The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, commonly known as FHA, requires apartments and housing communities that ordinarily restrict pets to make “reasonable accommodation” for ESAs. In short, that means that verified ESA owners cannot be denied housing, just as individuals in a wheelchair or with a disability cannot be denied housing based on their condition.
In order to be protected by FHA laws, the ESA owner must have a diagnosed disability and provide documentation to the property owner or housing representative.
The benefits to FHA laws include the fact that property owners cannot charge an advance deposit or fees for ESAs. ESA owners should note, however, that if significant damage is done, or if it becomes apparent that the animal is being neglected, the property owner might be able to recoup fees later.
Property owners also cannot question the disability, require the animal to wear identification as an ESA, or refuse housing. In short, FHA laws protect verified ESA owners who properly care for the animal but may not protect owners who are negligent or destructive.
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