Finding a Rental that's Pet-Friendly (Hilo: 2014, renters, houses)

[BlaineWalden]

Hello people of City-Data!

I am looking for a rental for my girlfriend, myself and our dog. We'll be moving from Los Angeles to the Hilo in several weeks and it has been a whole lot of fun looking through the pet-unfriendly listings. Does anyone have pointers on where to look for rentals that would allow pets?

I'm all ears for any suggestions for a mainlander. I will be studying at the University and I am worried about the job opportunities for my girlfriend. She has a Masters in Business Administration, which I think would be applicable in most areas.

Thank you all very much for your input!

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by BlaineWalden

I am looking for a rental for my girlfriend, myself and our dog.

How far along are you on the dog quarantine process?

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Blaine, have you looked through some of the threads about finding rentals? I think it will be extremely hard with a dog.

Make sure that you don't agree to renting anything sight-unseen!

[willowkim]

Blaine,

We have friends here that brought their dogs (you have to follow the quarantine process *exactly* BTW). They managed to find a vacation rental for a couple months when they moved and then started looking for a long-term place right away. They heard how hard it was to find a place with pets but thought if they were here and people met them, they'd find a landlord who would work with them. It didn't happen. It turned out to be really hard. Really hard. Very stressful, and in the end they had to pay more than they wanted for a place that was smaller than they wanted... but they had to jump on it. In all of Kona, I think they found 3 houses total that they applied for, maybe 4. 2 months of searching and less than a handful of places -- out of all those listings on Craigslist every day!

People who bring pets have a hard, hard road ahead of them if they are renters here.

[BlaineWalden]

Thank you all for such quick responses.

I did read through the first two pages of posts under the search query "pets". It does seem like an atrocious process to get a pet here, which is partly why my girlfriend and the dog will be moving to Hilo several months after I will have.

From what I've read, it seems like a good idea to hire pet importing services, but I'm not sure if it's worth the money because we already took the liberty to work on some of the paperwork ourselves. If it is really the best way, then I suppose I'll have to look more into that.

As for how far along we are, we got her the necessary shots, still need to do blood work to test for titers, and are due for yet another checkup this week.

Thank you for the tip to not sign anything prior to seeing it myself. We have a hostel rented for a week to look through all the listings (which are pretty scarce atm). I hope this ample time to find a lodging that would work out for us.

The plan is to find a place that accommodates pets so that when my girlfriend moves in January 2014, I won't have to relocate to a petfriendly place. If things don't pan out, I will have to settle with a pet-unfriendly place for now, until the rest of our family (girlfriend and pup) moves to Hawaii next year.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Well, that plan sounds a whole lot better than your original post where you said "we will be moving to Hilo in several weeks". I think you had a lot of us nervous about that!

Good to see that you will be staying in a hostel first so that you can check things out first-hand. Also, with you moving over several months before your girlfriend, that will give you time to get to know the place and maybe help with her job search.

[mdand3boys]

In addition to craigslist (which is full of rental scams, BTW) I suggest the Hawaii-Tribune Herald newspaper.

You can purchase a subscription to the on-line edition quite cheaply.

Hawaii Tribune Herald

[Fredesch]

If you have a mobile device you can read the Hilo paper for free.

[BlaineWalden]

So does anyone suggest that I really consider doing the pet import service or do it on my own?

What are do's and don'ts so that I don't get on other people's nerves? I've been reading the other threads and it seems that there are some mainlanders who tread on other people's toes.

Do you think it will be very difficult for a female mainlander with a MBA to find a decent paying job?

Thanks for your help, fellas!

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by BlaineWalden

Do you think it will be very difficult for a female mainlander with a MBA to find a decent paying job?

What is you definition of "decent paying"? In Hilo - MBA positions aren't exactly a general requirement or pay a premium except perhaps UH - Hilo