Need a place to live with dogs and bad credit (Columbus: apartments, lease)

[gsdhelp]

I have two nicely trained dogs who I love a lot. A GSD and a lab/husky mix. Trained them myself through the training school I attend. My dogs are by no means aggressive nor or they destructive of property. They are still in training and will be training with me for the rest of their lives or mines, which ever one comes first.

First off, we recently just lost our house do to a bad mortgage. The house can not be saved at this point. I realize now I could have said it if I didn't waste so much time getting the run around with the bank and instead looked for legal aid. While bad, it already happened and it is something we have to live with. I feel like an idiot but instead of beating myself about it I wish to move forward and hope to help others who may be facing similar situations who might still have time to do something about it if I'm giving the chance.

I don't know how much longer we have here. I have been applying to almost ever ad I see that I could afford. We gross almost 3k a month now. The credit is of course bad but I'm willing to put down a larger deposit, I'm willing to put 3x the rent on a deposit, maybe more if it gets us all a roof over our heads this year. I can even get cosigners for it.

If I managed to get them to open their minds to the dogs I can't seem to get them past the credit problem even with the deposit and cosigners who they aren't even allowing me to use.

If anyone knows of any area I could try let me know. Again, I know the credit is bad and I know some people find dogs destructive. I wish a much larger than normal deposit would be enough to cover any expensive they might have with us if any at all. Looking for a 2 bedroom with basement or 3 bedroom w/wo basement. It doesn't have to be a house. I would love for it to be safe but I've given up on that requirement too.

With some hard work we can hopefully we build our credit in a couple years and be able to rent a nice place then. After about 5 more years of good credit building and maybe even better jobs we can look at another house but that is still a long ways away.

[Natural510]

Those corporate-run type apartment communities usually allow pets, but they might also be the type to worry most about your credit. Still, I would start there first. Search Craigslist, which allows you to filter the results by "dogs allowed".

[Meemur]

We could probably offer better suggestions if we had some idea of where you were willing to move.

If you're a member of the church like the Vineyard, you could discuss your needs with one of the pastors and they might be able to hook you up with a landlord willing to take a chance on you.

There might also be "rent to own" trailers or other situations like that in the smaller towns surrounding Columbus. A realtor might be able to help you. Try one of the smaller ones, not one of the huge national ones that has to pull in every dime from clients. If relocating to Newark (OH) is possible, you might be able to find something there, plus be closer to work (if you can get a job in Newark, too) than you might be living in Pickerington and trying to work in Columbus.

That's the best I can suggest without more data about location.

Added: Craigslist can be good, but lots of older people who rent homes work by word of mouth through the churches or groups. Those won't be found online.

[gsdhelp]

Originally Posted by Natural510

Those corporate-run type apartment communities usually allow pets, but they might also be the type to worry most about your credit. Still, I would start there first. Search Craigslist, which allows you to filter the results by "dogs allowed".

Been using that. For some reason people have it marked but don't actually want dogs. Meeting with someone tomorrow who claims the last tenant had dogs that tore up the place. I believe him as dogs can tear things up if you don't provide them attention and obedience training. I doubt mines ever would and if they did I would restore it myself. I never even thought to mention that both my dogs have their CGC certifications and I can get tons of references to backup the fact that my dogs are well behaved, including but not limited to allowing them to see for themselves. The sad truth is I think the credit is what is really holding me back.

Originally Posted by Meemur

We could probably offer better suggestions if we had some idea of where you were willing to move.

If you're a member of the church like the Vineyard, you could discuss your needs with one of the pastors and they might be able to hook you up with a landlord willing to take a chance on you.

There might also be "rent to own" trailers or other situations like that in the smaller towns surrounding Columbus. A realtor might be able to help you. Try one of the smaller ones, not one of the huge national ones that has to pull in every dime from clients. If relocating to Newark (OH) is possible, you might be able to find something there, plus be closer to work (if you can get a job in Newark, too) than you might be living in Pickerington and trying to work in Columbus.

That's the best I can suggest without more data about location.

Added: Craigslist can be good, but lots of older people who rent homes work by word of mouth through the churches or groups. Those won't be found online.

I've considered trying rent to own but I can't actually own for 7 years and that is assuming I can work my credit back up enough for the banks to trust me. I almost don't even want to own through a loan after the way the banks did this time. At least now I'm more informed.

I work in westerville but travel to canal winchester 4 times a week and Galloway 2 or 3 times a week. So I'm all over Columbus. I'm also looking for place to move ASAP with bad credit so I can't be too picky. Newark is a little out of the way but I see a lot of listings for Newark so I'm think I'll give it a try. I'd prefer to rent a house/ranch as I enjoy doing my own yard work. But I have to stay open minded and realize that I might not get what I want right away.

All I need is my family(dogs included) to be safe. It doesn't have to be the nicest looking place. I've lived in apartments before and actually found it easier to control pest on my own dime rather than calling maintenance, moving everyone out just so they can walk in, spray a bit and leave. A little noise doesn't bother me at all and I'll pick up the trash in front of my place if I don't want to see it. I try not to let the small stuff get to me that I hear so many complaints about when looking for reviews on places.

I don't know if that info helps or not. Ideal living areas would either be Westerville, Canal Winchester and Galloway.

[Meemur]

I would definitely talk to some of the local realtors in those smaller towns. Many of them are also landlords or know landlords. Also network so you can drop names. Someone who worked with you training your dogs might have a grandmother who owns a house that she wants to rent out, but not to just "anyone."

You could then use that person as a personal reference.

Do check out Newark and also look into work over there. You won't get rich but get applications in at Walmart, Kroger, etc. If you can get in over there, it'll be a lot cheaper than Westerville.

You've probably been down this road, but if not, there are some programs in Ohio to help keep people in their homes. Here's one:

http://www.ohiohome.org/

[gsdhelp]

We are finally getting some options. Could possible have a place tomorrow. Says he'll only care about the criminal check which ours is completely clean. It's on the westside, where my family lives. The location is great, size is only good, and the price is really great. Couldn't ask for much more. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it goes through.

Family did offer to buy us another house. It is hard to accept that. It comes with a bunch of attached strings and doesn't teach us much on top of the fact that it would never feel like ours. Still, it is an option that we will consider if things don't work out with other places.

Also, I don't know if I should but I'm afraid to ask for anything from my possible future landlord. When we came for the showing their was a leak in the basement. I saw the leak, didn't seem hard to fix but I don't want to be stuck with the water bill that resulted from that leak that lasted for possible 2 days. Water was all over the basement floor(no carpet here). I'll at least make sure everything is fixed before we sign the lease. I am so happy to find somewhere to live that I'm really hoping that I don't jump into anything that I'm going to regret.

[brianjb]

Originally Posted by gsdhelp

We are finally getting some options. Could possible have a place tomorrow. Says he'll only care about the criminal check which ours is completely clean. It's on the westside, where my family lives. The location is great, size is only good, and the price is really great. Couldn't ask for much more. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it goes through.

Family did offer to buy us another house. It is hard to accept that. It comes with a bunch of attached strings and doesn't teach us much on top of the fact that it would never feel like ours. Still, it is an option that we will consider if things don't work out with other places.

Also, I don't know if I should but I'm afraid to ask for anything from my possible future landlord. When we came for the showing their was a leak in the basement. I saw the leak, didn't seem hard to fix but I don't want to be stuck with the water bill that resulted from that leak that lasted for possible 2 days. Water was all over the basement floor(no carpet here). I'll at least make sure everything is fixed before we sign the lease. I am so happy to find somewhere to live that I'm really hoping that I don't jump into anything that I'm going to regret.

Where did you find this place?