For many people, having a pet is one of the simplest and greatest joys of life. Tens of millions of American families have pets and love them dearly. Pets can improve your mood, provide companionship and keep you from getting too lonely if you live alone. They are also incredibly cute and always ready and willing to play.
There are even many health benefits that many people enjoy when they have a pet. Unfortunately, many landlords or rental companies aren’t too fond of renting apartments to someone with a pet. This can leave you in a tough position as a pet owner and lead to a lot of confusion and potential heartache.
However, there are some things you can do to better your chances of finding a pet-friendly apartment. With that in mind, this article is going to take a look at a few tips to help you find a pet-friendly apartment for you and your furry friend.
Use Online Tools to Help
There are a wide range of online tools and resources that you can use to help locate pet-friendly apartments in your area. If you’re searching for a standard apartment, using sites like Craigslist, Zillow and Trulia is common. They have tons of apartment listings with detailed descriptions and photos.
So why should it be any different when searching for a pet-friendly one? Many of these online apartment-hunting sites allow you to search only for units at buildings that accept pets. For example, using Dallas apartment locators and using the right filters should help you find apartments in the area that are open to pets.
On your journey to finding a pet-friendly apartment, this is the first thing you should do. Using online tools can be done from the comfort of your home and is easy to search for exactly what you need, without a lot of hard work.
Create a Pet Resume
The reason many landlords don’t like allowing pets is because they can often do damage to a unit. If you can prove or show that your animal isn’t like that, you may have a better chance of getting a landlord to allow your dog, cat or other pet. However, a landlord may not simply take your word for it.
As a result, it can be a good idea to create a “pet resume” for your companion. This resume should include the breed of your dog, their medical history and any certificates they may have. You should also try and get some letters of recommendations from trainers, dog sitters or even past landlords on the quality of your pet.
You could even go a step further and set up a meeting between your potential landlord and your pet. This might be tough to swing, but being around your animal and getting comfortable with it could help your landlord allow the pet.
Be Willing to Pay a Little More
If you’re really struggling to find a landlord willing to let you have a pet in your area, you could offer to pay a little more to change their minds. Money talks, and sometimes it can be enough for someone to allow a pet despite not wanting to originally. In fact, some landlords might even require a pet deposit and/or a monthly pet fee.
However, this fee or deposit should be reasonable. While we love our pets and would do anything to live with them, don’t let your landlord charge you an obscene fee just to have a pet. If they try to do that, you’re better off looking elsewhere for housing.
In conclusion, hopefully this article has been able to help you learn some helpful tips for finding a pet-friendly apartment in your area.