Say yes to Pets
When renting properties, the most important aspect to getting the property rented quickly and getting the best price, is making the property desirable for as many people possible. Some things you have no control over, such as location, school district and unless you want to do major construction, the size of the property. You work with what you have and make the property as pleasant as you can. The one thing that you do not do, is put barriers in the way.
As long as I have been in he business of Property Management in Orange County Ca. I have battled some owners over the prospect of allowing pets in the property. Facts about Pet Ownership in the U.S. :It's
estimated that 70-80 million dogs and 74-96 million cats are owned in
the United States. Approximately 37-47% of all households in the United
States have a dog, and 30-37% have a cat. (Source: APPA) These stats don't say how many have both a dog and a cat, so you can see that a huge portion of the population have pet. Since I have yet to manage a property that can have a horse, or I have yet to have someone who owns a pig apply for one of my properties I will leave them out of the conversation.
You can see the problem of not allowing pets in your property. You are cutting out at lest 40% of the population. No other business starts out by cutting out 40% of their prospective customers. It is just not good business.
The arguments I get of course concern the damage to the property, but I have found that people do much more damage to property then pets ever do. Believe me, if a property owner allows their pet to damage a property, that pet owner should not have been a Tenant in the first place. Taking a deposit for the property and also a pet deposit will be the best insurance for allowing a pet. Look at it this way, if by not allowing a pet, it takes you a month longer to rent a property and your rent is $2000, you have already lost $2000. That would probably be enough to replace the carpet in the entire home. So the Security deposit and the pet deposit will be plenty to cover any damage a pet will do.
Because my business is Property Management in Orange County California, I try very hard to convince the no pet owners to change their minds. It can become very frustrating to have to turn down good Tenant prospects, because the owner will not allow a pet. Unless you are willing to wait for the perfect Tenant, and some people are, then don't shy away from pet owners. They usually stay longer, because of the hassle for them to find a new pet friendly home.