Along with what has been said. Check her credit report and call for references to include her last landlord. I am leaning toward not. If the place hasn't been totally redone you will get a call every week. Good luck. Spencer

I disagree. Put hardwood in a place and people will tend to take care of it. Put cheapo, crap carpet in a place and people will respond in kind. Tile would be the best solution, hardwood second.

I fail to see why it's necessary to treat everyone like a crackhead/tweeker/scumbag by giving them interior decor appropriate for a prison just because the landlord is too cheap to do proper screening of tenants.

Just from a security standpoint, I can't imagine not having a dog.

We have 3 rentals. Two are no pet. The third is on an acre of property. I have a cross fence giving the rental about 1/3 acre back yard. I allow LARGE gregarious OUTSIDE dogs on this property with my approval and a pet deposit.

OK for the dogs to come in during the night and they have access through a door into the garage during the day. Dogs stay outside (or garage) during the day. Two different tenants over the last 3 years. NO problems.

Why large dogs? Little dogs seem to be neurotic and yappy. They also tend to be left in the house when the tentants are gone which is not allowed. One of the tenants acquired a dog that did not pass my meet and greet "gregarious" test. We are over there nearly every week working in the shop. This dog was old "intact" male who growled, snarled and "fence-fought" with all the neighbors dogs. No go. They got rid of him immediately (they are on a 30 day lease).

No cats. Never under any circumstance can someone have a cat in my rentals. I have cleaned up the last "cat damage" that I will ever clean in any house.

With your living proximity to the property I would suggest NO pets with this tenant. You can always change your mind later if she proves to be a model tenant and allow an approved pet.

The fence is a DEFINATE YES. This establishes boundaries for what is "hers" and what is "yours". Fencing is cheap, aggravation saved is priceless.

angela

I've seen rentals that state "cats ok, no dogs." I never understood that. Cats do much more interior damage with their smelly urine. And you could have a cat for a few years, then all of a sudden, they start pissing everywhere. In other words, they're unpredictable. Dogs, if trained properly, usually won't do that ever.

Getting rid of cat piss is a real PITA.

Again, I must disagree. Cats will only pee on the carpets if the dip$hit owner is too stupid to clean out the litter box regularly. Yes, cat whiz stinks (it's very high in ammonia), but as with most situations, the problem(s) are the owners, not the animals.

If you were forced to live in a place where there was only a bucket to pee/crap in and nobody ever cleaned it out, would you continue to go there? Think of it that way.

While I completely agree with that, this is very true (cats don't like dirty litter boxes), this is not always the case. You can keep it clean as can be and there are cats that suddenly take to pissing everywhere else.

I have found that dogs due less damage than cats do to the real estate.

Michael

My experience is that's true but the reason for it may be medical and fixable. Had it with one cat and just developed with another.

1st cat it was a territory/alpha thing. She was older and was head pet. We rescued a mutilated male kitten and all was well until male reached about 3. That's when the pissing match started. Female has since passed away.

Our now oldest cat would get UTI's, we'd see blood in the urine and know right away to get her on antibiotics.

Unfortunately the multipele UTI's have led to a thickened bladder. Makes her almost incontinent.

My wife and I are trying to figure out what to do. This one is our favorite cat and is otherwise healthy but if we can't get this condition fixed it'll suck.

In my house 3 cats did less damage than the one dog. Dog was a Mastiff so the shear size alone was enough to do damage. Broken tiles, spooge on the walls, ceiling, friggin hair everywhere. Ever see what 150-200lb animals do to wood floors simply by walking on them? Let's just say you want to keep their nails short.

Stomachmonkey, by contrast, I had a cat that refused to piss anywhere else but his litterbox. At 18 years old, just before he died, when he had kidney disease, we ended up moving the litterbox to the dining room where he hung out mostly so he could easily get to it, he moved so slow, and all that time, he still refused to piss anywhere else but the litterbox. But I believe Bandit was exceptional. He sure was the coolest.

I'll probably never get another cat. Too unpredictable. Dogs only for me. My deceased dog Chance was awesome too......

I would not allow any pet that roams freely to inhabit a rental property. Including dogs, cats, ferrets etc.

Cool, I almost named my current retriever Chance.....ended up going with Chase. Cool name.