A thousand a month!! Craziness!
The goal of landlords is to make a profit off a basic human need, that of shelter. They don’t like things that subtract from that profit. Children can be destructive, it’s true. Up until 1968 when the law was changed, they could refuse to rent to those with children. No law protects people with dogs and cats. German Shepherds. used for years to support the blind and as support for other handicapped people, can be classed as a vicious breed by someone who knows nothing about dogs, and banned on that unsupported premise. People can be allowed only one pet by people who have no clue that most small dogs and even cats are often less bored and destructive with a companion. So house hunting with cats is not easy.
Snout house hell
It is becoming more and more difficult to buy a house and more and more people are forced to rent. Add that to the fact wages have been stagnent for decades, while housing of all kinds has escalated in price and you wind up in a tight spot. Not to mention that houses available now are huge ugly things that actually have a name, “snout houses”. Even though people don’t like such arrangements and many towns have finally come around to doing somethng about it, for decades that was what builders put up. I am one of those who abhore those houses. I also don’t want a house the size of a Walmart superstore, no matter how architecturally magnificent. I also don’t want an apartment. After my last experience, which became a nightmare when the management and ownership changed, I would rather live in a tent in the desert. I don’t want tennis courts and I wouldn’t put my toe in an apartment complex swimming pool. I want quiet, privacy and the ability to decorate the way I want. I also want my cats.
Every year millions pets are turned in to shelters because their owners had to move and could find no new place to live where they could have them. I have no intention of letting this happen to my furry family. Thank goodness I bought my prepper retreat in New Mexico years ago and if all else failed I have a place to go no matter what. I am hoping to soon be able to erect a yurt out there. The picture at right is is from the brochure of the local yurt compay, Fortress Yurts. Not exactly a scratchy Scout tent. Plenty of light and height for bookshelves and the cat trees I fell in love with at the cat show from Furwood Forest. The big thing is having enough windows for the cats and I to enjoy the views and most yurts can have that. Since my cats are indoor only I wouldn’t have to worry too much about wildlife. We get bears wandering into town here, it can be that much worse. It certainly beats paying thousands to support someone else or the unthinkable, life without my cats.
Kimchee and Catnip 
You raise a good point. Here, they can’t really evict tenants for having pets. Sadly, they can say no to potential tenants if the tenants reveal that they have pets. Most people lie about it. It would be nice if the laws were different. Are you in the process of moving?
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We have been looking because I want to own. Higher costs in many ways but more freedom and peace of mind.
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It would be easier for me to live in an apartment than stay in my own house which is a lot of work, especially outside, but who would want to rent to me with four cats? I admit they are destructive little critters! It is a problem finding housing with animals.
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There is less work in an aprtment but in my experience not having any say in who surrounds you above, below and on all sides is a bigger negative. My cats are far less destructive than the neighbors’ kids in my last apartment.
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Where I rent, one was allowed up to three small pets when I came here in 2004. There was a $100 non-refundable one-time pet deposit. In the past year, they changed the number of small pets to one, with a non-refundable one-time pet deposit of $1000!
There was a major uproar over the $1000 pet deposit because this is a retirement community and pets tend to be companions to single renters. I believe they changed the deposit to one month’s rent (non-refundable) and only one small pet plus one month’s rent as a deposit (which rarely is returned). No wonder they have trouble finding renters!
I personally am comfortable paying for damages done by my two kitties – or me! I’d move in a minute if there were places to rent that allowed pets, let alone two cats, so I’m stuck here. I get by with two cats here on a grandfather arrangement, and only had to pay $100 because of when I got my first cats.
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Even where I lived close to Washington DC, which has to be more expensive than Nebraska, no one got that greedy! And you know probably as well as anyone, that two will entertain each other and one will get bored and do more damage! I am glad you were grandfathered. so the brothers could be together and you were not out a grand.
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