How to find house to rent with 3 dogs after surrendering home in bk?

[kellysmum]

We need your help and ideas. Our bk was discharged in July of this year, and we did not reaffirm the mortgage with Wells Fargo. We tried, until now, to "stay and pay" but we just can't make the house payments. At all.

So I didn't pay the October mortgage, but we had our refrigerator died and we weren't able to save anything for the mortgage. I figured it out, and by 150 past due on our mortgage, or February, we will have $5,500 saved. If we're lucky and WF has to wait for the 180 day mark, we'll have approximately $7,500 saved. We are concerned the house will sell at auction as it is in a nice neighborhood and other foreclosed homes in our neighborhood have sold immediately at auction.

We have a 12-year-old daughter and three tiny dogs, all over the age of 10 and housebroken. They are like our children. Also, we need to stay in the same school district for our daughter's sake (she is a special needs child and is receiving excellent care and education in our district).

So, how do we find a half-way decent house in the township where we live with these three dogs and a bk and foreclosure on our record? Please, any ideas welcome and any advice. We can afford about $800-$900 a month in rent, plus are willing to put extra deposit funds down if needed to keep our dogs. What else can we do?

[ValleYum]

You kind of had the same thread back in November where you got some good suggestions: http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.ph...sing-the-house

In this thread is how I rented with 2 big dogs and 2 cats with only $500 out of pocket in fees/deposits and $5/pet/month in pet rent - c&p's here for you:

We just moved last month with 4 pets. It was a little bit of work but well worth it to have my babies.

Pets can get pricey with private landlords as they are all scared of the damage that can be done by the critters.

We have 2 medium dogs and 2 cats so I had to be ready to sell the pets and us to the potential landlords!!

When we went to meet with landlords to tour and/or apply, I had all of the rabies and spay/neuter certificates, a picture of all the animals and the latest vet receipts for flea control. We asked our current neighbors to write a "Pet Reference" which was awesome. We offered a pet interview for the dogs.... LOL the cats would be hilarious to try to take anywhere to be met! We offered to pay reasonable monthly pet rent and offered to have the carpets professionally cleaned once per year with a copy of the receipt sent to them in order to reduce the deposits/fees.

Overboard? Maybe.

The landlord we chose (we had 2 offer housing to us with all 4 animals) dropped her pet deposit of $2000 ($500 per pet) and $250 in pet fees down to a $250 total pet deposit and $250 in fees!! We pay $5 per pet per month in pet rent ($20) and we are having the carpets cleaned yearly for the owners. We also signed a 3 year lease which I think reassured the owners.

Good luck to you!!!

An update year into our Landlord - Tenant relationship:

They tell us ALL THE TIME how blessed they are to have us as Tenants. We pay our rent on time ALWAYS and let them cash it EARLY on the 25th of every month for the NEXT month - it is due on the 1st and late on the 5th in our Lease. Make sure you have an emergency fund so rent is NEVER a problem to pay.

We pulled p-traps when the bathroom sinks ran slow rather than call and bother them and I bought a $2 appliance lightbulb for the microwave with my Amazon Prime free shipping. It truly is the little things like that that make your Landlords love you.

The neighbors told the owners about how good our dogs are - quiet and that the yard is decently maintained (it rains a lot here so I can't always scoop as often as I worry I should but it is probably "just me" and the fact that I leased apartments for a living a few years back and I always try to be the perfect tenant).

We had the carpets steamed and deodorized a couple of weeks ago by Stanley Steemer and sent them the receipt when I mailed them the rent on Monday. Our living room is small enough to be able to buy a carpet remnant and this spring we are going to re-do the living room carpet (for under $300 with the Landlord's full blessing) because we want it to look a little better (carpet had 2 largish bleached spots on it when we moved in and I hate it!) and we have 2 years left on our lease and likely won't move when it is up either.

SELL YOURSELF to potential landlords! I wouldn't bother with management companies or apartment complexes too much - they are usually very strict on pet limits - but I called and asked them. Private owners would be more amenable to 3 little doggies but you have to watch Craigslist, etc. like a hawk and have your intro letter (with a cute picture of the pets!) ready to send when you see an ad you'd like to respond to. Explain your BK- you'd be amazed at how little it matters if you had good reasons and showed that you have taken the actions for the issue that caused your BK not to occur again - but do have a copy of your discharge available. Ours asked for a credit report (we were high 600s or low 700s IIRC) - we pulled our own and let them have a redacted copy.

OH! Be ready to leave the house sitting empty if you find the right Landlord and school district once you have enough money saved to move/have an emergency fund. It was bittersweet to have ours sit empty and not save the $$ but we have loved being here and I needed a home with no stairs and wanted to be certain I could have all of my fur-kids with us.

Again, I wish you luck!!!

[AngelinaCat]

What happened to the fourth dog?

[kellysmum]

Fourth dog

Our fourth dog, a Yorkie "Bruiser", did not get along with and fought all the time with the other three dogs. A good friend of my husband, a single older man, had always wanted a Yorkie, so we gave Bruiser to him. He adores Bruiser and Bruiser loves him and being the top and only dog. It worked out real well. And all the dog altercations in our house stopped.

Thanks for asking and for answering our question. I figured I'd repost it since our circumstances (discharge, three old dogs) had changed.

Thanks for the advice.

[LadyInTheRed]

(with a cute picture of the pets!)

Preferably with them cuddling or playing with your daughter!