Mental rental

[Dawn]

Cor this is flippin hard work! Anyone would think we were trying to rent ourselves Buck House for ?2.50 a week and had a pet King Kong on a rope! That's how hard it is trying to find a decent rental for a decent rent that'll accept our two pooches!

The ones we've been to look at for between $350 and $400 a week have been anything from hole hell to 'well its better than note i suppose'. I honestly think they're having a laugh! When we had our little cottage that we used to let, everything in it was pristine, I wouldn't have let it out unless everything was right i.e. we could have lived in it ourselves. I know we're really keen to get a little place and all but we're not desperate.

I think we're going to have to end up paying closer to our top end budget of $500 just to get something we don't mind coming home to at the end of the day. We really didn't want to spend that much especially with the exchange rate being as it is at the moment and us not having jobs of course but there's no way I'm being cold and miserable in a damp bum hole of a house for the sake of $100. I figure it wouldn't take long before the kids were wanting to go home.

We've got a couple more to look at tomorrow so we'll see what happens.

There's loads of lovely houses here though. I can see why peeps would worry about cold and damp because there are houses set down in dips, behind hills, under trees...but there are also loads of new ones in wonderfully sunny spots on elevated plots, I'm not worried about finding a nice place when we finally get round to it. You could make yourself a really nice place for not a lot, I'll keep you posted on that but one step at a time and first of all we have to find somewhere to get started.

Woo hoo

[zummerzet_lou]

Good luck with the 2 tomorrow .. hopefully one of them will be perfect for you all.

This is our main worry - finding somewhere to rent that will take dogs .. but there is no way we are leaving Willow behind so will have to make it work somehow.

How long are you intending to rent for before buying a place?

Lou

[Banjo.Jon]

Hi Dawn, I just spent a fair bit of the day looking for rental houses that would accept dogs. It's surprising hard work. There is not much out there, if we had cats we would be sorted but it seems dogs are a big no no. Still, we got a few months to worry about it yet so plenty of time to find something.

Good luck with your searching and I hope you find something soon.

Jon

[MotherBear]

Originally Posted by Dawn

.......and first of all we have to find somewhere to get started.

Taffy would this be a good time to think of renovating that dog kennel at the top of the driveway? Do you think 2 adults, 3 kids and 2 large dogs could fit in there nicely? You'll probably have to stick a heater in there for the winter, but if they're willing to pay up to $500 that should be no problem.

Seriously, Dawn. Fingers are crossed that you can find something soon so you can have a place of your own and WG can get back to cooking her own sandwiches again.

[Welshgirl]

Originally Posted by MotherBear

....... and WG can get back to cooking her own sandwiches again.

Thanks a lot MB Are you saying that my culinary skills are not up to scratch?? I'll have you know I cook a mean sandwich I cooked for 8 peeps last night and everybody liked it (so they said, anyway ).

[Taffy]

As Dawn is discovering, it's not that the landlords don't want dogs, it's just that the law is that you must have a fully fenced section if you own a dog, which many places do not have, so they say no dogs.

Dogs don't seem to be a big thing here. I very rarely see anyone with one, probably due to the expense of dog proofing your garden for legal requirements and licensing.

If you find somewhere suitable with a fenced rear garder, ask if you could throw up some gates to keep the dogs in the back.

[Dawn]

Yep, as Taffy says we are finding a few places that are saying 'No pets' on the advert but then if you ring and ask them they change their mind. We spoke to one agent today who said that we'd obviously spent a lot of time and money bringing them over so that proves we must be responsible owners and the dogs must be well looked after. We did come across one agent, Lodge City Rentals, who said that it is company policy not to take pets whether the owner says it's OK or not.

Maybe it's just me but I get the impression that renters aren't considered very highly here, it's almost as if you're expected to just put up with being offered the oldest most undesirable housing stock. Maybe because the owners have moved on to bigger and better things and either think they can make some extra cash renting or haven't been able to sell it. I haven't figured the market out yet, I don't know whether they have those people we have in the UK that rent forever and never buy, constantly moving from one long term rental to another but I do get the impression that most people buy here. That may mean that most renters are here short term or renting short term until they buy, that still doesn't mean they want to live somewhere that's not up to scratch though.

What kind of dog is Willow Lou? They're much more keen to take smaller dogs than our two lumps, they're also OK if you agree to keep the dogs out most of the time and as the weather is much better here that's really not much of a problem.

I reckon there's good business to be had by organising good quality rentals that accept pets. Fancy starting a little property empire BanjoJon and Lou? We could make a radio and TV ad with you playing the banjo and me singing a little hooky ditty Jon what do you think?
'We got houses, the best that you can rent.
It's better than living in a camper or a tent.
Get your feet under the table, bring the dogs along,
Bring the kids and the barbie and join in with our song.
Top notch houses where you can feel at home
Run round naked, squirt your bum with shaving foam
Do whatever is your thing, we won't make a fuss
Just call up on the telephone and leave the rest to us'.

It's got to be a goer Are you in?

[selchie]

Good ditty, Dawn. Will the rentals come with complementary shaving foam?

[hball]

In the main cities there are more and more people wanting decent rental accommodation, and for various lengths of time. You only have to compare the monthly cost of a mortgage with the monthly outgoing for a rental property and you will see that at least for the time being you could be cutting your outgoings in half by renting. Another growing factor is flexiblity, why mortgage yourself to one location when you could improve your employment opportunities by being able to relocate at short notice.

We have a fully furnished property in Auckland which is furnished to a very high level, including entertainment system, best quality linens and glassware, etc, (never thought of shaving foam though!) and we have never been empty (touch wood), and have had some fabulous tenants, so such properties are out there. Have you tried searching under executive lets?

And as you have found, you do get what you pay for

[adc]

Just wondering about the requirement to have a property fully fenced before you can own a dog. Haven't heard that before. I know of people who have dogs and they don't live in fully fenced properties.