Investing in real estate has been a growing trend among savvy investors for years. Even with the recent downturn in the market, many people continue to invest in real estate. The dream of owning multiple properties, renting them out, and letting tenants pay for the built up equity is a very ambitious scheme.

If executed properly, you can reap huge financial success executing this investment strategy. However, investing in rental properties requires you to become a landlord. This means that you will need to actively seek out and screen tenants, and then continually follow up with them regarding their monthly rent payments and any damages done to the property. Traditionally, one of the most difficult questions that any landlord must deal with is whether or not to allow their tenants to have pets in the property.

Allowing pets has many pros and cons. The biggest downside is probably the risk that a pet will do significant damage to the rental property. This is a serious concern because many pet owners do not know how to properly care for their pet, and stains from urine or feces can literally ruin a house. Additionally, many pets put off an odor from their bodies, and virtually all of them will scratch and chew on a variety of household items.

Another con to allowing pets is that a pet could disrupt the neighbors. This is not a chief concern on a daily basis because the landlord obviously does not live in the home; however, the quality of your tenants, including whether or not they have pets, can directly impact the resale value of the property. If the quality of the neighbors around your rental property begins to decline because they have all moved away as a result of the pets in your property, the value of your property will significantly decline.

Finally, another negative effect of allowing people to own pets within a rental property is the fact that they will be more likely to let other areas of the house decline. For example, if a pet owner spends all of his time focusing on taking care of the pet, then he might not notice that a drain has clogged. This could cause the landlord to be stuck with significant costs in terms of repairing the property.

There are, however, some advantages to allowing pet owners to rent your properties, one of which is that the rental unit will appeal to a much larger rental audience. The reason is that many landlords do not allow pets, and thus allowing this would give you an advantage which in turn would help the house rent faster.

Another positive is that you can charge more in rent if you allow pets. Many landlords will require an initial deposit for a pet, and then also charge a higher monthly fee. Finally, many pet owners who are also financially responsible will take very good care of their pets and will tend to stay longer. A pet owner who is happy in their surroundings will not want to leave, which may result in your property having a much lower turnover compared to a property that does not allow pets.

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Category: Real Estate
Keywords: real estate, income property, investment property