Apartment Hunting

Dear landlords of Utah County,

As I have been dilligently searching the ads on KSL and craigslist for apartments to rent, I have noticed several things: the pricing seems fairly competitive, the descriptions sound appealing, many of you have various types of "move in specials," and...oh yeah, most of you are pet haters (and smoking haters, but that's a totally different conversation). In this not so great economy, it seems like you would want to have a leg up on the competition, therefore I am baffled by the repeated "NO PETS" policy most of you mandate. If you need to rent your apartment out so badly, why not increase the demographic of potential tenants? Seems to me like that's a pretty simple business tactic.

Now, before you jump in and tell me horror stories about how much damage pets can cause, let me say if you are genuinely concerned about that, there's this little thing called a non-refundable pet deposit (which is, of course, separate from the regular security deposit). That way, after your tenants move out you can clean the carpets and all that good stuff if by chance there is damage. Not to mention you could charge an extra $50 a month in the form of a "pet fee," which gives you double coverage should something get damaged. Speaking as a pet owner, as long as the rent is reasonable, I can assure you we will pay your pet deposit and fee. Honestly, we will.

So seriously, it would be a stellar idea to change your minds regarding this no pets thing...after all, you're losing money right now with your investment properties sitting vacant. Just saying...if you open your hearts to the animal lovers of the world, it will profit you.

Thank you,
Discouraged Pet Owner


Seriously though people, we need a new place to live. I'm tired of living in a complex where the police are frequent visitors, I'm woken up in the middle of the night because someone is screaming, I'm prevented from falling asleep by the drunken tenants fighting in the courtyard, etc. We can pay up to $675 base rent and would preferably like to live anywhere besides Orem/Provo (but at this point I'm getting less and less picky). And of course, we have our 2 cats...who are extremely well-behaved and don't pee anywhere other than their litter box. So if you know of anything, PLEASE let me know and I will reward you w/cookies or brownies or potstickers (yes, I make some darn good ones...) or some form of edible delight. And we won't even ask you to help us move (um, unless you're related to us, in which case please ignore that last part). :-)