Learn me, renting with pets

The missus and I are thinking about making a move into the city. After owning a home for a decade, we'd like to rent for a while before making another purchase committment.

There are some problems. 

One is that some listings want to see some years of renting experience. We have a long period of being employed. We have a long period of paying a mortgage. We have good credit. We have no criminal or other background problems. We don't have any recent renting experience, and I'm concerned this will create a problem.

Two, and a likely bigger issue, is that we have three dogs, all 40-ish pounds. Then, we have three cats.

After seeing Adrion_Thompson's thread on being a landlord, maybe someone here has perspective on pet-owning tenants, and how a landlord views a former mortgage holder without recent experience as a renter.

I've never rented, but my girlfriend has. 

We / I am in a similar situation, that I'm going to sell my house and rent. The sticky part is that I have two cats, and her daughter has one. 

While trying to stay in her budget (we'll be splitting up households, but not our relationship - that's a story for another day), every place she's checked into has a one dog (usually no bigger than 60 lbs) or two cat limit. 

Good luck in your search. 

3 and 3, ouch. I had a hell of a time finding place that allows 3 cats and now that we are down to 2 We are more easily able to look around, but I have to keep telling the wife not to bring more home. 

In this area it's usually an extra deposit per animal and any dogs over 30lbs usually require a large deposit. When I helper my sister look for a place too rent it ended up being an extra 200 deposit for her 60lb bulldog mix. Some landlords also base it off breed and age. 

A lot of the "demands and rules" from the larger rental companies are just there to control/kick out the unwanted guests. As long as you pay your rent in time and don't piss of the HOA, I sincerely doubt anybody will come over to count your pets...

The homeowner thing isn't an issue, what landlords want is a history of paying your bills on time. Show that you never missed a mortgage payment, or utility payment, and you will be fine.  The pets are an issue. One dog, a cat, even one of each is fine, but three of each tells me that the place will stink like pee forever. I doubt you will find anyone willing to rent with that many pets, maybe look for a small house with a yard and offer to double or triple the security deposit?  

We have pets and we're landlords.

We allow pets within reason, sorry "snake guy".

Our current tenant has a border collie which is good as gold, no issues whatsoever.

One sticking point is whatever the city bylaws may be. Our town says no more than two dogs per property. Usually it's not a problem unless you have a busybody neighbour who complains.

I am a landlord, and personally I do allow pets because it opens up the potential tenant pool so much more.

Most landlords to my knowledge will ask for a larger security deposit. I follow how my buddy does it, which is charge an extra $25/mo/pet. $25/month to keep your dog or cat is a no brainer, and in the long run the landlord ends up better off. Obviously for 3 dogs and 3 cats that would add up quick on my model, but really you'll just have to look for apartments that allow pets and see what their policy is. 

I suspect you'll have a hard time finding anything. 

My old apartment in downtown OKC, for example, had a 2 pet limit and neither could be above 30lbs. There was a $600 per pet deposit + an extra $30/month in rent per animal. 

Unauthorized animals were subject to a $1500 per fine and lease termination. 

Thanks everyone for the input. 

I should probably clarify that I mean to rent a detached house with a yard.

I have to say, the idea of just paying a $150-200 premium per month, and an extra $1000 in deposit is really attractive to me. I don't know if that's a possibility, but it sounds nice. 

Hadn't considered there could be a restriction at the city level. I'll have to check that out. 

You'll have a tough time. I had a really tough time with 3 pets. 2 dogs and a cat. Most didn't even return my call. I literally had to take the first one that would take my offer so I'm overpaying in a cheaply made place. 

Yea basically it's terrible and the main reason why we stayed with my parents for so long when we moved to Texas. Finding a place that allowed 2 50lbs dogs (one of them is a pit) and a cat that wasn't either a) extremely overpriced or b) extremely sketchy was an agonizing waiting game. The place we just moved into Saturday (yay) charges $40 per dog and $20 per cat per month. But it's a nice little place with a fenced yard so it is what it is.