According to FIREPAW, a non-profit organization whom handles animal welfare services, property managers who allow animals in their rental properties are seeing an increase in their bottom line profits. Their nationwide study found that the #1 reason pet owners gave up their pets were housing issues. Even though pet owners are willing to pay more in rent to keep their animals, there is still a shortage of landlords willing to accept pets.

You’d be hard pressed to find a city more pet-friendly then Austin and as a property management company we advise all of our landlords to consider pets when they present no risk to their properties or tenants. In terms of profitability, a separate deposit for pets can bring a landlord an extra chunk of change with each lease. The study conducted by FIREPAW also revealed that, on average, landlords and owners that allows pets will rent for a 20-30% higher rate than properties that don't allow pets. Other benefits for landlords that allow pets include:

 - Longer Tenancy – Tenants who have pets prefer to stay in one place for a longer amount of time.

 - Lower vacancy rates

 - More applications received per unit – Pet friendly living situations are much more popular than those who don’t allow pets in Austin.

While it is true that allowing pets can come with increased insurance costs, the relatively small costs are offset by the premium rent received by pet-friendly housing. Tenants with pets will pay their pet deposit and Landlords can subtract any damages from that deposit and not be out any money if there are ever any damages. In fact, the data collected from this study shows the amounts of damage from tenants with pets is not much higher than that caused by tenants without pets.

Stone Oak Property Management is your choice when it comes to Austin property management. Built by landlords for landlords, we are prepared to handle all of your property’s needs with the knowledge to do so. Our goal is to provide unrivaled service that save our property owner’s time, money and the headache often associated with other property management companies.