Pets, Rentals & Realities
Hello all, I have been based in Spain (with residency) and the legit housing crises- and months upon months of stress of finding suitable, reasonable and affordable accommodation- has me shifting my focus toward researching Albanian (Shkoder specifically) as a year long "new" base option to not go through the entire Visa process again (US citizen), still have European proximity, all while waiting out citizenship via reparation (they don't give updates as to status/processing- so you just have to wait until they tell you the outcome) for a different EU country.
Here are my questions-
We got rid of everything except a few suitcases... BUT have a medium size dog and two cats. I am aware of the history of dogs in Albanian, and both don't want to be culturally insensitive/ disrespectful, nor want to "limit" the quality of life for my dog. It has been suggested to look for houses with yards, or ground floor apt to not cause concerns for neighbors (i.e. avoid taking dog on elevators that might make locals uncomfortable.)
How realistic is it to find these options and what is the price range (in Shkoder) to be expected? Are there local quirks/issues to be aware of in the housing search? (i.e. if you use an agent in Spain they are wanting a full month's rent for shuffling papers of "searching" only the listed property in THEIR databases... or if you direct contact posters on the main online listing sites- a property will go up and within 10 minutes there'll be hundreds of email responses- no response, ghosting mid communication, and complex scams are prevalent...)
My interest in Shkoder is because we are "outdoorsy" people who lived in the mountains with lakes, rivers, nature, etc... It seems the proximity would make this option... but I also see a lot of mixed reports on the severity of winter... what have the past few years been like?
Day to day life... I work digitally. Not planning to have a car. What are the realities/ease of getting around, within and outside the city, etc.? I know Shkoder has been themed the bicycle city... anything I should keep in mind? I see mixed reviews about packs of dogs throughout the country... Are there options where I can take my dog out for a run (off leash) without worries about packs coming at us or freaking out/angering the locals?
Any other areas I should look at or consider? Thank you for any input...