moneypenny20

She's not really, she's incredibly hard work but as you won't be there with her you'll be fine.

Dorothy

Hey! That's not very nice.

moneypenny20

Water Lily

And after a bit of a rushed and somewhat spammy message last night (apologies for that, I was on my way to bed), I thought I'd write something a bit friendlier and more informative today

I have to say I fully understand the OP's misgivings. I was saying to my husband just the other day that it is incredibly trusting of people to let house sitters into their homes as you never know what these people are going to do, and I'm not sure I'd be happy doing it myself if I'm going to be totally honest!!

Those of us who value our privacy and look after our homes and pets well, will naturally feel anxious about finding other people who share our same values, and it's natural to worry that you might not find the right person for the job. That's why it's so important to read profiles carefully, exchange a few emails with your favourite candidates, and finalise things via a skype call (highly recommended!)

I also think it's very important to follow your gut feeling, and trust needs to work both ways We've had 2 video conferences on skype recently and got both jobs, so we are now sorted for 3 weeks in Auckland and 6 weeks in Brisbane, yay! We'll be having a 3rd call tonight to finalise details for another sit next month.

Whilst we are confident things will go without a hitch, and it would seem that the house owner is the one running all the risks, the truth is that we are running risks too! If you allow me to share my thoughts:

1. House sitters are often asked to provide references and police clearance certificates, but house owners don't provide either. So basically we don't know what we could be walking into when we agree to take on an assignment.

2. We are both very neat and are dreading walking into a home one day and find it cluttered or dirty. On the few occasions when owners share pictures, these are of course estate-agent type images, but we won't see the "real thing" until we walk through the door. Who knows what we may find!

3. Looking after someone else's pets is a huge responsibility. What if the pet gets sick, or has an accident? Or, even worse, if the pet passes away? What a terrible thing to have to go through... I know I'd be devastated if I had to give the owner bad news And of course a part of you also worries that they might even blame you for it.

4. There have been cases when home owners have gone away knowing there was a problem either with the house or the pet, and lumbered the house sitter with the responsibility of fixing things for them (eeeek).

5. Other house owners try to rip off house sitters by asking them to pay for all utility bills when in fact you would need to pay for those bills anyway - for example, in the colder countries, keeping the house warm in winter is a necessity and also done for the comfort of the owners' pet(s), not just the house sitters'.

Anyway, I hope this offers a little insight into a house sitter's mind, and you find it useful!

Pollyana

House sitting has come up a few times on the Aus forum lately, so some useful points there!

campervanfan

Not quite house-sitting ( cos I paid loads for the privelege!) but I recently stayed in someone's rented unit - booked by my daughter in the same area. Paid half in advance & half on arrival- so in fairness she trusted me as much as I had to trust her.
But it wasn't without its issues- there was no TV ( no problem for me but a teenage boy does like his "boxes" especially when he can't take his "other" boxes!) which she hadn't told me - I must admit it never occurred to me- not many people seem to not have TV ! but....we had to contact re lack of i/net- which she'd hidden in a drawer!
Now I don't go through people's private stuff when in their property- so it took several days to sort it out ( she had travelled abroad too plus a language limitation) . Then, their boiler broke down & I had to get a new one organised since we had no hot water. We were told that, since the bathwater was pretty brown, they should have sorted it as this indicates a risk of the boiler bursting- (6th floor too- imagine if that had happened while we were there! )
I love the idea of Housesitting tho- the opportunity to travel farther & wider than you might otherwise while seeing the area from a more domestic/realistic point of view really appeals- there just has to be a lot of trust on both sides. Can't see it happening with a child at school but the Aussie house-sitters site is really interesting & opens your eyes to interesting places I'll probably never get to see. Most of us are pretty honest aren't we? And let's face it- you'd only do it once if you really got let down.

Japonica

I think next time we have house sitters, we'll ask for a bond and stipulate in the contract that "keep in reasonable contact" doesn't mean returning calls about a week later (especially when pets involved). At one point, we were about to send friends of ours over to bang on the door because the house sitters hadn't replied to email, phone, or text in a week. And they had full access to our wi-fi. Police clearance and ref checks only get you so far unfortunately. It's been an expensive lesson for us replacing breakages, missing items, and the dead plants in the garden.