Housesitting can be a great solution for both a homeowner, particuarly one with pets, and for those who wish to visit, either other areas of their own country or foriegn climes, but are on a limited budget.
The home owner in question provides the housesitter with free acommodation in return for the peace of mind of having someone in the house whilst they are away and perhaps having someone to look after their pets and garden at the same time. Depending on the amount of work involved there may even be a small remuneration for housesitting. Another advantage to the home owner is that if they do have pets then it will save the considerable expense of kennels or cattery and is also much less disruptive to the pets if they can be looked after in their own home.
For the house sitter housesitting can be a very pleasant way of visiting different places. Normally the standard of accommodation will be quite alot higher then they would probably be able to afford for a straight forward holiday with the added advantage of having many of the comforts of home not to be found in run of the mill holiday acommodation. It is also a pleasant way of meeting new people and making new friends and many house sitters return to the same places on a regular basis. This is of an obvious advantage to both the home owner and any pets, as familiarity is a great comfort to both.
If you intend to undertake the enjoyable pastime of housesitting then it is important to establish exactly what your tasks are to be and for the owner to be sure that the person in question is cabable of providing the service required. For instance if you are housesitting abroard it may be necessary to maintain a pool and whilst this is not a difficult task it does need to be done correctly to avoid the owners returning to a green quagmire. In addition, if gardening work is to be undertaken, particuarly weeding during the summer months, you do need to know what you are looking for as many owners will be very unhappy to come back and find some much valued plants missing!
If you either wish to find house sitting positions or are looking for some one to house sit for you then it may well be worth your while registering with a site such as HouseCarers.com. They offer a free service to house owners with just a small fee for house sitters to register. This then gives both parties easy access to search for either a host of housesitting jobs around the world or for owners to find suitable sitters.
