House sitting

We did pet/house sitting for a couple of years. Mostly it was good pets and good houses, but there were a couple of bad houses (off grid or not well maintained) and some pets that were a problem (little dog and to many cats) After a while you learn what questions to ask and what standards to set. We registered with https://www.housesittersamerica.com/ and https://theinternationalhousesitters.com/ There are others and they are all pretty much the same. As a sitter you pay a fee to be vetted and then can communicate with people that want a sitter. If you want a sitter it is generally free and only the vetted sitters can contact you--in theory. After a few sits you may get invited back without going through the web site and you may make some friends worth keeping.

I used to have someone housesit and petsit while I traveled. For me, the trick was finding a responsible person who shared their home with a big family or lots of roommates. That way, they saw the stay as a break, not as a chore. It worked well.

Lots of vet techs will do petsitting/housesitting. If you have pets left at home, that can come in handly.

If you have neighbors with older kids, you could try that route. The teen enjoys staying in "their own place" but the parents are there for any problems that may occur.

One rule I always put in place:

No visitors unless preapproved by me. If they had a good friend that I knew, I would give them permission to have that person stay over as much as they wanted. Otherwise, I did not want people I don't know going into my house and checking out my stuff. While I trusted that person, I didn't know how they might bring along and if that person could be trusted.

Most we ever did was swap houses with neighbors of sister in law in Australia. They used our house and we used theirs. A glorious two months! Driving did scare the **** out of me as the area had tiny roads that we would call a one lane road and they squeeze two into it.

Many groups on Facebook by state as well as international. We house sit in Mexico for ex-pats.

House & Pet Sitting On Facebook

We know a few who have done it but it was always someone they know.

Also, I suspect airbnb has undercut the market for house sitters...make someone pay you to house sit.

We hire someone to check the house once a week when we're gone. They check inside and out and will run necessary appliances. We have a larger mailbox which they empty. The house water is turned on and off and irrigation is on a independent valve.