When people look at ways to reduce their monthly costs, rarely do they consider the amount they pay for rent. There is an assumption that to live in a nice residence, it will cost a certain amount of money. Due to this assumption, housing costs eat up a significant portion of most people's overall monthly budget. For those who are flexible, however, there are ways to live in quality housing without paying a dime. The one that holds the greatest appeal for most is house sitting.
House sitting is exactly what it implies. It is an arrangement for someone to live in a home while the other party is away. In exchange for free accommodations, the house sitter is expected to perform specified duties while the home owner is away. These duties usually include caring for the home, pets (regular walking, bathing, feeding, vet visits, etc if they are present), yard (mowing the lawn and gardening) and pool area (if present) as well as making sure that the home is safe and secure. The housesitter may also be expected to forward mail, faxes and other important documents to the home owner. The house sitter is also usually responsible for all the monthly utilities and phone charges while staying in the house. Still, in most cases, this is a minimal amount of work for free housing.
The question then arises as to why would someone let you live in their house rent free? The main reason is security. Leaving a house empty with nobody around to check up on it worries a lot of property owners. By letting you stay in the house rent free, they in turn have someone watching out for their property. Many homeowners also prefer not to rent since people who rent often leave the house in much worse shape than when they arrived. In addition, the homeowners don't have to pack since they will likely leave all their possessions in the house. This relieves them from storage expenses they would incure if they rented. They also don't have to hire professional help to do basic upkeep since that is usually part of your responsibility as a house sitter.
The main drawback to house sitting is the amount of time you are able to live in one place. Most house sitting arrangements last anywhere from 1 month to a year although that is beginning to change. With more and more people buying second homes for vacation purposes, longer house sitting opportunities are becoming available to those willing to live in vacation spots during the off season, including foreign countries like Mexico and the Bahamas. In these situations, the house sitter usually lives in the house year round and only leaves for short periods during the times the owners come out for vacation.
There are a number of ways to go about getting a house sitting engagement. The first step is to take the time to network. Let everyone know that you are looking to house sit and have them pass this information freely onto anyone else. If someone in the network does find a home owner looking for a house sitter, you have a great advantage because the recommendation is coming from someone that the person already knows. If you get contacted from another source, make sure that you have several people that will give you recommendations at the house owner's request.
If you are looking to house sit in a particular area, running an advertisement in the local classifieds offering your service is another good way to start. The best places to focus your search are in upscale neighborhoods. If they have a local neighborhood flyer or newsletter, advertising in that would also make sense. Leaving notices in public places frequented by people in the area you want to live such as grocery stores, drug stores, libraries, pet stores and veterinary offices also is a good way to advertise.
Those who need someone to house sit for them will find plenty of free places on the Internet to list their house. For those looking for house sitting opportunities, however, the same services that let homeowners list for free will usually charge you a fee to access their information. The bigger services do have a larger variety of opportunities than you are likely to find on your own, so the convenience may be worth the price.
Another way to advertise your house sitting service is to create you own homepage on the Internet. There seems to be very few people utilizing this method at the moment and it will give you the opportunity to go into much more detail about yourself and what you can offer than you can on the house sitting sites.
Once you have done a house sitting or two, word of mouth should make getting future engagements much easier. If you can remain flexible in your schedule, you may find that you never need to pay for rent again.
House Sitting Sites
HouseCarers
HouseSitWorld
Live Rent Free - House Sitting
