We were recently asked by the Denver post to seek out homeowners who would like to share their house sitting eperience. We were innundated by home owners who wanted to contribute. This Denver homeowner has taken the time to put down their tips learned over years so we have posted it here on their behalf.

We've been using house-sitters for many years now and have become friends with some.

It's very important to be a good judge of character and to get references. I always check the potential house-sitter out on the internet if they pique my interest. We don't pay our house-sitters and in fact, they're responsible for paying the utilities (other than water) while they're house-sitting. Most of our house-sitters are amenable to this because living in a different state or country gives them the opportunity for a "free" vacation.

We let them use our vehicle while they're here. Our major requirement of house-sitters is that they vet our mail and let us know of bills due, to whom, the address and amount.

Yard maintenance is also an expectation. With one house-sitter, we set up an account for $1,000, in our joint names so that they could pay the bills for us. That worked out well, though I wouldn't recommend it unless the homeowner really trusted the house-sitter.


It's also very important to set out the expectations in writing. This only failed us once, when the house-sitter tried to change the pre-agreed rules. We didn't agree to the change - an agreement is an agreement. She was a most pecu***** lady, which we'd guessed from the initial e-mails, though we considered she would be trustworthy. She did look after our house but was careless with the mail.

Our house-sitters from Australia looked after things well and had a wonderful time while in the states and would love to sit for us again when the economy picks up. We mailed them the key to the house as we had to leave before they arrived. They were completely unfami***** with furnaces and were a bit worried about that but soon realized that there really wasn't anything they needed to know other than to get out if it blew up - yes, we did tell them that that was unlikely. They were in our home for five months as we travel a lot for extended periods.

When we returned, she'd baked a Christmas cake for us and left lots of containers full of home-made soup from our tomatoes which had ripened while we were away. They stayed and had Christmas with us.

We also have a home in Tasmania and have house-sitters there. They are absolutely marvellous and maintain our home and garden better than we ever would ourselves. They've been there for about five years now, moving out while we're there and moving back in when we leave to return to the states. The house is always spotless when we arrive and there's a woodbox full of chopped wood and kindling.

I can only say that for someone who is away from their home for extended periods and doesn't want to rent, carefully arranged house-sitting has proven a boon to us. We don't want to pack up our stuff, which would be essential if we rented. We like to leave all our personal possessions in place.

We'll be travelling again at the end of this year or early next year and will be using a house-sitter again.



Yvonne and Desmond (UserName: Denver)

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Ian White Moderator Housecarers
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Edited: 09/15/2009 at 09:36 PM by IanLWhite