We just finished our third housesit in Australia. Two months ago we started our first official house sit and we enjoyed all of them a lot. We had the chance to live in houses for free, in exchange we took care of cats and dogs, went for walks with the dogs and watered the garden. It was also a nice break from traveling and living in a camper. But don’t worry, we’ll continue our travels. In this post we share our experiences and tell you how to become a house sitter.
We wanted to become house sitters for a long time. Already during our last Australia road trip we thought, it would be a great to do house sits for a change. Especially as we are long-term traveling. During the previous trip we just had no time to sit a house.
This time we planned ahead and before we left Switzerland, we signed up at Aussie House sitters. We paid the membership, created a profile and put it online. Why do we want to become house sitters? We like living in a house for a change, taking care of pets and have the luxury of fast internet, comfy beds, daily showers and a kitchen. We think that house sitting is a great opportunity to work more intensively and efficiently on our blog. We tried it and it works.
Do you want to know how to become a house sitter?
How we became house sitters and how you can become a house sitter too
As mentioned before, we already signed up at Aussiehousesitters.com.au. We did lots of research and decided that this platform is perfect for us. We will travel around Australia for at least a year and Aussie House sitters is specialized in the Australian market.
Have you ever dreamed of living in a house at the coast of Australia or in an apartment in New York? Or do you fancy spending a few weeks in a Finca with swimming pool in Spain? If you are looking for house sittings worldwide you can sign up with Trusted Housesitters, a large, popular house sitting website with sitting positions all over the world. Other websites are Mind my House and House Carers. More details about how to become a house sitter later in this post.
How we got our first house to sit
After signing up with Aussie Housesitters and paying the registration fee, we set up our profile, added pictures and checked for suitable houses to sit. We applied for a few until we got the first confirmation.
For us the registration fee of AUD 65 / USD 38 / EUR 45 has already paid off. In the meantime we already got three housesit confirmed. We were looking for houses to sit during the big Australian summer holidays. Finding a good campsite for a reasonable price between Christmas and the end of January it is very difficult. Therefore, we are super happy, that we found house sits covering that period of time.
Tips and tricks on how to become a house sitter
Write a good profile. First, introduce yourself and answer following questions: Why do you want to become a house sitter? Why should a house owner trust you and hand over his house to you while he/she is away? Do you know how to take care of pets? If yes, with which pets are you familiar with? Then write about things you can do and are experienced with. For example gardening, maintaining a pool etc. The more precise your profile is, the easier you will find the perfect house to sit.
Upload some images. If you have photos with you and pets, add this to your profile too.
Upload a video with a short introduction. Explain what you can do and why you’re a great and reliable house sitter.
Activate email alerts. You will get immediate information of new house sit entries. The faster you can contact the house and pet owner(s), the better.
Attach references with your application. Note: We don’t have any official references on the house sitter website yet. But we have references from AirBnB stays. We put them together in a PDF document and attach the file on the first contact.
Search for a house sit that suits you and apply for it. Read the details of the sitting position well before you send your application. Is the place central or remote? Is internet provided? What is involved?
You got a confirmation. What do you have to think about before you definitely agree?
You got your fist house sitting job. Congratulations. Consider a few things before you agree.
What are your duties? Do you need to take care of a dog, a cat or other animals? How many of them? Do they require medicine? How often do you need to walk the dogs, if any? Is there a pool which needs to be looked after? Do you need to water the garden, mow the lawn or do you just have to check the reticulation system? Are you ok with all the duties? You need internet but there is nothing mentioned in the advertisement. Then ask. Is the place centrally located, is there public transport or do you need your own car? Are the costs for utilities included or do you have to pay that (usually that is only an issue for longer – several months long – house sitting assignment).
Ask the owner, if something is unclear. You can ask anything. The more you know the better you can do your job and the more you enjoy it.
The advantages of house sitting
Free accommodation
You benefit from living in a house/apartment and use the amenities like a kitchen, a comfortable bed, a washing machine, internet access
You get to know a new neighborhood, the local life and culture
A welcome break from traveling, especially during long-term trips
The disadvantages of house sitting
You have a duty and you are time-dependent
You need to be flexible
You will not always get the perfect house to sit
Which house sitting website is the best?
That’s difficult to answer. It depends on the country you are looking for a house to sit. For house sitting jobs in Australia, we can recommend Aussie Housesitters. We got our first three houses to sit through their website. The membership is not too expensive and the usability of the website is pretty easy. We also use the app which is very handy.
If you are looking for house sitting jobs worldwide, Trusted Housesitters or House Carers are a better choice.
AussieHousesitters.com.au – Australia only
Annual fee for house sitters: AUD 65 / USD 48
TrustedHousesitters.com – Worldwide
Monthly fee for house sitters: USD 9.92
Annual fee for house sitters: USD 119
Housecarers.com – Worldwide
Annual fee for house sitter: USD 50
(Prices as of January 2017)
We only registered with Aussie Housesitters so far. As soon as we leave Australia, we will register with one that has worldwide house sit offers like Trusted Housesitters.
Our house sitting experience in Australia
Our third housesit in East Fremantle ends soon. All the home and pet owners were super nice. We met wonderful people and all of them were helpful and supportive. It was great to get to know the local living in Western Australia and we found great cafes and places, we would never have seen on our travels.
We absolutely like to do house sitting as it gives us the opportunity to have a break from constant traveling. We get the chance of living in houses and enjoy the luxury of daily showers, running water, a kitchen with an oven, a comfortable bed and lots more.
After the third housesit in a row it’s time to move on. We love the luxury of living in different houses, get to know different areas and meeting lovely people and their beloved pets. But it’s definitely time to hit the road again. Our Troopy is waiting to do some serious 4-wheel-driving.
Thanks for reading “How to become a house sitter”.
Can you imagine to live in a foreign house and to take care of pets?
Do you want to know how to become a house sitter? Write us a comment if you have more questions or share your experience.
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