What is house sitting? If you are a homeowner curious about it, house sitting is defined by Wikipedia simply as the act of a homeowner, entrusting to one or more people the well-being of his home while he is away. There are paid professional house sitters but most of the time, house sitters are only paid with the free accommodation they receive by staying in the homeowner’s house. This is its very basic definition but here are 5 things that every homeowner must know about house sitting before availing one.
5 THINGS EVERY HOMEOWNER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HOUSE SITTING
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House sitting covers not only your house, but also your pets and plants.
When you hear of the word house sitting, you may only be thinking that the services are limited to maintaining your home such as your pool, air conditioning and heating systems, accepting mails and parcels or keeping trespassers off your property but it goes more than that. House sitters are also responsible for taking care of pets that you have left at your home, as well as plants. House sitters are responsible for feeding your pets, playing with them, and depending on your agreement they can also take your pets to their veterinary visits. Not only that, house sitting also covers taking care of your plants while you are away. This may include watering your plants, applying fertilizers and pesticides to them and a lot more. It is important to clearly tell your house sitter of the tasks they are responsible for and seal it with a signed agreement so that both you and the house sitter are aware of your expectations during the house sit.
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House sitting deters burglars and other evil elements lurking around when a home is vacant.
When a house is empty and uninhabited, it suddenly becomes an eye candy for people looking for a place to break in and loot stuff easily. You do not want these thoughts plaguing your mind as you are enjoying your get away time. Luckily, this is a problem solved by house sitting as the house sitter will be keeping your house inhabited during the time you are not present. This immediately wards off those burglars. And also, if you are a believer of otherworldly evil elements deciding to live in houses deserted for a long time, well house sitters also discourage them from coming. Kidding aside, occupied houses are a big no-nos for burglars as they know how dangerous that can be. Once they know someone is home, they will not bother trying to break in and look for their next victim instead.
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House sitting ensures that when things get broken in the house while the owner is away, damages are kept to a minimum.
When someone is living in your house daily, they will be well aware of unavoidable house mishaps like leaking pipes or faulty electronics and will be able to minimize the damage as much as possible. This is something that having a neighbor or relative visit your house once in a while cannot do. House sitters can act upon this as soon as it happens by hiring a repairman as quickly as possible, minimizing possible larger disasters that could have occurred like a fire starting or the leaking water short-circuiting your appliances.
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House sitting is free in exchange for accommodation, well, except for the utility bills.
While there certainly are house sitters who do this kind of work professionally and get paid, most of the house sitters available for hire are doing this work for free (including us here in FreePetSitters). This is not to say though that you, the house owner, will not be paying for anything anymore. Most of the time, it is the house owner who pays for the utilities consumed by the house sitter while taking care of your house, pets and plants. This is still depending on your agreement with the house sitter. Some house owners split up the bills with the house sitter and some house sitters even pay for it. It really boils down on what you, the homeowner, and the house sitter have signed in your agreement.
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House sitting will not wreck your home as house sitters are liable for any damages they cause to your home.
Some homeowners do not like hiring a house sitter around because they think that the house sitter will only use their stuff around the house and not mind if anything gets ruined or destroyed. This is certainly not true as in almost every house sit agreement, house sitters are liable for the damages they will be causing to the property. There are some exceptions to this,such as something breaking down in your house due to very old age. It is recommended that you gettrustworthy house sitters who can prove their identity to you so that they can be completely held liable and traceable whenever something goes wrong with the house sit. Here at FreePetSitters, our house sitters have identification and so you can have the peace of mind that you are not letting a criminal watch over your house.
If you truly want peace of mind during a vacation, house sitting is a wonderful service to avail. If you are interested in finding your house sitter in a community, you may want to sign up at HouseCarers or if you do not prefer sifting through an array of profiles, contact us here at FreePetSitters (