Housesitting as a Way of Life

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As you can see, housesitting can be a fine symbiotic experience as well as a good way out of the renting hassle if your income is low. However, if you expect to live this way for some time rather than on a one-shot basis, you must be sure your location offers enough job opportunities to give you an unbroken succession of homes (especially during the "off season" for travel, which varies according to area).

One promising territory for this lifestyle is a big city, where the many people who reside there with their great diversity of jobs and temperaments provide an in-depth pool of year round travelers whose homes you can tend.

College or university towns are also good for housesitters because professors often take lengthy sabbaticals and because a fair proportion of the populace of such communities usually care more about your character than about how you look.

Resort and vacation areas, too, offer many opportunities for reliable housesitters. I've heard, in fact, of couples who've hooked up with a single wealthy family that owns two or more plush seasonal homes and then been paid to travel back and forth from one to another (always living, of course, in the off-season house) as the owner's family followed the sun to the more desirable (at the time) residence. If you don't mind being up North during the winter and down South or in the Caribbean during the summer, it can be a very nice, all expenses-paid life.

No matter where or how you decide to give house-minding a try (if you do), remember these two cardinal rules of the trade:

One. Travel light. First, because you'll have to pack, unpack, repack and cart around all your belongings each time you move. And, second, because almost every home you move into will be completely outfitted with everything — stove, refrigerator, toaster, lawn mower, TV, radios, washer, etc. — you'll require to live comfortably. (And anyway, if you're like us, you probably don't really need more than a fourth of the "necessities" you lug around.)

Two. Always plan your assignments ahead so that you can move directly from one to another. (You don't want to be out in the street in the middle of January.)

Apart from these hazards, the biggest problem for the housesitter is finding the first job. The best way to do that, of course, is simply to approach someone who you know is leaving town for a while and to make him or her an offer.

An honest conversation with such a homeowner is sometimes enough to get you started. However, if you don't already have a contact, a college housing office may be able to help you. Also check out local newspaper advertisements that offer "house to let" for limited periods and try placing your own ads, putting up posters in conspicuous places, and asking realtors. You can help yourself, too, by mentioning your service to everyone you meet and letting "the grapevine" do the rest. (Then too, remember always to have a list of references ready in your pocket when you look for houses. After all, even the most trusting homeowner likes some reassurance.)

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