House Sitters & what do people do?

I know there is a company that offers this service. They screen people beforehand and you can also meet them before making your decision as to whether you are comfortable with them in your house. I have a friend who used them as she was looking for a place to housesit in, so from the housesitters perspective I can say that they were very genuine and well organised. I have emailed her to find out their details and will post them here for you when they arrive.

Where are you and when do you want a house sitter and for how long? We have done house sitting in the past. Last one we did was last year in Melbourne for 5 months and looked after 3 sheep (easy) 1 horse (a pain in the backside - and we don't ride), 2 cats, 4 chooks (fox got one so we had 3 at the end of the time) and one dog. We are now good friends with the house owners. Had a house and cottage plus 5 acres and pool to look after.

We may be avaialble from April next year depending where, when and how long. We will not be doing a 6 month stint again next year but a shorter time may be OK.

We are retired (well don't work much) and have references.

We normally pay for phone and maybe power only.

You can reply directly to us at stevesub@dodo.com.au.

http://www.housesit.directoryoz.com.au/.....or.. housesitters.com , heaps of people out there who would house sit for you , just make sure .. really sure , that you agree on who pays what and preferably in writing...been there done that..

We have used housesitters several times & couldn't recommend the service highly enough. They do what ever you do, feed & exercise your pets. look after livestock, keep your house safe & clean, even do gardening, pool cleaning etc etc.
You sound like you may have your problem solved by one of the previous replies.

Interesting question. We haven't used housesitters but I must admit, the thing I dislike about going away is organising the things back home before we go. Once we're 50 meters down the road it's great ! We rely on friends and family a bit but I do wonder how people get on if they dont have that luxury for whatever reason.
We met a family in the Kimberley a while back and they were farmers which amazed me. I thought farmers would never get away but they leased their farm out for a year.

try housitters wa(google search) and speak to Jan, she's very good and efficient( tell her Dean+Kelly sent you)

Alan we've got the horse problem as well. Fortunately my wife's friend is into horses and still lives with her folks so she has looked after our place and the nag in the past. When she's not available used friends kids. (young adults). Never had a problem, a bit of a giggle with a bit of lingerie left behind by my mates girlfriend, but otherwise good experiences.

Try work mates their's usually somebody who is between accomodation etc.

Dunc.

There is a company that does organise house sitters.

My parent in-laws are retired adn they do house sitting for people. They are in brissie but currently in tasmania. They did 2 properties down there. They come back for x0mas and the to yeppoon.

The site i don't know.. need to do a search.

But apparently there are some very ordinary house sitters. My parents in-laws are always getting calls as they do a great job. People's word of mouth on the site spread their name around.

They get to travel and see things and keeps them active intheir old age.

We visited them in hillwood northern tas. They had 6 sheeps which turned into 10. 6 cows, 4 horses and a dog to look after.

just becareful who you pick from the internet sites.