Many are doing this as business, traveling from one home to another as professional house sitters with their own background checks and insurance. Would you do this and plan a route to travel in a country? I am looking for more sites for this, most you have to pay and post a profile and have references, which is understandable. Nomador is one, but do people know of any others or have had experience?
As house sitting and where to find one is a very popular topic where I live - especially as many people are often only here for around six months of the year - as the only sites that the majority of people here feel generally happy with and more importantly feel confident about using are MindMyHouse TrustedHousesitter and more recently HouseCarers you might like to check those out - particularly as - unlike Nomador which is aimed mostly at the French market and those who can speak French - they all cater to the international market and therefore have listings in most countries. I would however just say - that although it is a great way to travel and see the world - especially as it gives you the chance to live in a country and sample the culture - it is worth bearing in mind that it is not always entirely free, relaxing or necessarily easy work either - especially as - although your accommodation may be free - you will be expected to pay for your own food as well as the cost of utilities - along with - more often than not - be expected to do extra maintenance work around the property - such as painting, repairing structures including wall building, helping out in the garden, the equivalent of spring cleaning etc or in fact anything that wouldn't normally be done while the owners are in residence.
It doesn't pay much. But I know the rates from 2012. At that time a house sitter earned from $15-$20 a day. Some home owners would pay a flat monthly wage of about $800 so though you might getting a free house to stay in unless you have some money saved up . . . I don't know it's been a long while. Maybe things have changed. But I suppose something like is great for someone who is traveling [and doesn't need to work]. You get free accommodation and a little money to spend. Not bad
If I younger and/or weren't married, I'd definitely do that. It sounds like a brilliant way of raising money while you travel around. My only concern would be safety. I know people do it, but I'm not sure how safe it is. @Denid Hard.... I have a friend who does it here and he too doesn't get paid much. He house sits for people and has full access of the house, some food (he's vegan, so he's kind of limited) and gets a small monetary reward. I thought it was too little to watch the house, feed and watch the pets, but he seems happy with the setup. I do hope it's a bit better paid elsewhere. After all, Botswana is a little behind the times in many areas LOL
It can be good for people that are freelancers, or people that just haven't decided where they want to be yet. The set up is ideal for artists and writers who can work anywhere. Some places require a deposit, and others ask that you pay towards utilities. However, I would steer clear of those, because you are really helping them out. Having someone to caretake a property shouldn't cost them money, some may see it that way, that they have somewhere rent free, but the cost of paying someone to manage would be much higher and invalidate home insurance cover too.
You're right you wouldn't earn much as a house sitter - as unlike live in staff who usually get some form of accommodation plus a small wage for their services - its actually extremely rare for house-sitters to be paid a wage for their services - as generally speaking a house-sitter doesn't earn anything at all in terms of monetary reward - as the accommodation is regarded as payment in exchange for their services and even that sometimes can involve a small rental fee - depending on the type of property. In fact come to think of it - the majority of well respect and trusted house-sitter sites and very definitely the ones that I mentioned previously - do actually state in their terms and conditions - that there is no monetary reward for the services and that all house-sitters are paid in kind - with accommodation being the only form of payment.
I had no idea exactly about house sitting websites anyhow once heard about trustedhousesitters.com through my friend but had no idea about it a lot. Anyway, after reading this discussion I get lot about it.
Wow, I didn't know that house-sitting offers can now be found online. I know of many caretakers of houses from where I live. For instance, when a family moves to another country and they need someone to take care of the house, like a family member or a friend. Or when a family has to change residences and would need someone to live in the house they lived in before. And mostly, these people aren't paid money because they do have a free place to live in anyway. They just have to take care of their other needs like food and electricity and water bills. Though some families still pay these caretakers too. So I think house-sitting is a nice alternative when an individual needs a place to live in, especially when they want to travel to a new country. Although, it's not entirely free, it takes a lot of the extra bill they have to pay because house rent or apartment rent is not a joke. And it's good to see that the internet is one avenue of finding caretakers of houses, although both parties have to exercise vigilance and care when finding a caretaker and vice versa.
