I forgot to tell you
the fire extinguisher is propped
by the piano. In case of fire,
grab the Cairo lamp and the dog.
If you rub her throat, she’ll lean
against you and moan. Night clunks
in the kitchen are the cats
or the ice-maker. Whispering
in the back office is voicemail, yelling
is from the neighbors two houses
north. The chandelier blinks;
changing bulbs doesn’t change
anything. And the guy next door
who chirps at his snapdragons
and flaps at passing pedestrians,
he’s harmless. Really.

© Debora Palmer on Rattle.com

© Feature Photo of Crocheted Fire Extinguisher

If you’re making a house sitting arrangement through a Listing Site, one of agreements you’ll need to reach is, who pays for utilities.

Here, when we talk about utilities, it’s any of the costs the home owner has to cover to maintain their home, and any additional charges the house sitter may incur whilst in residence. These costs fall into 3 groups:

1. Standard Utilities (Electricity/Gas/Water usage)
2. Recurring Service Charges (water, sewer, garbage, phone rental, cable TV rental, ISP rental, rates, condo association fees and property taxes)
3. Phone Calls

1. Standard Utilities

Let’s look at Standard Utilities from both perspectives:

Homeowners Perspective:

• Instead of paying high House Sitting Agency fees, you’re probably arranging a fee-free house sitter, so for shorter assignments you should cover the standard utilities
• For longer assignments, you may want to negotiate a utility contribution from your house sitter. This is especially relevant if the property is in a cold climate, in need of a lot of heat, or a warm climate, in need of air-conditioning
• If you’re asking the house sitter to complete extra tasks, or non-standard jobs, you should consider covering the utilities in return for these responsibilities
• You know what it takes to run your household, so use those costs to calculate the amount you want to charge

House Sitter Perspective:

• If the homeowner is asking for utility contributions, it’s important to factor in whether your assignment includes pet sitting. If so, some of the heating/ cooling costs will be for the pets’ comfort, and that should be factored into the negotiation.
• If the homeowner is asking for water usage contributions, but your duties include watering the garden, you could negotiate to pay a percentage of the water usage costs (i.e. those that are over-and-above a monthly average)
• Consider bartering tasks or chores in lieu of utility costs

2. Recurring Service Charges

The majority of these Service Charges would need to be paid whether the house sitter was in residence or not, therefore it’s customary for the home owner to cover these costs.

The exception to this guideline, is when the house sitting assignment is for an extended period, i.e. 6-12 months, and then the homeowner could consider allocating some of the recurring bills to the house sitter. But again, this is dependent on the duties the house sitter is expected to perform, and especially if there is pet sitting involved. The cost pet boarding is expensive, so keeping pets in their own environment is a low cost option, and covering the household running costs is fair exchange for standard in-house pet sitting.

If a home owner has the option of discontinuing service (i.e. in the case of Cable TV or Internet Service) during the assignment, but it’s being left on at the request of the house sitter, then obviously that’s a cost that could be passed on for longer assignments.

3. Phone Calls

Even though the monthly telephone service (line rental etc.) charges should be covered by the home owner, the house sitter should be responsible for any calls they make from the home owners line.

Summary

Check any House Sitter site and the guidelines are more or less consistent with the ones I’ve included above. The most important thing to remember about utilities, is that they need to be negotiated as part of your verbal agreement, and included in the written house sitting agreement/contract.

As well as stipulating who is paying for what, be sure to clarify the payment conditions. e.g. Bills need to be paid in full via Paypal within 30 days of receiving the bill.

One of the reasons for my new-found interest in the house sit process, is because I recently posted a homeowner advert on a Listing Site, and was surprised by some of the replies I received.  Over the next couple of months I’ll post some examples for you to review, and also share my (tongue-in-cheek) perceptions of them with you in the Reading between the Lines sections.

All applications are shown in grey italics, and the content is posted verbatim; in its entirety; with no editing by me, except where noted with “XXX” to preserve anonymity.

1.  Too Short:

“Hello, we can help you out with the house sit. If you are interested please let us know and we can give you all the info and ref. you need. Greetings”

I’m all for short and sweet, and I like people you get to the point, but I thought this was a little too brief, and it didn’t give me enough information to assess whether I was interested.

Reading between the lines:

“I really can’t be bothered to put much effort into this application, as this is the 15th ad. I’ve responded to today – so I’m just cutting-and-pasting my generic response into every application — one size fits all!”

2.  Bad Grammar & Punctuation

“i would love to help with your house sit.  i have lived in XXX for brief periods over the years and would be able to manage your apartments responsibly.  in addition, i operated a hostel for many seasons so i understand the needs.  i am a single, fit female, active gardener, quiet writer, so i would stay close to your property.”

I actually liked the sound of this applicant, but it bugged me that none of her sentences started with a capital letter.  What’s ironic, is that she’s a writer!  I know house sitting is not a paid job, but couldn’t it still be approached as a profession?  I don’t want applications to look like text messages.

Reading between the Lines:

Option A:  “I’m typing this from a mobile device and don’t know where the shift key is.”  or

Option B: “I know where the shift key is, but I can’t be bothered to press it at the beginning of every sentence”

As auto-capitalize is a default feature on most devices, this can’t possibly be the reason, so I have to go with:

Option C: “I want to portray the image of being hip and young or non-conformist, so I’m making a personal statement by not using capital letters.  I’m a writer, and I believe all letters should be created equal!”

3.  All about me

“I’ve been to the Greek Islands many times, and I love that area of the world.  I would really like to spend some extended time in XXX (particularly the area that you house is) during the time that you need a housesitter.  I’m presently working on some creative projects, including photography and writing projects.  I’m also taking time to enjoy my life and exploring the world one country at a time, and my dream is to stop in each country at least once.

I have many references attached to my profile.  Here are iexerpts from a housesite that I completed last month in XXX …..”

Spelling mistakes aside (I’m a sucker for capital letters at the beginning of sentences, but everyone can get a pass on a typo or 2), what struck me about this was the focus on them, them, them.  Although the tone of an application letter should be friendly, shouldn’t part of the focus be about the house sitter meeting the requirements I laid out in my ad?  I’m all for a bit of self-promotion, and learning a bit about my house sitter, but can we cover that in the skype call during the interview process?

Reading between the Lines:

“Read about me, and learn all about my dreams and desires, and see how I spend my time.  It’s important that you learn about me, because, let’s face it, it is all about me – so let’s discuss how your house sit assignment will fit my needs”

First Impressions Count

Some may think my interpretations are a little harsh, and I did mention at the beginning that my perceptions were tongue-in-cheek.  But let’s be honest, how many times have you made snap judgements about people?

Here’s a quote I found on About.com :

“Snap judgments are, first of all, enormously quick:  they rely on the thinnest slices of experience … they are also unconscious”©

As a homeowners, I was deluged by a large quantity of applications, and I knew I had to wheedle them down dramatically, so I made first-impression judgements based on what I read and how the content was presented.

Right or wrong, snap decisions are made when there is only the thinnest slice of experience to go from, and emails are pretty thin slices.

Quote © The Power of First Impressions

There’s a wide variety of global and regional listing services on-line, and each has a slightly different Membership process for House Sitters.  But the following article is intended to give you the generic steps you’ll follow to sign up as a house sitter with a Listing Service:

1. Choose your Listing Service
2. Register as a House Sitter
3. Select your Preferences
4. Create your Profile
5. Search for House Sitting Assignments

Let’s look at each of these steps in detail:

1.  Choose your Listing Service

There are a handful of established sites in the House Sitting arena, and many smaller ones, but choose the one that meets your particular requirements and fits your budget.  I’d recommend visiting a few different sites to see which one you’d prefer to use (it’s really a matter of personal preference)

Most Listing Services allow House Sitters to peruse assignments, before committing to paying membership fees.  This gives you the opportunity of assessing the volume of assignments in your desired location.  Some Listing Services even offer a limited access membership to House Sitters.

Read my assessment of the different Listing Service Sites (coming soon)

2.  Register as a House Sitter

During the registration process, you’ll need to pay a membership fee, and will probably need to validate your email address before your account is activated.

Decide whether you want to use an existing email address, of set up a new one specifically for house sitting notifications and correspondence.  If you want to segregate all of your house sitting emails, it’s easy to set up a free email account (i.e. gmail).

3.  Select your Preferences

Most house sitting memberships come with the option of signing up for email alerts, which notify you when new assignments that meet your criteria, are posted by homeowners.

So as part of your membership process, you’ll need to set up your preferences:

A key reason to spend time filling in accurate preferences, is that many homeowners prefer to search the listings to find a house sitter, instead of placing an ad.  So accurate preferences will increase your chances of making the first cut in the selection process.  This is also why it’s also important to spend time creating an intriguing Sitter Profile.

4.  Create your Profile

Profile:  Fill out all of the sections in your profile, with succinct and descriptive information, but steer away from sounding too clinical and businesslike.  The key to a good profile, is to strike a balance between professional and friendly.  To achieve this, let some of your personality shine through.

Photo:  Select an in-focus photo that represents ”you”.  Steer away from posting a group photo, and instead, choose one where you’re center-stage and smiling!

Try looking at your profile and picture from an outsiders perspective – if homeowners didn’t know you, what assumptions would they make about you?

Spend time creating your profile.  This, along with your photo, could be your first introduction to the homeowner – and you know what they say about ‘first impressions’!

5.  Search for House Sitting Assignments

Be proactive.  Don’t just become a member of a house sitting listing service and hope that homeowners will contact you with assignments.  Sign up for daily or weekly alerts, and when an assignment piques your interest, send a letter of interest to the homeowner.

These 5 Steps should arm you with enough information to get you started with your house sitter listing service membership, but check with the individual sites to find out if any of their steps differ.

Option 1: Family, Neighbours & Friends

There’s probably no better way to start your house sitting career, than offering to house sit for Family, Neighbours or Friends. Make it known that you’re available to house sit, and hopefully it won’t be long before one of them takes you up on your offer.

Option 2: On-line Classifieds or Forums

Probably the hardest, is to use on-line classified platforms (like Craigslist) to tout or search for business.   You can post an ad for your house sitting services, or alternatively, search for homeowners advertising for a house sitter.

Another option is to use Expat forums in the country you’re interested in.

Option 3: Create a Website

You can set up a website or blog to advertise your services. This is a useful tool if you want to be a full-time house sitter, but when you’re first starting out, it’s a big commitment.

Whilst the above 3 are valid options, it’d probably be difficult sustaining a house sitting career from them alone, although they’re definitely good supplementary tools to use with the following options:

Option 4: House Sitting Agencies

Theses agencies manage a pool of house sitters and drive the assignment process. Homeowners are charged a daily rate for the house sitting services, plus additional charges for animal care, chores and daily food allowance.

You can register with the Agency, and if accepted as a house sitter, they’ll help guide you through the assignment process, and act as the go-between.  The home owner pays the agency, and the agency pays the house sitter.

Option 5: House Sitting Listing Services

Listing services are an online platform that brings homeowners and house sitters together.  Homeowners can advertise their house sitting assignment, and also search through house sitter profiles to find the ideal temporary resident for their home. Whilst house sitters can post their profiles to advertise their services, and also search through available house sitting assignments.

These assignments are usually unpaid, but depending on the arrangement, the homeowner may pay for certain tasks/jobs to be completed, or house sitters may be asked to pay for certain utilities.

Summary

So which option is right for YOU?  Whichever it is, “Your House Sitter” is here to help provide you with all of the information and tools you need to start your house sitting adventure.

“Your House Sitter” will continue to provide information about Agencies, but our primary goal will be to provide information and resources for Independent homeowners and house sitters, and those using Listing Services to arrange house sitting assignments.

Although Listing Services offer information to both house sitters and homeowners, there is nobody playing the ”Agent” role, and it’s important that both sides of the partnership are informed about the process, and make agreements with clear expectations.

If you’ve used a different method for finding a house sitting assignment – let me know so that I can add it to the list.

I came out of the gates in a gallop with my “Your House Sitter” site, and set up the structure; designed the logo; and published my first article within a week.  But then I hit a wall – in the shape of a dial-up modem.  Internet connections in the wilds of Norfolk, are a world away from my LA wi-fi connection.

Oh how I’ve taken my high-speed, always-on connection for granted!

Full Speed Ahead

It’s so easy to buy into the myth that the entire western world is keeping pace with technology, when you’re living in a major metropolis.  But in reality, many online surfers still do daily battle with dial-up and slow connections.

This is something to consider when accepting house-sitting assignments off-the-beaten track, and bear in mind, sometimes that track isn’t as remote as you may imagine.

Costa del Slow

My brother and his wife recently moved to Spain – a village between Granada and the Costa del Sol – so hardly the ends of the earth.  They’ve been there a month, and are frequent visitors to the local bar, where an intermittent wi-fi connection is available – for the price of a beer and a plate of local tapas.  This can start to get expensive, especially if you’re a Facebook addict like my sister-in-law.  She used to post ad-lib comments, wall-posts and commentary, continuously throughout the day.  This flood of activity has been reduced to a twice-weekly trickle of updates about their new life.

Need for Speed

Being unconnected is not a bad thing, unless you have deliver-ables that are contingent on connectivity.  I’m completing an on-line Web Design degree and need to FTP my homework assignments to my school’s server.  I also have 3 other blogs I need to maintain.  Well, I don’t need to, but I want to.

I want too – but I can’t.  So I’m writing these posts off-line, and will publish them once there’s enought juice is the modem to squeeze them into the blogosphere.

I won’t take connectivity for granted again, and when I accept house sitting assignments, I’ll be sure to confirm if there’s a high-speed Wi-Fi option in the local vacinity.

© Slow Internet Connection Graphic from CBS News

This post includes a series of articles from various global publications, and is intended to be a resource directory of articles about being a House Sitter:

Keeping you and your home safe

• Author:  ROB PRATTE
• Publication: CBS Pittsburg
• Date: December 18, 2011

House Sitting my way around the world

• Author:  TERESA ROBERTS
• Publication: Retire Early Lifestyle website
• Date: December 15, 2011

How to Travel for Less by Bartering

• Author:  TERESA ROBERTS
• Publication: Travel Book Locker Website
• Date: December 6, 2011

House-sitting holidays: How to explore the world… by putting your feet up at home

• Author:  AMY WATKINS
• Publication: The Daily Mail (UK)
• Date: November 29, 2011

How to be a house sitter – and how I started

• Author:  ANDY PECK
• Publication:  RTW (Round the World) Expenses
• Date: November 8, 2011

Expert House Sitting Advice from Teresa Roberts

• Author:  TERESA ROBERTS
• Publication:  Jet Set Citizen
• Date:November 3, 2011

How to be an excellent House Sitter

• Author:   COURTNEY SHEA
• Publication:   From Globe and Mail (Canada)
• Date:   October 30, 2011

Who Needs to be a Millionaire

• Author:   TOM HILL
• Publication:  The Guardian (UK)
• Date:   November 3, 2007

Summer Sit-In

• Author:  Cheryl Kenny
• Publication: The Washington Post
• Date:  June 2, 2005

Retirees Are Fulfilling Travel Dreams Through House Sitting

• Author:  Ian White
• Publication:  PR Web
• Date:  August 31, 2005

How To Live Rent-Free While Location Independent: A Guide to House Sitting

• Author:  Lea Woodward
• Publication:  Location Independent website
• Date: Unknown

House sitting is an arrangement between a homeowner and a house sitter.  The role of the house sitter is to provide security and some care taking responsibilities in the homeowners absence.

Assignments can vary in length from a couple of days or weeks to months, and there are properties available in well known, as well as off-the-beaten track locations around the globe. Additional definition available on wikipedia

What does the Homeowner provide?

The Homeowner allows the house sitter to occupy their house for a specific period of time rent-free.  All of the other elements of a house sitting arrangement, like utilities, travel, visa’s, chores and responsibilities are open to negotiation. One of the main factors to consider when negotiating these, is the location of the property.

What does the House Sitter provide?

In return for a rent-free living arrangement, a house sitter is usually expected to assume some care-taking responsibilities, such as maintenance of a pool or garden, watering plants, property upkeep or caring for pets. Each house sitting assignment is different, and all responsibilities should be agreed beforehand to ensure there is a clear understanding of expectations.

Remember, a house sitting assignment is not a free vacation – it’s a work assignment, and there should be some form of written agreement between both parties.  This can be formal contract or a less-formal written agreement, depending on the duration of the house sitting assignment.  In either case, it needs to clarify who is covering costs (e.g. utilities), and what duties need to be performed.

What’s the benefit of a House Sitting arrangement?

The word “House Sitting” has been in use since the mid-60′s.  But in today’s society, where more an more people are home owners, or own a vacation property, the opportunities to house sit have become more prevalent.  So:

• What’s in it for the Homeowner?
• What’s in it for the House Sitter?