In this article, I’ll discuss the top ten reasons homeowners should use a house sitter during their next vacation. I write a lot from the perspective of house sitters, but this blog is specifically for potential future hosts.
We’ve met many wonderful people through house sitting over the years and I love writing about the benefits we enjoy. But there are reciprocal benefits for both parties and I always enjoy chatting with homeowners about their opinions, too.
Here are the top reasons why you, as a homeowner, should consider using a house sitter when you next go on vacation.
1 – Home Safety and Security
As a traveling homeowner myself, I rank the safety and security of my property as a top consideration. No matter what type of home you own, or how secure the locks are, leaving a home empty for a significant period is always going to be a cause for concern.
Asking family or friends to occasionally stop by doesn’t provide the security of someone living there in your absence. Before we knew about house sitting, Hannah and I asked our neighbors or parents to keep an eye on things. However, we knew this was a burden for them, especially when we were going away for months at a time.
We even invested in time sensors for our lights to make it appear we were home. A verified and reviewed house sitter would have removed any of these concerns, offering an added layer of security and ensuring our home looked lived-in while we were away.
2 – Happier Pets
I’ve never met a pet owner who felt good about leaving their beloved pets behind or sending them to a temporary holiday home. Most are part of the family and although many kennels and cateries offer excellent services, choosing this option means the animal’s routine is going to be significantly altered.
This can cause pets a lot of stress, especially older ones who are used to a certain way of life. No matter the quality of the kennel, there is no replacement for that one-to-one love and affection pets receive at home with their owner every day.
With a house sitter, you can ensure pets live the same life they always do. Sleeping in the same spots, and eating their favorite food, with a dedicated carer to monitor them closely and ensure all routines are maintained. You can request regular updates and even video calls when you miss them.
3 – Save Money
Happier pets and healthier bank balances. Temporary lodgings for animals are not cheap, and nobody skimps on care for their pets, so prices can be eye-watering. A host we sat for in Nashville told us that it was going to cost $3000 a month to kennel their two little Yorkshire Terriers.
Memberships for homeowners are free with a number of the top house sitting platforms. Click here to read my guide to the best house sitting websites. But even membership with Trusted Housesitters, the world’s number one house sitting website costs just $149/year.
This is in essence 365 days of fantastic live-in pet care for $149. Additionally, you’ll get 25% off when you use our exclusive referral code BEACHES25 at checkout – click here to get started.
4 – Meet New People
A big part of the house sitting appeal for us is the new people we meet and the lifelong friends we make along the way. After 30+ global exchanges in just over 3 years, we are now planning several return visits to our former placements.
If you enjoy meeting new people from around the world, exchanging life stories, and traveling tales, then a house sitter will be the perfect temporary addition to your home. They can bring a unique perspective, enrich your travel experiences with their own, and ensure your home is well looked after while you’re away.
5 – Maintenance of Daily Tasks
Whilst you are away on vacation, lawns still need mowing and plants need to be watered. And for some baffling reason, unattended houses seem to get dusty and dirty in the absence of human care! House sitters take on many of the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that all homes routinely require.
A few years ago, while we were on a 2-month excursion in the USA, back home in the UK, they experienced a polar vortex dropping the temperatures to unprecedented levels. It caused havoc in our empty house and our automated heating system worked at full capacity for days to battle the cold. Our neighbors had to get in touch as they heard our smoke alarms going off, all because the unmonitored heating system was pumping out so much warmth.
Thankfully, no serious damage was done but it could have been a lot worse. Had we known about house sitting, the sitter would have adjusted the heating as required. Any risk or concern caused by the weather would have been easily irradicated.
6 – Insurance and Cancelation Support.
If you’re worried about damage caused by a house sitter, home insurance policies being invalidated in your absence, or a house sitter canceling at the last moment, Trusted Housesitters has you covered.
There are three tiers of homeowner membership with THS. These increase in price with the subsequent number of associated benefits. So, if added assurance and security are what you require, opt for the Premium Pet Parent option. At $299/year it’s still a bargain and it includes a host of additional features.
You’ll get compensated in the unlikely event a sitter cancels. However, I’ve heard that their dedicated customer service team goes all out to try and find suitable replacement sitters. You’ll also receive supplementary home insurance just in case your policy doesn’t cover strangers staying in your home. Don’t forget to use BEACHES25 at checkout to save 25% on this membership option and any others.
There are lots more benefits to boot. I’ve previously done a full breakdown of all the membership options. So, click here to read Everything You Need to Know About Trusted Housesitters.
7 – Parcels and Mail
It’s annoying when parcels or important mail are returned or taken to the post office to await collection. It’s happened to us loads and has been a thorn in our side during lengthy trips away from home.
As house sitters, we’ve signed for many packages and parcels. We’ve even taken delivery of a passport that had to then be sent from the USA to Portugal. It’s a long story that one, maybe I’ll save it for a future episode of Short Tails.
If you’re a keen online shopper there’s no reason why you should stop while on vacation. A house sitter can take care of everything in your absence. We were once asked to open a delivery and send photos of the clothes to the owner in case she wanted to return them!
8 – Recipricol Exchanges
I mentioned earlier about the friendships we’ve made through house sitting. We stay in touch with many of our former hosts and have open invites as guests as well as sitters to homes around the world.
In return, we have facilitated and hosted some of our former hosts when they visited the UK. We’ve also been able to offer many of them unrivaled and in-depth knowledge about places to visit that you won’t find in any guidebook.
Having that connection with a house sitter can lead to future possibilities for you, the homeowner. I often reflect on the places we’ve been and the people we’ve met through house sitting. The possibilities are truly open-ended.
9 – Emergency Response
Another big concern with an unattended house is if something goes wrong. We were lucky to catch the out-of-control radiators when the polar vortex hit the UK in our absence leading to our heating going into overdrive. It could have caused a pipe to burst or even a fire to start, it doesn’t bear thinking about.
Any homeowner knows that things can and will go wrong with any home, no matter the age. I don’t doubt that most homeowners take sensible precautions to limit risks when leaving a house empty, but what about those unforeseen risks, like a polar vortex?
I don’t want to sound like a scaremongerer, our house has been fine on almost every other occasion. But for added security, a house sitter would ease my mind about the risks of an emergency arising.
10 – Personalized Care
Perhaps this one touches on a couple of the previous points I have listed, but personalized care is an important service that house sitters provide.
Something that we always say to our hosts, whether during the application stage or when meeting them is, ‘Tell us your routines and we will follow them to a tee’. Many leave a guide with information about their home and pet’s routines and, the bigger the guide, the happier we are.
An all-encompassing structure helps us to deliver an excellent service. Secure homes and happy pets lead to satisfied homeowners and a great review for the house sitters.
Conclusion
This article was all about demonstrating the benefits using house sitters can bring to your own travel experiences. From ensuring your home is secure to providing personalized care, a house sitter offers peace of mind while you’re away, allowing you to fully enjoy your vacation, without worries.
The number of house sitters available may surprise you. Trusted Housesitters regularly lists around 8000 homes and it’s rare to see listings without any applications. A fully verified and review-based service means both parties can feel comfortable and secure with every exchange.
Read more about our top 5 amazing house sitting experiences so far.
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Permission given to use all photos of pets and homes.