5 Reasons People Have House Sitters (and 1 Reason You Should House Sit)

Why would you need a house sitter? Surely it's better to have your family look after your house whilst you're away rather than a stranger?

Over the past 3 years we've done lots of house sits, and these are the most common reasons we've discovered people need house sitters:

1. FAMILY LIVES TOO FAR AWAY

Many of the people who are looking for house sitters are expats. Their nearest and dearest live in other countries - and often even on other continents!

In fact, more often than not, the reason the home owners are going away is to visit their family and friends.

Even people who aren't expats can have families that live far away - In Australia for example it's not uncommon to live in a different state to your family and Australia is HUMONGOUS! This could potentially mean your family is 6 hours flight away! 

In fact, because it's so common for Australians to live far away from their relatives, we were able to house sit in Australia back-to-back for nine months (that's nine months of free accommodation in one of the most expensive countries ever)! Find out more in our house sitting ebook!

2. FAMILY IS NOT AVAILABLE OR ABLE

Lots of other home owners who are looking for house sitters can't ask their families because they are not able or available.  

For example, their friends and family might be working full time, they might be too old and not want to or they may just be coming on holiday with the home owners!

We've done a few house sits where the whole family was going abroad - often for reunions. 

Some people just don't have close friends and family that they can ask - until they meet us :) 

3. PETS ARE A BIG RESPONSIBILITY 

Most house sits come with pets, and looking after pets is a big responsibility. Your friends and family have got their own things going on - work, school, families, pets of their own etc. 

House sitters on the other hand have the pets as the top most important priority. They can guarantee full-time care and often come with experience. 

4. SOME PETS ARE IMPOSSIBLE

(not these ones, these ones were gorgeous)

It's one thing to ask a neighbour to check in on an independent cat once a day, but what if you have something your neighbour can't look after - like a horse or sheep or something else? Not only can these types of pets not go into kennels, they're often too much to ask your friends and family to deal with.

5. IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN KENNELS!

Last, but certainly not least, is the fact that it doesn't matter how fancy the kennel is, or how much one-on-one care your cat/dog gets at said kennel, animals are never happier than when they are at home.

With house sitters your pets can have its own home, with its normal routine - and quite frankly they mostly don't even notice that the owners have gone!

Still can't see it happening in your country? This section is for you!

Whilst house sitting is popular in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US there are many countries that have never heard of it, and if they have they wouldn't trust it. 

Never fear, no matter what country you're from there are always plenty of house sitters more than willing to come and house sit for you! Sign up here to become a home owner today!

And what's more, this could be your opportunity to travel the world - as a house sitter yourself! If you love animals and want to travel it could be perfect for you - find out more in this blog post: How To Get Started With House Sitting

Conclusion

There are many reasons people have house sitters, and I've only just touched on it here. 

Ultimately, we've found house sitting benefits everyone - the house sitters see the world in an exciting, luxurious and cheap way; the home owners have the comfort of mind that their house and pets are in good hands (not to mention saving hundreds on kennel fees). But above all the pets benefit the most :) 

Leave us a comment below and let us know what you think - would you like to try house sitting? Would you like to have a house sitter? 

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