The House Sitters How-to Handbook

By Rick & Colleen Ray

Traveling the world one house at a time....affordably!

After years of being tourists and traveling the world, Rick and Colleen decided to add a new dimension to their travel adventures. They’ve stored away their belongings, leased out their home, and are exploring the world as full time house sitters. Their goal is to experience life, culture, food and people while traveling affordably. Whether it be for a week or two a year or as a full time lifestyle this book tells you all you need to know to do the same. Sharing their experience and research they show you how to find and get the perfect house sit. Their success at being selected is explained in a step-by-step process that will give you the edge at being the top contender in the competition for the hundreds of opportunities that exist all over the world. Enjoy the adventure and reap the rewards of this low cost way to fulfill your travel dreams.

They explain how to:
•Prepare for success with any length and type of house sit – with a special step-by-step action plan and timeline for those undertaking house sitting as a full time lifestyle.
•Make the most of the on-line house sitting resources with a comparison of the top sites – including how they decide which profiles are presented to homeowners first.
•Create an attention getting profile and an impressive reference letter collection even if you’ve never done a house sit before.
•Plan for international house sits and research their unique requirements.
•Successfully interview with a homeowner to get the assignment you want and how to set yourself up to be invited back time and time again.

Bonus material includes forms for logging your house sitting contacts, collecting pet information, and arrival and departure checklists to keep you organized.

The handbook’s 10 chapters are organized to walk you through the process from total inexperience to the completion of your first housesit. The House Sitter’s How-to Handbook provides all the information you’ll need to become an expert house sitter so you too can begin exploring the world one house at a time – affordably!

Chapter by chapter, you’ll learn how to:

•Make the most of the benefits and opportunities that exist for house sitting worldwide.
•Determine which is right for you - house sitting or caretaking – and the expectations, duties and compensations of each.
•Select the right house sit and avoid the unsuitable house sit.
•Find the perfect house sit with reviews of the best house sitting websites, their services and costs, and how sites decide which profiles are presented to a homeowner first.
•Create a profile that gets results with example profiles and guidelines for making the most of the photos you post and maximizing social media.
•Get the assignment you want – walking you step-by-step through the selection and interview process and addressing all the things you need to consider before you make a commitment.
•Prepare for short and long-term assignments with tips on what you’ll need for your house sit, security while traveling, and a special section for those considering full time house sitting with a guide and timeline to prepare for a life on the road.
•Conduct your first assignment like a professional with suggestions for preventing and resolving problems during a house sit.
•Prepare for the homeowner’s return with a checklist of the steps you need to take before you leave to ensure that you are invited back again.

About the authors:

Rick and Colleen retired early with the dream of traveling the world. Their adventures have taken them to 6 continents and 35 countries. They’ve found living out of two suitcases each to be liberating, think house sitting is a well-kept secret, and plan to continue traveling the world one house at a time indefinitely.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rick & Colleen Ray
• Release date: Aug 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476109220

Rick & Colleen Ray

Somewhere in our gene pool, nomads roamed free. We’re certain of it. We just aren’t able to stay in one place for any length of time. We are restless. What else can we say? We’ve traveled to 35 countries on six continents and, rather than satisfy our urge, it has stimulated it – we just want more! We’ve been so fortunate... we’ve camped our way through the game parks of Kenya listening to lions call while we sipped tea around a campfire... savored wine under a full moon at an outdoor taverna on the Greek Island of Naxos, our bare feet nestled into soft sand... munched on golden deep fried insects in Beijing, washed down with ice cold beer... swooned over fig tart and gelato in Tuscany... bathed Asian Elephants in a river while volunteering at a sanctuary in Thailand... swum with Reef Sharks and Manta Rays in the South Pacific... paddled mere inches away from Grey Whales in Baja California... trekked through Andalusia and feasted on wild boar... touched the monolithic stones of the pyramids in Egypt... walked the same stone alleyways as did armor clad Knights in Malta... gazed upon Paris in all of its glory from the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset... and cruised through the Straits of Magellan at dawn. You can understand why we are addicted... but travel is expensive and we are retired with no intention of going back to work. So we had to come up with an affordable way to fund our future travels and our answer – and we think it’s a brilliant one – is house sitting our way around the world one house at a time. House sitting has been the perfect solution for us and it might be for you too. That’s why we’ve written “The House Sitter’s How-to Handbook” your complete guide to travel and adventure as a house sitter. Our hope is that you be inspired to let your own inner nomad roam free...

Book preview

The House Sitters

How-to Handbook

Your Complete Guide to

Travel & Adventure as a House Sitter

By Rick & Colleen Ray

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Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Rick & Colleen Ray

License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For more house sitting adventures follow our blog at

www.ouradventureshousesitting.blogspot.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Why we house sit and think you should too

Chapter 2 House sitting and caretaking-our definitions

Chapter 3 Finding your comfort zone

Chapter 4 How to find the perfect house sit

Chapter 5 Creating a profile that gets results

Chapter 6 Profile extras—the effort is worth it

Chapter 7 Getting the assignment you want

Chapter 8 Before you go and on the road

Chapter 9 Your first assignment

Chapter 10 Preparing for the homeowners return

Contact Log

Arrival Checklist

Pet Information

Departure Checklist

INTRODUCTION

Are you a traveler waiting to come out of the closet? Are you a travel voyeur who seeks out travel blogs, stays up too late watching the Travel Channel, someone who can't part with those old National Geographic magazines? Do you yearn for the adventure that only comes from experiencing another culture, another country? Or, are you already a traveler and trying to figure out how you can afford your next adventure and the one after that?

Perhaps you are simply looking for a good vacation once in a while or a weekend away, a break from your daily routine. Close to home or further afield, but a trip that isn’t going to burn through all of your savings.

Maybe you fantasize about living in another country full or part time? Is International House Hunters your favorite television program? Do you rush to the mailbox to see if your copy of International Living magazine has arrived? Would you like to try on some other lifestyles before you make the big move?

If any of this sounds familiar, then house sitting could be the perfect fit for you, just as it has turned out to be for us. We’ve done the homework, learned a lot along the way, and we’ve put it all together here to share with you.

In the following chapters we’ll tell you everything you need to know to take full advantage of the opportunities that house sitting can offer.

Briefly, this is what we’ll cover in each of the chapters:

Chapter 1—A bit about our experiences and how we came to be house sitters, the benefits and opportunities house sitting provides, and the amazing range of house sits available worldwide.

Chapter 2—An overview of house sitting and caretaking and the differing expectations, duties and compensations of each.

Chapter 3—Determining your comfort zone as a house sitter with a self-assessment questionnaire that will help guide you in choosing the house sits that best fit you and the homeowner.

Chapter 4—Finding the perfect house sit, a review of house sitting websites, their services and costs, and some helpful marketing tips.

Chapter 5—How to create a profile that gets results, a step-by-step guide with example profiles. Suggestions to make the most of the photos you post and linking to social media sites.

Chapter 6—Putting together all the extras you’ll need: how to create a strong reference letter library when you’ve never done a house sit before (including a sample letter), types of police clearance letters and where to obtain them, passports, international driver’s permits and how you get one, and special certifications.

Chapter 7—Landing the assignment you want, working through the selection and interview process step-by-step, and all the things you need to consider before you make a commitment.

Chapter 8—Preparing for short and long-term assignments, tips on what you’ll need for your house sit, security while traveling, and a special section for those considering full time house sitting with a guide and timeline to prepare you for a life on the road.

Chapter 9—Your first assignment, a guide to everything you need to know about the house and the pets before the homeowner entrusts their care to you with our suggestions for preventing and resolving problems during a house sit.

Chapter 10—Preparing for the homeowner’s return, a review of the steps you need to take before you leave to ensure that you are invited back again.

By the end of chapter 10, you will have all of the information you need to become a successful house sitter. To assist you in that effort we created four helpful forms that you may print for your personal use. These forms can be found at the end of the book and include:

* a contact log for tracking your house sitting applications

* an arrival checklist of each of the items you need to address with the homeowner prior to their departure

* a pet care information form to assist you in collecting all of the necessary data on each pet you will be caring for

* a departure checklist outlining all the steps you need to take before the homeowner returns

Note: If you would like a PDF of these forms sent directly to you, please send us an e-mail request and we will be happy to do so. Our contact information is included at the end of the book.

Before we begin, please note that we generally use the term house sitting throughout the book and not pet sitting or caretaking. However, our use is meant to be inclusive of all of the aspects of house sitting and the information presented is applicable across the board.

Chapter 1

WHY WE HOUSE SIT AND THINK YOU SHOULD TOO

We are two youthful retirees, ages 54 and 65, that have traveled extensively in the last few years. We loved it so much that we went through a chunk of our savings doing it. We spent money on traveling that we really shouldn’t have. But we became addicted. We knew it the