Living Rent-Free Anywhere

By Dennis Manz

In these times of economic crisis, loss of jobs, and the record number of bankruptcies, you can still have fun traveling and do it rent free. It does not matter whether you're a baby boomer seeking new adventures, a young adventure seeker wanting to spread your wings, or a senior citizen living on a fixed income. The fact is you can visit new and interesting places practically anywhere in the world and live rent free.

Discover the steps you can take to become a successful house sitter or property caretaker for as long as you desire. If your passion is to pursue the house sitting or property caretaker lifestyle, Living Rent-Free Anywhere teaches you how to quickly and successfully find and deal with property owners, and negotiate for opportunities.

This book greatly reduces your learning curve time and quickly gets you into your first or next house sitting or caretaking assignment. House sitting and caretaking have been popular alternative ways of living for many years and will continue to be. There are and always will be property owners needing someone to watch over their property. Why shouldn't that someone be you?

If you ever wished that you could have more freedom, adventure, eliminate the 9–5 rut from your life, and reduce your monthly expenses, you can. Living Rent-Free Anywhere guides you to the freedom and adventure you've always wanted and deserved.

Take back your life now, get out of the daily grind, and have fun adventures while reducing your monthly expenses. Get your copy of Living Rent-Free Anywhere now and change your life for the better.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dennis Manz
• Release date: Dec 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301649532

Book preview

Living Rent-Free Anywhere

Dennis Manz

Copyright 2010 © Dennis Manz

All Rights Reserved. No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means either electronically, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author.

Smashwords Edition

Disclaimer

The information in this eBook is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experiences of the author. The author intends the content to serve as a guide to the reader. There are no guarantees as to the outcome of any one person's effort. The author suggests that the reader is responsible for his or her own actions and outcomes. The author disclaims any personal liability, both tangible and intangible, loss or risk incurred as a consequence of the use and application, either directly or indirectly, of any advice, information, or methods presented herein.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 House Sitter and Caretaker Duty Differences

Chapter 2 What Will it Be for You—House Sitter or Property Caretaker?

Chapter 3 Where Would You Like to House Sit or Be a Property Caretaker?

Chapter 4 Finding a House Sit or Caretaker Opportunity

Chapter 5 Pursuing House Sitter or Caretaker Opportunities

Chapter 6 Communicating With a Property Owner

Chapter 7 Negotiations and agreements

Chapter 8 Tips, stories, and case studies

Chapter 9 Congratulations, you got the job, now what do you do?

Chapter 10 Outstanding adventures

Preface

In these times of economic crisis, loss of jobs, and the record number of bankruptcies, you can still have fun traveling and do it rent free. It does not matter whether you are a baby boomer seeking new adventures, a young adventure seeker wanting to spread your wings, or a senior citizen living on a fixed income. The fact is you can visit new and interesting places practically anywhere in the world and live rent free! How can you do this? Read on and you will discover the steps you can take to become a successful house sitter or property caretaker for as long as you desire.

Hi, my name is Dennis Manz. How would you like to travel and visit different, interesting places without the cost of a hotel, motel, or any other costly living accommodations? Yes, that is right, live rent free!

Here are a few photos of places I have had the pleasure of living rent free while working as a property caretaker:

Base Camp Adventure Lodge near Moab, Utah

Rancho Recluso located in the high desert of the Hays Canyon Mountain Range in Northern Nevada

Caretaker's cabin Rocky Mountain Biological Lab Gothic, CO

Let me ask you, have you ever wished you could visit or live somewhere else, but were not in a position nor had the finances to do that? There is a way to live anywhere you want in the world rent free. You can be a house sitter or property caretaker if you are open to learning, willing to do a little planning, and take action. How can I make this claim? I have been a house sitter and property caretaker since 2003. I am living proof that you can do it too. The only thing that is keeping you from doing this is getting started! My goal is to help you get started and keep you motivated so you can enjoy a more interesting and fun life without the burden of month-to-month rent or a mortgage payment with property taxes.

Introduction

This book is dedicated to all the people out there looking for an exciting way to visit new and interesting places without having to fork out money for a place to stay. How can you do this? You can live rent free as a house sitter or property caretaker.

Favorite hiking spot in Canyonlands National Park

House sitting and property caretaking opportunities are not fads and they are not the latest greatest trends happening today. House sitting and caretaking have been popular alternative ways of living for many years and will continue to be. There are and always will be property owners needing someone to watch over their property for whatever reason they may have. House sitter and caretaker opportunities are more highly publicized due to the Internet and our economic times. The uncertainty people are feeling about our economic times is resulting in more people being enticed by the possibility of house sitting or caretaking as an alternative to offset the high cost of rent and property ownership. The high percentage of baby boomers plus the sorry state of our economy are fueling the increase of people electing to house sit or pursue caretaker opportunities.

I spoke with a gentleman from House Sitters America (a USA online house sitting service) and he said there were 3 times more property owners looking for house sitters than there were available sitters. That is good news for lots of people, including the young seeking new adventures, those in the prime of their lives looking for a change, and baby boomers or senior citizens surviving on limited income. No matter who you are or where you are in your life house sitting or caretaking opportunities can provide freedom, purpose, excitement, satisfaction, and significant cost savings for those looking for a change. If you take action and persevere with consistency you can succeed and prosper as a house sitter or caretaker.

In fact you can house sit or work as a caretaker whenever and wherever you choose. There are usually several different opportunities and locations to choose from. I am a full-time property caretaker because I like the lifestyle, enjoy living in different interesting locations, and do not want to spend my money on rent anymore. As for being a caretaker, I prefer working with absentee property owners and communicating with them via email or by phone. The absentee property owner does not live on the property being managed by the caretaker.

I like meeting and working with property owners, but I do not particularly like being supervised or having someone looking over my shoulder and checking on me frequently. I reserve those types of situations for other caretakers who prefer and can tolerate those working conditions.

I also want to set the record straight about a misconception regarding the terms caretaker and caregiver. You probably have noticed that I have used the words caretaker and caretaking several times already?

Misconception or incorrect interpretation

Property caretaker and caregiver actually have two different meanings and functions. A caretaker or property caretaker is responsible for the security and upkeep of a home, lodge, ranch, estate, and/or other property. A caregiver is a person who takes care of a sick/recovering, child, teenager, adult, or elderly person that cannot take care of themselves. It could be that a person performs both caretaker and caregiver duties at the same time, but I believe those situations are not that common. A caretaker of a house or property could also take care of an elderly person living on the premises. In essence this situation would give the person a dual role as a caretaker/caregiver. Being a caregiver on a professional level for pay is not something that should be taken lightly especially for anyone without experience, training, or certification.

My main point is that a property caretaker, or caretaker as referred to in this eBook, is not the same thing as a caregiver. Sometimes you will see a job offer in an ad that requests a caretaker, but the intent is really for a caregiver. This is where confusion can lie and why I am mentioning it here. So, it is important to distinguish the difference between the words caretaker and caregiver. In this eBook, reference to caretaker or property caretaker is a person that provides security and maintenance for a property owners real estate.

Like anything else in life house sitting and caretaking situations have upsides and downsides. However, falling into the mainstream and accepting what are only general opinions based on hearsay can be a distraction or even prevent someone from ever taking action. I do not want to see that happen to you. If you read this book, apply the information with an open mind, and take consistent action, you will be on the right path for finding and experiencing new exciting adventures. There are no misunderstandings, myths, or misconceptions in this eBook. There is no mystery or magic formula either. I am not a column writer for a newspaper. I do not represent an agency that may have interviewed a few house sitters or caretakers, nor am I someone who has just researched the subject. I have lived the house sitter and caretaker experience and am still living it. In a nutshell the information in this eBook comes from years of real life hands- on encounters and the knowledge gained from those experiences.

House sitting and property caretaking opportunities are not necessarily dictated by economic times. During economic downturns people do not quit living their lives nor do they quit doing all the things they find joy in, like taking vacations. People may not take longer or more expensive vacations during economic downturns. In fact they might cut their time away from home from several weeks to a couple weeks doing less expensive things like camping with the family instead of going to Disneyland. Yes, there might be a slight drop in the house sitting and caretaking opportunities during economic recessionary times like we are experiencing today. However, that should not discourage you from pursuing potential opportunities. If you take action with consistency, perseverance, and patience you should always have something lined up.

Do not take the attitude that there are not enough opportunities available out there. Do not quit looking for opportunities because you do not receive enough positive feedback. Do not quit making an effort to find your first or your next house sitting or caretaking adventure because you are impatient and expect more results from your efforts. Continue with desire and motivation to find an opportunity that gets you excited. Never quit looking and never give up.

A while back I heard through the media that 7,000,000 (seven million) Americans had just plain given up on searching for jobs. On one hand I understand the frustrations and bitterness that people feel toward our economic hard times. However, on