Thinking out of the box, or off the farm, can help seniors find a variety of different ways to travel without breaking the bank or the budget
When her sister-in-law told her about a house-sitting opportunity, Emily Penman, recently widowed and reluctant to spend the winter at her somewhat isolated farm house, packed up herself and her dog and moved to the city for the winter.
Once moved in, she assumed the duties of the homeowner. She kept the house clean, shovelled the snow, looked after the residents’ cat and deposited rent cheques from herself and the basement suite tenant. She paid $600 rent each month plus the utility bills.
The following year, the owner asked her to come back at an increased rent of $800 per month. At that point, Penman was prepared to pay $200 per month. No agreement was reached.
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This case illustrates the wide divergence that can exist in the world of housesitting. Home owners may ask for and sometimes get a market value or near market value rent for the use of their house. At the other end of the spectrum, house sitters, particularly if the house comes with pets, may ask for and sometimes get free rent as well as a generous stipend per month.
In short, there are no hard and fast rules as to what, if anything, a house sitter or house owner pays the other party.
House sitting can work two ways for retired farmers. If you are travelling to Mexico, for example, for the winter, a house sitter could stay in your home and look after things while you’re away.
On the other hand, you could become house sitters, gallivanting around the country and if you like, the world — living rent-free in exchange for simply living in a house, possibly tending to a couple of house pets and maybe even the occasional farm animal.
If you are a homeowner, security and peace of mind are probably the biggest benefits of having a house sitter. Having someone actually living in the home makes life easier if a pipe bursts or the sewer decides to back up while you’re away.
Insurance-wise, having a house sitter is much the same as being there yourself, says Kim Yasinowski, insurance broker at Kelvington, Sask., but house owners should check with their broker, just to be sure.
Having a house sitter living in the house is a deterrent for would-be thieves and vandals.
And finally, your pets could benefit too. They will still miss you, but being in their own home/territory with the same routines, the same food and the same other animals, if you have them, will be more comfortable for them, and cheaper for you, than a kennel stay.
Especially in an arrangement in which the house sitter looks after one or more pets, accommodation is often free, but you will likely be expected to cover the utility bills while you are living in the house. This can slash your travel costs significantly. Just for fun, find out the cost per night for the lowest cost motel room in the area and multiply it times the number of nights you would require it and do a comparison.
House sits can last anywhere from a few days to a few months to a year or more. At little to no cost, you get to live in an area for a span of time and see it as a local. There are homes available all over the world. Trustedhousesitters.com and housesitterscanada.com are two sites where you can find house owners looking for a house sitter and house sitters looking for a sit.
Retirees have a bit of an edge in the search for the best house-sitting opportunities because they no longer have the constraints of a career and are more likely able to leave whenever they like.
