House sitting

[smartyingreen]

Anybody used house sitters through any of the websites? Work out ok? Do it again?  Costs involved?

[Rumpig]

Have seen this question asked before a few times on Explore Oz forum, if you don't get to many answers here, have a search through the old threads there. Been a while since it was last asked over there though from memory

[Fathom]

We have used house sitters through one of those websites.. Once...
We did because we have/ had dogs, cats, chooks, fish etc
When we got home...
Two sliding doors were broken. A couple of sauce pans had been burnt- read FUBAR.
Our old almost blind and half lame ridgeback that was suppose to be inside was left out in the cold... Because " the missus only likes females pets'.
Our cockatiel we had at the time was let out and landed in a pot of boiling water.... (Lived)
We had assumed we would have some recourse through the website. But it became their word against ours...
We wouldn't do that again...
Or if we did... We would want s bond..
2nd time we left the house with the parents of some friends of ours. - so a completely private arrangement. That had no real issues.
House was good, yard was good. Only thing that semi peeved me was they burnt my entire winter haul of wood in the fire place in only 4 weeks.
But as said. Minor.
Now we just put the dogs in kennels.
(We use to leave the dogs at home on smaller trips but a slight neighbour issue  makes us feel better if the dogs are safe) Then either pay someone to come feed everything else or beg family and friends.
So it costs us more now...  camping fees are cheaper than the kennels. Lol.
And the mutts aren't there to 'protect the house' ... But we have insurance.

But.. It's a big business, lots of people doing it... So it must work out ok for most..
That's been our experience anyway.

[krisandkev]

As stated, a search should show some threads. We have used Aussie House sitters a few times and have had some brilliant sitters.  Have sitters at the moment and they are the perfect sitters.  Some will stay in their caravan and use you bathroom only, others will need to stay in your house.  Our current ones like to stay in their van as that is their home.  We did have a working couple look after our place for 6 months once but that did not work out well as we have 61 acres and a few chores that need doing and apparently they did not have the time to attend to our wishes. So pick retired people! Make a detailed book of instructions and contact numbers etc.  and decide what you want and do not expect house sitters to be as fussy as you may be at looking after your place.  Having said that our current sitters look after our place and our animals better than us!  No, you cannot have them  .   Kevin

[Micklow]

We have also used AussieHouseSitters. Picked a retired couple for our 3 week trip to the Great Ocean Road over Christmas this year and had a good experience with the sitters.
As per krisandkev's comments, pick retired people and provide a detailed set of instructions. 


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[smartyingreen]

Thanks for the replies all, those horror stories are what i was afraid of. I'll  ser what who we may be able to find.
On the off chance if anyone here wants 7 weeks in the beautiful Riverland in September and October plz send a pm.
Cheers

[Hewy54]

Have used housesitters on several occasions, but have always been lucky enough to find a friend or friend of a friend. Very lucky now that my grand-daughter is 18 and is available whenever we need her.
There are lots of people out there who do it on a regular basis and do a great job. Just a worry trusting someone who you may not know.

[Pog]

I was going to make a couple of comments here, but ran them past Bec 1st, and she said if I value our friendship, that I shouldn't type them on here....

So here they are:

.....

[oldmate]

We have used house sitters through one of those websites.. Once...
We did because we have/ had dogs, cats, chooks, fish etc
When we got home...
Two sliding doors were broken. A couple of sauce pans had been burnt- read FUBAR.
Our old almost blind and half lame ridgeback that was suppose to be inside was left out in the cold... Because " the missus only likes females pets'.
Our cockatiel we had at the time was let out and landed in a pot of boiling water.... (Lived)
We had assumed we would have some recourse through the website. But it became their word against ours...
We wouldn't do that again...
Or if we did... We would want s bond..
2nd time we left the house with the parents of some friends of ours. - so a completely private arrangement. That had no real issues.
House was good, yard was good. Only thing that semi peeved me was they burnt my entire winter haul of wood in the fire place in only 4 weeks.
But as said. Minor.
Now we just put the dogs in kennels.
(We use to leave the dogs at home on smaller trips but a slight neighbour issue  makes us feel better if the dogs are safe) Then either pay someone to come feed everything else or beg family and friends.
So it costs us more now...  camping fees are cheaper than the kennels. Lol.
And the mutts aren't there to 'protect the house' ... But we have insurance.

But.. It's a big business, lots of people doing it... So it must work out ok for most..
That's been our experience anyway.

Your an a**e. I thought we agreed we wouldnt talk about the time I stayed at your place.

[scarpsD40]

Your an a**e. I thought we agreed we wouldnt talk about the time I stayed at your place.

lol.....man if that was you, I'd say He got off lightly;D

[krisandkev]

Like all topics, you will hear the bad.  After our little bad we looked at the bigger picture. We were able to fix most things and none were life threatening but we were able to get away and have the most fantastic trip in WA.  That was the main thing. You can get out there and do what you want!    Kevin

[Fathom]

lol.....man if that was you, I'd say He got off lightly;D

I didn't mention that the chooks have never really recovered....