Tuesday, May 17, 2011

House-Sitting

I was reading an article in a magazine the other day about a couple from the interior of BC who don't own a house or rent a property, but who pet-sit and house-sit permanently. They run a small publishing company, and when they moved from the Lower Mainland to the interior, they stayed with friends while they looked at properties. Then, they heard about some people, Snowbirds, who were looking for someone to house-sit and pet-sit while they spent the winter down south. So this couple moved in and had a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom house at their disposal for 6 months. It took off from there, and they've been doing it every since. They house-sit or pet-sit and their payment is free accomodation. All they have to do is pay electricity, gas, telephone, etc. Which seems reasonable. It's a win-win situation for the home-owners and for the couple.

So, there are websites out there that link up homeowners and housesitters. Go figure. It's apparently a hot new trend. A great way to find a holiday home if you want to go to Europe and plan to stay put in one place. A great way to see the world... Hmmm... what to do with all your own furniture though? Storage locker? Or sell it and start anew at some point? All sorts of possiblities.

http://www.housecarers.com/
http://www.mindmyhouse.com/
http://www.canadianhousesitters.com/

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