How to Become a House Sittter by Dalene & Pete Heck – Hecktic Travels
BOOK REVIEW: How to Become a House Sitter
Do you know about House Sitting?
House sitters take care of people’s homes and pets while they are away.
Travel the world with free accommodation!
House sitting is generally an even exchange that benefits everyone involved. The sitters get free accommodation in exchange for taking care of the house, property and pets.
Although not all house sitting gigs have pets, a majority of them do. While accommodation is usually free, sometimes house sitters are expected to pay a few utilities and occasionally they may be asked to pay rent. But those are details worked out between the home owners and the house sitters beforehand.
House sitting is an excellent way to afford traveling around the world. It’s particularly helpful when visiting expensive countries that might otherwise be difficult to afford, especially for a month or longer.
How to Become a House Sitter – perks of house sitting
Where do people house sit?
House sitting opportunities exist all over the world, but the vast majority are found in developed western countries: Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A smaller number of opportunities arise in Asia, South and Central America, the Caribbean and a few Pacific Islands.
How long do house sitting gigs last?
The home owners could be away only for a weekend, for 1-2 weeks, 1-2 months, or even 1 year.
How to Become a House Sitter – why home owners want house sitters
What do house sitters have to do on their assignment?
Each assignment varies greatly. Expected tasks may amount to as little as being present in the home for security of the property or may include basic home-owner tasks like taking in mail and cleaning or taking care of animals. Heavier assignments could include full-on property maintenance or even farm work. All sorts of house sitting opportunities are available.
How do travelers find house sitting gigs?
On house sitting websites naturally! Home owners list their offerings, which are generally organized by country, region and city. Wanna-be house sitters list their profiles, apply to house sitting offers they find on the site, and sometimes are contacted directly by home owners who find them via their profiles.
Snag in the plans…
Nowadays, finding house sitting gigs is rather competitive. So many people want to house sit that home owners usually have many many potential house sitters apply to their listing. They can choose among several candidates.
That means hopeful house sitters need to know exactly how to best go about finding and applying for house sitting opportunities so they have the best chance at successfully landing a gig.
How to Become a House Sitter – meet Dalene & Pete Heck
That’s where Dalene and Pete’s excellent guidebook, How to Become a House Sitter, comes into play.
Dalene and Pete have been successfully house sitting regularly all over the world since 2009. They’ve completed assignments in over 20 gigs thus far, making them house sitting experts.
I recently bought their book to help me successfully land some house sitting gigs.
How to Become a House Sitter helped me immensely in choosing the best house sitting organization to join, in polishing my profile and sending out eye-catching application letters. As a result, I’ve already had several home owners respond to my applications, expressing a keen interest in me. I’ve even come very close to being selected 2 or 3 times. In the end, the specific dates or task details didn’t mesh with my plans. But I’m confident I’ll find the right house sitting gig soon.
How to Become a House Sitter – TOC – Hecktic Travels – ebook
The following sections of the book were especially useful:
* Comparisons of different house sitting websites, including useful charts
* How to write a great personal profile to interest home owners
* Samples of successful application letters (letters that led to securing house sitting gigs)
* Check lists of everything you should discuss, consider, ask about and confirm with the home owners before you accept a position.
* Personal perspectives from home owners who answered the following questions:
Q: What qualities do you look for when selecting a house sitter?
Q: What makes a good house sitter?
How to Become a House Sitter- landing a gig!
Of course How to Become a House Sitter also covers more basics, including:
* Why people can / should / want to house sit
* Why home owners would want a house sitter to take care of their property and pets
* Important things to consider about house sitting.
Things such as your personal needs while there, where to house sit, visas, languages, potential problems, and so on.
* What prospective house sitters need to do to successfully secure an assignment.
That includes writing up an excellent profile, having great references, writing an eye-catching application letter, doing a good interview and communicating well with the home owners
* How to be a good house sitter.
Dalene and Pete discuss what you should do before arrival, upon arrival, during your assignment, preparing to wind down, and afterward. This all ensures that everyone is happy with the outcome and also that you get good references from home owners and make a good example for other house sitters.
How to Become a House Sitter – final words and more info…
The guidebook finishes up with many useful resources, including:
* links to house sitting websites
* links to visa websites for different nationalities
* links to other expert house sitters / bloggers websites
* sample contract to use for house sitting
* extensive check lists of everything to consider, ask, check out for your assignment
* statements from both house sitters and home owners about their experiences and perspectives
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If you’re interested in house sitting, I highly recommend this guidebook to help you through the whole process.
How to Become a House Sitter
How to Become a House Sitter costs only $20 and with it, you receive 25% off membership to one particular house sitting site. That discount nearly covers the cost of the book! So if you are planning to join a house sitting site, there’s really no reason to not get this guidebook.
Buy How to Become a House Sitter Read more here
If you’re still undecided, check out Dalene and Pete’s introductory articles on Hecktic Travels:
House Sitting 101 House Sitting 201
Happy house hunting!
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Hi! I'm Lash, an American nomadic world traveler who's been traveling solo since 1998. I’m passionate about traveling the world nomadically and then sharing it all with you. I hope to inspire you to travel the world, to entertain you with tales from the road, and to help you reach your travel dreams. Welcome! 
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[…] my New Year’s Resolutions for 2024 was to join Trusted House Sitters and start doing regular house and pet sitting jobs. Many of the places in the world that I still have to explore in my quest to visit every country in […]