Trusted House Sitters?

[climberevan]

We've been adopted by a cat, but we like to travel for long stretches. Have any of you used this service?

Alternatively, are there mags who would appreciate a place (2br house) to stay from 24 Aug to 4 Sept? We'll be at Burning Man and need someone to play with our cat and harvest the bounty of garden vegetables that will be coming in.

We're in Carson City, NV. Singletrack that goes to Tahoe and connects to 200+ mi of trails is 1 mile from our house.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Just get an autofeeder and get someone to check in every how and then. A cat is fine inside for 10 days. No need for a sitter.

[bennymac]

Have used that site a handful of times with mostly good results - no outright disasters despite having high needs pets. YMMV of course - I’m pretty picky with who gets to house and pet sit

[rideit]

Had to find someone here over the 4th holiday. Apparently the most popular service online (Rover?) charges $70 a day. I asked the girls how much the service took off the top, they said $20 or so. So I struck a deal, they could have a hot tub party. (We were gonna drain it anyway). They did it for $200 for 5 days, walked/trail ran the dog twice a day, Fed the cat, watered the plants, I don’t know if they ever even used the tub.

[Buzzworthy]

Just booked a trip today up to Seabeck, WA end of July for a good week to house sit with my buddy’s dog. He grabbed the airfare and I get to enjoy hanging in Washington with a great dog, great weed and great beer. Stoked.

Hope you find someone. I’m deathly allergic to cats.

[climberevan]

Just get an autofeeder and get someone to check in every how and then. A cat is fine inside for 10 days. No need for a sitter.

We have a robot feeder and waterer, but the issue is that the cat is free to go outside and Ms CE worries that she'll go find a new home (like she found us).

I'm looking forward to more stories from those who travel and leave their pets at home.

[neufox47]

Had a woman house sit over the 4th. $50 a day. She might drive the 2 hrs to CC from here. Living at home with her folks as she is a laid off recruiter. I think she mostly just wants to get out of their house.


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[Danno]

A good friend has house sat all over the country using trusted housesitters. She had no complaints, but some situations were better than others.

[Buzzworthy]

Had a woman house sit over the 4th. $50 a day. She might drive the 2 hrs to CC from here. Living at home with her folks as she is a laid off recruiter. I think she mostly just wants to get out of their house.


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Add some gas money and load the beer/wine fridge. Sounds like a winner.

We flew a (crazy) friend out from Jersey to watch our dogs for our June trip to Cancun. Don’t hire crazy, trust me. One dog had a seizure and she redecorated several rooms in our house and two outside patio areas.again, don’t hire crazy. Seizure wasn’t her fault but I’m sure her adhd ass was driving him nuts too.

[gaijin]

Is that the one that reorganized the laundry room and hung new pictures on the wall?

[Buzzworthy]

Yep. The painting over the holes didn’t take that long. Until I found a few indents the dogs had done. So I fixed those and painted. And a few places my wife found to fix. So that was fun.

[riser4]

Had to find someone here over the 4th holiday. Apparently the most popular service online (Rover?) charges $70 a day. I asked the girls how much the service took off the top, they said $20 or so. So I struck a deal, they could have a hot tub party. (We were gonna drain it anyway). They did it for $200 for 5 days, walked/trail ran the dog twice a day, Fed the cat, watered the plants, I don’t know if they ever even used the tub.

They probably figured you had a camera on the tub.

[riser4]

Just booked a trip today up to Seabeck, WA end of July for a good week to house sit with my buddy’s dog. He grabbed the airfare and I get to enjoy hanging in Washington with a great dog, great weed and great beer. Stoked.

Hope you find someone. I’m deathly allergic to cats.

Who's gonna watch your dogs this time? Leaving the Mrs at home?

[Danno]

Who's gonna watch your dogs this time? Leaving the Mrs at home?

More importantly, what kind of remodeling is he going to do at his buddy's house?

[Kevo]

We've used house sitters that stay at the house and watch our pups while we're out of town.

It's definitely easier on the dogs than boarding them somewhere. In a resort town it seems to be a fairly desirable gig because it allows people who usually live in a roommate situation to have a place to themselves for a bit.

[BC.]

We've used house sitters that stay at the house and watch our pups while we're out of town.

It's definitely easier on the dogs than boarding them somewhere. In a resort town it seems to be a fairly desirable gig because it allows people who usually live in a roommate situation to have a place to themselves for a bit.

What’s the going rate? Wondering, cuz my daughter has been doing some house sitting/dog sitting in Burlington, VT the past two summers for some families…thought she would get paid more than the 50 /day…all things considered. Wondering if she should up her rate/ or is that the going rate?

[BC.]

Sorry/Double post..

[Kevo]

What’s the going rate? Wondering, cuz my daughter has been doing some house sitting/dog sitting in Burlington, VT the past two summers for some families…thought she would get paid more than the 50 /day…all things considered. Wondering if she should up her rate/ or is that the going rate?

I think $50-$70 per day is the going rate around here, more if there are more responsibilities than "feed the pups and let out the pups".

It's not uncommon for house sitters to work a full time job elsewhere and just live at the house they are sitting for a week or so. It's a supplemental income gig with the perks of having an entire house to oneself.

Full time home caretaker gigs are a different world. I met someone on a chairlift last year who claimed to be making $10K per month living in the guest house at a large property. His job was to coordinate all the service providers for the property (landscaping, cleaning, snow removal, etc) so that things were really nice for the 2 weeks a year that the owners flew in.

[ASmileyFace]

Can confirm on the full time caretaker thing. Have a friend in telluride who claims to pull in the low six figures managing like 5+ properties themselves. Started as a part time property manager for a large ranch estate and has leveraged relationships made there into a lucrative gig. They swap between properties depending on when clients are in town and manage all the services like Kevo said. Seems like a damn good gig, but they are so busy these days I haven't seen them in a year or two.

On topic though, my parents travel quite a bit and have used Trusted Sitters a couple times when their normal sitter isn't available. They have had good experiences overall, but my dad has lots of nanny cams around the house and makes sure that the sitter knows it. The usual family friend gets paid $80/per night and I think Trusted Sitters is more expensive unless you're using it a few times a year?

[Buzzworthy]

Who's gonna watch your dogs this time? Leaving the Mrs at home?

Yep the girls staying here. The about to go to college girl can do a bit extra. They’re her dogs too.

[Buzzworthy]

More importantly, what kind of remodeling is he going to do at his buddy's house?

Considering they bought the house two years ago, spent the last year and a half having it essentially gutted and rebuilt to their specs, I’m going to play with the dog like a normal dog sitter does.

[Danno]

Considering they bought the house two years ago, spent the last year and a half having it essentially gutted and rebuilt to their specs, I’m going to play with the dog like a normal dog sitter does.

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.

[BC.]

I think $50-$70 per day is the going rate around here, more if there are more responsibilities than "feed the pups and let out the pups".

It's not uncommon for house sitters to work a full time job elsewhere and just live at the house they are sitting for a week or so. It's a supplemental income gig with the perks of having an entire house to oneself.

Full time home caretaker gigs are a different world. I met someone on a chairlift last year who claimed to be making $10K per month living in the guest house at a large property. His job was to coordinate all the service providers for the property (landscaping, cleaning, snow removal, etc) so that things were really nice for the 2 weeks a year that the owners flew in.

Thanks…yeah, she’s a student/ summer working her internship/fellowship and swim coaching at the CC…..so getting to hang out in a Burlington area swag house is probably payment enough….the 50/day sounds reasonable.

[riser4]

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.

This.

[old goat]

Wait, you're going to be at Burning Man for a week and a half, doing drugs, running around naked and engaging in group sex and you're worried about your housesitter being trustworthy?