House sitting, along with Couch Surfing or Pet Sitting, is one of the increasingly popular ways to travel without spending a fortune. Anette and Peter, that I have already introduced you to, are quite experienced house sitters (and they leave their house for others to house sit too). I asked them to share their thoughts with my Readers :)
Anette runs a blog and is an interior designer, you can see her work here: Just Morocco.
When Monika asked us to write a blog about housesitting from a homeowners perspective, we started thinking how much energy we actually put into choosing and preparing for a housesitter. It is in fact not an easy decision to hand over the keys to a total stranger. It can make us a little nervous thinking about it, but so far we have only had great experiences – our decoration, our furniture, our belongings have always stayed intact.
We have used housesitters for many years for our property in a somewhat remote oasis in the south of Morocco. It is a great opportunity for us to meet new interesting people but also a good possibility for the housesitter to see what life is really like in a place – to feel like a small part of a community. We have had so many different housesitters from all over the world – Australia, Germany, Greece, Sweden etc and quite a few Americans – some recommended by friends, but mostly from housesitters sites – all with different experiences and expectations.
Our traditional eco-property is very dear to us since we have built it ourselves and have put lots of thought about both exterior and interior design, so finding the right housesitter is very important to us. Choosing is not easy or straightforward – it does not necessarily have to be a practical, experienced housesitting couple, in fact on of the best housesitter we ever had was a young woman with a 4 month old baby!
There are so many fantastic people to choose from so to make the task easier we have created the “The four C-list” which will give housesitters some hints and ideas.
CURIOSITY
makes life easier and more interesting for both the sitter and us. Curious about how things work in an exotic oasis, how people live, their culture and traditions is an essential part of the stay and we love coming back hearing stories about funny cultural mix-ups and sometimes adventurous and fantastic meetings with people in the area.
CAPABILITY
is of course one of the pillars for us. Be true to yourself – do not tell us how practical you are, when in fact you are only wanting the housesit and do not know how to use a screwdriver. It is not important that you are handy, as long as we are aware of it and can arrange for contacts (and you know how to find the nearest hardware store). We are not interested in a boosting self-confident “I can do anything-attitude”. It will hit back if something happens. We do need to rely on the information you give us.
COMMUNICATION
during the housesit is always welcome. We very much appreciate updates of how you are getting along and your reflections of life in our oasis. It has given us so much pleasure hearing stories about disappearing cute rabbits, donkeys “knocking” on the door and cute little newborn chickens. Many of our housesitters have kept in contact years after their sit, not only with us but with new friends from the oasis.
CREATIVITY
the more the better! Creative solutions to problems can be a great attitide and we have learnt a lot from innovative housesitters. Using the fantastic fabrics, doing small projects (we once had a lovely German couple who built a wonderful stone path to our bbq area!) can develop into bigger projects (Greek housesitters built a small chicken shed of mudbricks, which we developed later and is still standing!). We truly enjoy people enjoying themselves playing with the mud!
Anette runs a blog and is an interior designer, you can see her work here: Just Morocco