Welcome to House Sitting Services

INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN BECOMING A HOUSESITTER

Thank you for your inquiry. Let me explain how our service works. Our Real Estate background of 18 years gives us the experience required to manage a property as a complete service for Homeowners when they go on holidays. It is a full one on one service. We choose a suitable House sitter from our team who will be compatible with their pets, we check on the property every 8 (eight) weeks for them, take photos of any pets or gardens and E-mail them to re-assure them that all is well and to give them peace of mind while enjoying their holiday.

For you, the House sitter we ask that when you register with us, you answer all questions asked of you, as the answers will help us to find a suitable dwelling for you to House sit. For your own peaceful enjoyment of any property we send you to we ask that you think about the questions carefully and answer them honestly. It would not be in your best interests for example if you were to tell us that you have had experience with a German Shepherd when in fact you don’t. It would be very unpleasant for both you and the dog if you were stuck with each other for a long period of time and not enjoying each others company.

We want your experiences as a House sitter to be good. The benefits can be enormous. We want it to be a win/win situation for both you and the homeowner.

House sitting is a commitment and a responsibility. Upon registration with us we ask for copies of any references you have which may help us ascertain your worthiness of acceptance. If you don’t have any it is up to you to obtain at least 2 prior to your first appointment. We ask that you make sure there is a landline phone number on each reference so that we can verify them. You will also be asked to supply us with a copy of a Police Clearance Certificate. Once you have got to this stage you are then interviewed personally by us in an informal manner.

Your registration with us will continue for as long as you wish. It does not stop at the completion of your first appointment or after 12 months. It can go for as long as you choose it to, and can be used in any state of Australia. If however, you have a lapse of 12 months or more, you will need to pay a small fee to have your file re-commenced. You will also need to be re-questioned to make sure that you are still suitable. After each housesit we ask each Homeowner to fill out a report on your standard of housesitting and housekeeping and your next housesit will depend on us receiving a favourable report each time you housesit.

WHO MAKES A SUITABLE HOUSE-SITTER ?

The type of House-sitter most home-owners are looking for are non-smokers, singles or partners with no dependent children and no pets of their own. Homeowners also prefer mature age people. You also need to love animals as approx. 50% of our homes have pets.

There is a saying that with dogs you are an “employer” with cats you are an “employee”. It’s just a fun saying, but when you get to meet so many cats and dogs as we do, you find it is generally true. With the majority of our cats, when they meet you, they often look you up and down, stick their little noses in the air, as if to say “you’ll do” and strut off. With our dogs, they stand there, generally looking at you with their tongues hanging out and eyes pleading with you to just “love them the same as mum and dad do and we’ll love you back.”.and they do.

House-sitting is very suitable for home-owners who have just sold their own home and waiting to re-purchase or to re-build and is also suitable for newly separated singles, who can house-sit while they work out their future. Early retirees may choose to live in country areas or in another state for a while to make changes in their lives or to see and experience different areas throughout Australia. Mature singles may choose to house-sit rather than rent or own. Housesitting is also a way for ordinary citizens to have a holiday in another area. For example, you might go and do a country house sit once every year and look at the $40 weekly fee as a cheap alternative to your accommodation fee.

If in doubt as to your suitability we are only a phone call away. We will soon advise you as to your own chances of house-sitting after a quick chat on the phone if we haven’t already done so. As previously mentioned we promise you absolute honesty, nothing less - as to your suitability.

A WORD OF WARNING

If you have previously registered with a House sitting Agency, paid a lot of money to have your name put in a Directory, and never heard from them again please be assured that our service is not even remotely similar. If you have been tempted to respond to an ad which promises you 2-3 year housesits, remember if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. We started this service because we were among those “ripped off” by unscrupulous people advertising in the rental columns of daily newspapers and promising that “if you paid them an annual fee you will be “inundated with calls within a week” As this happened to a member of my family over 7 years ago, I am still very annoyed that they are still using the same tactics to this day. Please, do not pay any Housesitting Agency a cent of your hard earned money unless they will guarantee continuous housesits. Also, read the ads carefully. If you think an ad is telling you a whole lot of areas that they are wanting a Housesitter in, read it again. It may read that people from these areas have made enquiries about housesitters. Note the difference. I fell for it, as well as at least 500 others who have rang our service in the past 2 years wanting to register with us. It is our policy to speak to people on the phone first and ask them several questions as to their suitability. This way it saves your time and ours. If you are a smoker, or have children or pets with you would find it very difficult to be accepted by homeowners for Housesitting. If you are under 30 and never owned a home of your own, you would also be restricted, unless you had other exceptional qualities that would be acceptable to Homeowners. We will always tell you on the phone whether we think you would be acceptable or not. Expect nothing but complete honesty.

I have always believed that if a business owner knocks and bad-mouths their competition they are no better. However, when you continuously hear the same stories of real hardship caused by unscrupulous people, hundreds, yes, hundreds of times it is very, very distressing. I therefore feel the need to warn people that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

I do however need to also say that as far as I know it is one particular Australian Housesitting Service that is guilty of this terrible practice. I am sure that there are other similar services out there that are doing the right thing and just as distressed as we are.

Before parting with a cent of your hard-earned money, ask them if they will get a refund if their promises are not met. If they so no, don’t deal with them.

MEETING THE HOMEOWNERS

Prior to making a commitment to a house sitting appointment we ask that you make yourself available to meet with a representative from Housesitting Services and the owners and the pets (if they have any)All parties need to feel comfortable in the knowledge that the animals and yourself are going to be compatible. If at this meeting any party feels uncomfortable or it is clear that there is not going to be a bond formed between yourself and the animals we abort the process and start again. If an animal doesn’t take to a particular person, please understand that it is not a reflection on the character of that person. It might possibly have several meanings, one of which the person may remind them of an unpleasant person or experience in their past. We want nobody to feel offended but to understand that the ruling is there for the benefit of all parties. Having said that however, we in fact have so far had no-one who was not deemed suitable.

This meeting time is also used for the home owner to show you around their property and to show you what they expect of you while they are away. It is an opportunity for both the Homeowner and the House-sitter to get to know each other before the commencement of the house-sit. This time with the Homeowner (s) allows you to get to know the homeowner (s) whose home you are looking after and takes away the feeling that you are in a strangers house. It also gives the owner peace of mind, so that when they are away they can relax knowing exactly who is looking after their home. As the service is Free to most home owners they are very grateful to both our Company and to you the Housesitter, and will try their best to accommodate all your needs while in the housesit.

AVERAGE HOUSESIT

The average house sit is between 3 and 6 months. We do get 12 month ones but they certainly don’t come in as often as 6 month ones. We also take on small ones of 2 weeks and over, which make excellent fill-ins or good ones for first time housesitters. Once you are registered, we let you know the day a housesit comes in if we think it will suit you, and we expect you to have a look at it from the outside, check the area out, and get back to us within a few days and let us know whether you think it suitable or not. If you say yes, we put your name on it, and file it until due for interview; if you say no, we look for something each day that will suit you better. The choice is always yours, whether you accept a particular housesit or not. You are the one who has to enjoy it and it must benefit you or there is no point accepting it.

WHEN SHOULD I REGISTER ?

If you are planning to start housesitting in the next couple of months, always send your registration in as soon as possible, as most homeowners give us at least 4 - 8 weeks notice. Don’t wait until a week before you have to move out of your current home and then register and expect to have a housesit waiting. The day we receive home owners applications is the day we like to allocate them. This means that the longest wait you will have for a suitable housesit, will be at the start. For this reason, it is for your benefit to get your application in with the applicable fee, and then as soon as you have your references and police clearance certificate send them in separately. Please be advised that all housesitters need to have somewhere to stay in between housesits. The average time from one housesit to the next can be approx 1- 21 days.

CHARGES

The service being offered doesn’t come cheaply and someone has to pay for it. There is a small charge of $255 to the homeowner. We have proved in the last two years that the homeowner is happier to use our service when some of our costs are met by the Housesitter. By doing it this way, it means there is always a list of homes waiting for housesitters. Usually nice homes and nice people. If we were to charge the homeowner the full cost of running this service, they would probably continue to ask their neighbour to keep their eye on their home and they would do the same for them when they go away.

Your registration with Housesitting Services will cost $250.00 and is to be sent with your Application.

If it is not accepted your money will be refunded in full.

If you are traveling to another state and have registered to stay at a particular place at a particular time, it is imperative that you register as soon as possible and give your exact details so that we can try our best to match up your request. In your circumstances our written guarantee will be that we find you suitable accommodation at the time required or you may request your money back.

There is no rent paid for the full period of time you in occupancy of the home as you are not a tenant. You will however pay to Housesitting Services as Managing Agents costs of $40 per week. This is to help cover the costs of the services provided by us. Fees are to be paid in advance at all times and are due and payable when you make a commitment to a house-sit. Any changes to this rule must be arranged prior to appointment and administration charges will apply for anyone requesting monthly fees. Expect also to pay the homeowners for electricity , gas and phone used by yourself.

When you consider that your registration fee is for as long as you want, by paying only $40 per week instead of average between $200 - $300 rent each week, you may save yourself thousands of dollars each year by housesitting.

If you require any further information than I have provided here please feel free to phone us on 08 8332 2299 and we will only be too happy to answer any of your questions. If you wish to go ahead with your registration, you may post the signed forms along with the registration fee of $250 to the office in your own state or to ;

Housesitting Services Pty Ltd

65 Carrington St Adelaide SA 5000

Phone 08 8332 2299

“No part of this website may be reproduced without the written permission of Housesitting Services Pty Ltd .

The Directors of the Company will not hesitate to take legal action to protect our legal rights.”