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• House Sitting in New York City

House sitters in NYC enjoy multiple benefits including free rent with all expenses paid.

House sitters are people who act as house minders for homeowners who are out of town and need someone to watch over their house, condo, or apartment. While those who are leaving their home behind are usually willing to pay a premium to have it watched and maintained in their absence, sitters who do the work often consider the job a vacation in and of itself and are more than happy to house sit for free. That's because New York homeowners needing a house sitter often live in upscale or amenity-laden buildings, houses, or neighborhoods.

House sitters also have the flexibility of hiring their services out in a wide geographical area as a professional house and pet sitter. Professional house sitters working in Manhattan, for instance, may live in New Jersey or Connecticut and commute into NYC for work. Others live in nearby Queens, the Bronx, or Brooklyn and simply take the subway and an overnight suitcase to their client's home. Or it's also possible that a house sitter based in midtown might be available to sit homes in Long Island or Staten Island. Location is not important, as long as one is a responsible and reliable house sitter.

Some homeowners will actually employ house carers they trust who live out of state and pay for their transportation when they need to be away from home for extended periods of time. A homeowner might, for example, have two homes - a primary residence in New York City or the Hamptons and a vacation property in Florida. Whenever one of the homes is vacant, they call their trusted house sitter and arrange for them to stay in it and keep an eye on things.

Being the house carer is usually a relatively simple task of maintaining the property, plants (gardens), and pet care. Sometimes pet owners may even hire two people - one to be the overnight house sitter and another to drop by the home every day to feed and care for the pets. Many professional pet minders have specialized training and experience to take care of beloved pets.  A good pet sitter does not even need to be a professional.  Many house sitters have a love for animals and can tend to the pets with the care they would give their own! 

Finding a job as a New York City house sitter, in other words, usually means also locating a great getaway in the exciting Big Apple. While working as the house carer it is possible to live the lifestyle of the owner - and that opportunity represents a fringe benefit seldom offered in other lines of work.

• New York City House Sitters to the Rescue

Home owners in the NYC area - whether in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Long Island, the Bronx, Staten Island or elsewhere - appreciate the value of a dependable professional house sitter when it comes time to entrust one's home to others.

Every homeowner in New York should have a "go-to" list of professionals, and at the top of the list should be a qualified and trustworthy house sitter. These professionals are expert at keeping a close eye on houses, lofts, and condos while owners are away, and most of them offer a variety of complimentary services like plant watering, pet sitting, and mail collection. They can forward mail, take phone messages, and even send you critical must-have items you forgot to pack before you boarded your flight out of NYC.

Here are some questions to ask before hiring a home sitter in the vicinity of New York City:-

- Does the home sitter have experience and can their credentials and references be verified? Do they live nearby, for example in Brooklyn if your home is on the Lower West Side, Midtown, the Upper East Side, or Harlem?

- If the home sitter lives nearby - for instance if your condo or apartment is in Brooklyn but they live in Queens, do you want them to commute each day or plan on spending the night in your home while you are out of town?

- Will the NYC house sitter work in exchange for lodging? Some sitters will even pay the utility bills if house sitting for you means they get to enjoy a week or more in a nice home in a high-demand location such as Manhattan.

The value of a stress-free vacation, a worry-free trip out of town, or a no-hassle extended business trip to a distant city cannot be underestimated. Now with just one phone call or email it is possible to hire the right New York area home sitter at an affordable rate - or even by just offering a free place to stay - to make it a wise and rewarding way to plan your trip. While a house sitter ensures the security, safety, and well being of your home, belongings, and precious pets back in NYC you can sleep peacefully without a care in the world - anywhere in the world you happen to go.

To find qualified and available house sitters, take advantage of the Internet by using one of the professionally managed sites that caters specifically to the needs of homeowners in NYC. These businesses are expert at helping to pair NYC homeowners up with nearby house sitters who are also New Yorkers or the many interstate sitters, and you can do the research without leaving the comfort of your Big Apple home.

• Rent is Free in LA for House Sitters

Los Angeles is one of the most popular places to live in the entire USA, but California real estate is also the most expensive. House sitters, however, typically live rent-free in LA - whether in Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Santa Monica, San Bernardino, or other locations in the Los Angles County vicinity.

Here's how to enjoy life in glamorous, diverse, exciting LA - without paying a penny in rent or ever signing a lease:

- Become a Professional House Sitter

House sitters either get free lodging in people's homes or they get to live free plus they get paid for acting as a caretaker. No particular education or training is required to house sit in Los Angeles, although related experience and good references are always a plus. With the right credentials you can get better paying jobs in nicer homes and more desirable or popular neighborhoods.

- Increase Your Home Sitting Business

To boost your LA home sitting business, join a professional home sitting network. Send ads to real estate agents and homeowners, consider getting bonded and insured, and create a portfolio of letters of recommendation to show potential clients. The top home sitting jobs pay well and let you live in dreamy homes in places like Topanga, Hollywood, Burbank, or even Malibu.

- Get Paid for Living Free in LA

Whether you want to have free rent in Culver City to be close to work and friends or prefer to get a place in San Marino because you like that scene, there are ample opportunities to get paid and live rent free all over LA.

- House Sit in Condos, Apartments, High Rises, Studio Lofts, or Mansions

House sitters work in all sorts of homes, and caring for homes while the owner is away means living there - totally rent-free. Los Angeles area homesitters are needed by a variety of homeowners in all price ranges of homes - including condos, apartments, studio lofts, beach homes, and grand estates.

Sitting for homeowners can involve taking care of pets and plants or forwarding mail, or it can just mean spending weekends in homes while the owners are out of town. But many homeowners in Los Angeles travel for work - and are gone for weeks at a time - while some have second homes and leave their LA properties to live elsewhere for months or even years. By working as a house sitter it is possible to negotiate free rent for a weekend or as long as 2-3 years. Because the rent is included as part of the job, and rents in Los Angeles County tend to be so expensive, it translates into one of the highest paying opportunities in the city - but involves little actual labor. Become known as a dependable, available Los Angeles house sitter and it can evolve into a fulltime career with outstanding perks and benefits. Network effectively and you might even land a job housesitting for your favorite Hollywood star!

• House Sitting and Caretaking Jobs in Chicago Offer Many Benefits

Chicago or "Chi-Town" - has millions of residents and when those homeowners go out of town they often hire house sitters or caretakers to stay in their homes and keep a watchful eye on their property, plants, and pets. Those who work as caretakers or home carers in the Chicago area enjoy many great fringe benefits - including free rent in wonderful homes with prime locations throughout the area.

Caretakers are those people who make a career out of living in homes while owners are gone. They often work for real estate brokers who have them live in vacant properties that are on the market, or for business people who fly in and out of Chicago O'Hara on extended professional trips. Others find house sitting gigs by offering their services to homeowners who have second homes or are planning to be away on vacation. Every time a house is left empty, in other words, a job as a caretaker needs to be filled. Vacant homes all over Chicago mean house sitting employment vacancies throughout this great city.

A typical caretaker day in Chicago might involve answering the phone, listening to phone messages and relaying them to the out of town owners, checking the mail and forwarding it, and ensuring that houseplants are watered and the cat or dog has been fed. Combine dog walking experience with house sitting and it is possible to get paid extra. Add house cleaning to house sitting for a double income opportunity. Meanwhile your overhead is extremely low because there is no rent to pay. Instead, homeowners pay you to use their homes as your own temporary living space. As long as you are a caretaker your lodging is taken care of - and those who can afford to hire house sitters usually live in exceptionally upscale homes in the best neighborhoods and enclaves in Chicago.

From Oak Park or Riverside to Lake Michigan waterfront homes - or urban condos downtown inside the "Loop" - house sitters have lots of fabulous options. Plus, the Greater Chicago area - including Evanston (home to Northwestern University), Naperville, or Schaumberg is also ripe for house sitting jobs. While working as a caretaker, those who house sit have easy access to Chicago's nightlife, restaurants, and venues like Wrigley Field or the Art Institute of Chicago. Visit the "South Side" and take in some of the Windy City's legendary blues and jazz music, or head for the lake and relax all day on the water.

Chicago house sitting is a dream job. It's not labor-intensive but pays especially well through a combination of solid pay plus unique and valuable added benefits.

NB: that's vacation, not vocation! (Though some people may feel they've "had the call!")

If you think about it, there are plenty of good reasons to become a house sitter. A big one for some people is to save the money they'd otherwise be paying for rent, and put it towards a deposit on their own home. This, of course, requires a sit - preferably for a few months or even longer - within travelling distance of their workplace.

Others just want to get away from their customary, and possibly crowded or noisy, environment to write, paint or sculpt without interruption.

Still others sit houses as a way of visiting family members or friends in another city or town, while enjoying free accommodation. Or they do it every so often simply for a change of pace and scene. But more and more singles and families are seeing house sitting as a way to enjoy an affordable holiday, compared to the ruinous costs of spending two or three weeks at a resort, or a beachside hotel, motel or apartments. And accommodation is usually the single most expensive element in the cost of a family vacation, unless you happen to be going overseas, when airfares might just top the bill.

And even then, accommodation is a huge slug.

Whereas for the average family or working single planning a vacation in America, house sitting can provide if not a completely free holiday, then certainly a hugely less expensive one.

Imagine, for example, a family of four wanting to enjoy a west coast holiday, say San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego etc., during one of the school holiday periods.

Suppose they live in Chicago, Washington or New York and decide to fly. Depending on the cost of flights, they're probably looking at $400 - $500 per person, a total of $1600 - $2000. It sounds like a lot of money and it is but you will be saving around the same amount again, if not more, on the accommodation costs!

So instead of handing over their credit card at Reception with fingers crossed, or a voucher for their stay which took more than half their holiday pay to purchase, they pull up outside a sunny beach house, or a smart, architect-designed residence in a pleasant boulevard, or even a comfy apartment in the city, knowing there's no more to pay than their normal, everyday expenses.

For the average one or two income family, house-sitting can literally be the difference between a memorable and refreshing holiday wherever they choose to go - be it city, country, mountain or beachside - and staying at home, with all the usual chores to do, then returning to work feeling like they had no break at all.

Then, of course, there are the retirees who can afford to travel and see the country, and have time on their hands, but don't want to tow a van or drive a lumbering motor home. Nor do they want to spend their retirement nest egg unnecessarily. A house sit - or even a series of sits - makes perfect sense for people like this.

If you've never considered it before, it's definitely worth some thought!

• Free Pet Care at Home

If you're a homeowner with pets, then whenever you contemplate going away, you have to decide what you're going to do about your little friends.

For a short absence, like overnight or a weekend, you'll probably arrange with a neighbor or friend to look in on your pets, feed them, and if your pet is a dog, take him or her for a walk.

Annual vacations, overseas trips, and really anything longer than going away for the weekend, generally mean one of three things. You'll either drop off your pet/s to a minder, book them into a pet resort (i.e. a kennel or cattery), or engage a professional feeder/walker to come in for half an hour each day so your pet can stay at home.

(We omit friends, neighbors and neighbors' children as an option for extended absences, for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's an imposition, especially if it's a friend who has to drive to your place every day. Secondly, children can be irresponsible, or simply forget. Moreover, what happens if your pet gets stuck, becomes ill, or strays during the 23½ hours each day when nobody is there to notice?)

All of the "genuine" options can be expensive. What's more, the first two alternatives entail taking the pets out of their familiar environment, which can be quite stressful for them, especially on top of your absence. The third means leaving them alone nearly all day every day.

In fact, the only advantage it has over asking a friend or neighbor to feed your pets is that a professional is likely to be more reliable! (And you don't need to feel you're imposing.)

Of course, there's another alternative. It not only dovetails in perfectly with increased security for your home, it allows the pets to remain in their own surroundings, with the care and company of pet-loving people - and it costs you nothing!

Of course, we're talking here about engaging the services of a house sitter. Someone you can trust to keep your house occupied, keep the lawns and garden trim, water your plants, attend to any emergencies, take messages, collect the mail, pick up any junk mail and newspapers - and perhaps most importantly of all, take great care of your fourlegged friends.

Now you may be thinking, how can I be sure a sitter will do what they promise to do? Can I really trust my treasured pet to a stranger? It's a fair question, and the answer is this.

Firstly, make sure your sitter comes from a listing company that is reputable, ethical and concentrates on specific locations eg. housesittersamerica.com deals with the USA market, aussiehousesitters.com.au is dedicated to the Australia and New Zealand market etc. While companies cannot vet or guarantee their sitters, good ones very quickly look into any complaints, and if they're borne out, remove the sitter from their list. In practice, this is a rare occurrence.

Secondly, the house sitting equation depends entirely on mutual respect and trust between owner and sitter. You should be able to tell from your conversations with the sitter whether they're the right sort of person. Sometimes an owner will invite the sitter to visit before the sit, to meet them and weigh them up.

Furthermore, any sitter with even a modicum of experience will compile a list of referees - home owners they've sat for, not their uncle or first grade schoolteacher - whom you can contact and speak to before you engage their services.

That way, you can be sure you're dealing with an ethical, trustworthy person, and someone who will take very good care of your pet. Leaving you to enjoy your trip worry-free!

• Improved Home Security

Insurance companies are not renowned as philanthropists. If they see any added risk, they're very quick to exclude a particular situation, decline cover altogether, or charge a loaded premium.

This is exactly the case when homeowners leave their home unoccupied, especially for extended periods of time. And there's a good reason for this. Insurers have found that the risk of break-ins, burglaries and property damage through robbery and vandalism increases exponentially when owners are away.

Incidentally, an insurance policy is a contract, and for it to be binding on the insurer, the insured party must disclose any material changes in conditions. Leaving your house empty for 30 days or more would certainly fall into this area. Without notification, and acceptance of the risk, you could find yourself uninsured!

While some locations are worse than others, the break-in and vandalism situation has deteriorated all over in the last two or three decades - in fact, even in just the last five years.

Check with your local police, security company and insurance adviser, and they'll undoubtedly confirm this. Therefore it's very advisable NOT to leave your home empty for any length of time.

This is despite deadlocks - have you seen how easily they can be broken open with the right tool, and just a couple of taps with a piece of wood? - despite window locks, and despite alarm systems. (Though all of these things are of some value, and may save on your insurance premium.)

Sure you can have a friend or neighbor keep an eye on your place, remove newspapers, letters and junk mail, and even open up occasionally (if they have a key).

But if you want maximum protection, and to retain full cover, there's just no substitute for having somebody live in your home for as long as you're going to be away. There's absolutely no doubt about this. The first person you think of to ask may be a relation or friend. But do you really want people you know well nosing around your papers and things? And what if something unfortunate happened - like an expensive Lladró piece getting chipped? How would you both feel?

Besides, do you honestly want to impose on your friend to mow your lawn on their weekend, collect your mail and pick up the junk mail every couple of days, water your plants (indoor and out) - when all the time there are house sitters available who WANT to care for your home for free!

And here's something else to consider: God forbid it should happen, but how would the two of you feel if anything happened to your treasured pet while you were away?

Just as it's usually not a good idea to lend money to family members and friends, neither is it the best practice to ask someone you know well to move into your house while you're away.

The simple fact is that it's always easier when you're dealing with a person at arms' length. And while you can certainly expect a friendly relationship to develop between you and your sitter, they are, in essence, working for you. In return for rent-free accommodation, they agree to carry out certain tasks, take care of your home, and leave your house and garden in the same condition in which they found them. It's much easier to resolve any unfortunate incidents with an arms-length person, than with someone you're emotionally attached to.

On the other hand, imagine that you left your house empty - even for, say, three weeks. Now suppose in that time there's a blackout, and some of your electrical items need to be restarted, or even reset. For example, perhaps your TV needs to be switched on within a certain period, so it can save its own settings. Otherwise all the settings will be lost, and you may even need a technician to come and reset everything.

Or your freezer may not restart automatically, and you arrive home to a roomtemperature freezer full of furry, decomposing food! Or suppose a hail storm breaks a tile or a window, and it stays broken until you return. One smashed window may attract the local vandals, who generously decide to give you a few more. A broken tile left unfixed can result in your ceiling and wall needing major repairs and repainting.

And even if nothing untoward happened to your pets, suppose your bored or anxious dog began howling night and day, once his feeder/walker (whether a high-priced professional, or the neighbor's children) had spent their half-hour and left? Don't be surprised to find some very hot-under-the-collar neighbors lined up to tell you about it! Whereas with someone there, Rover would probably been perfectly content to drowse in the sun.

Obviously, we don't suggest all or any of these unpleasant things are bound to happen. But without a doubt, it's much less likely to end in tears if anything DOES happen and you've got a house sitter there to take care of things, keep your house and yard in good order and deal with any problems.

House Sitters America has registered house and pet sitters waiting to care for your needs.

• Pet sitters bring love to San Antonio

While you are stuck in traffic returning home to Alamo Heights, Boerne, or New Braunsfels, your pet is waiting eagerly for your arrival. He has been alone all day and is desperate for the human companionship that is central to his happiness. You may think pet daycare is expensive and it can be. However, there is a low-cost alternative that provides your pet personal attention while you are gone without breaking the bank - a pet sitter.

A pet sitter is someone who comes to see your pet once or twice a day and spends quality time with them. A pet sitter may take your pet for a walk, play games with them, or just provide some human contact and a chance to go outside. Professional pet sitters are trained in animal care and are bonded. As a less expensive alternative, you can set up a plan for pet sitting with a local high school or college student. Or, you can develop a swap agreement with a neighbor who visits your pet while you are away and you reciprocate for their pets. Swapping pet sitting services is free and everyone, including your pets, benefit.

Another advantage of having a pet sitter or house-sitter visiting your home daily is home security. We all know that the crime rate is increasing in San Antonio and even in the quiet suburbs of Boerne and New Braunsfels. Criminals watch houses for predictable times when on one is home to do their dirty deeds uninterrupted. Having a pet sitter or house sitter stopping by will make your home an unattractive target for them.

How else can a pet sitter or house sitter help? If you are out of town for a long weekend or a vacation, your pet sitter can pick up your newspapers, mail and delivered packages so that your absence is not advertised. A pet sitter can also clean up pet materials like litter boxes and take empty pet food containers to the trash. A professional pet sitter may offer services that include transporting your pet to the groomer and they will ensure your pet's health and safety by taking them to a vet in an emergency.

Using a pet sitter in your San Antonio area home will offer you enhanced security and your pet will receive the personal attention of a caring person while you are away. There are many qualified professional pet sitters in your area or you can save money by making informal arrangements with neighbors or local students. However you arrange your pet sitting, you and your pet will be happier and safer.

• Dallas-area resident rewards pet sitter for saving family cat

When we planned our summer vacation, providing care to our four animals while we were gone was a primary consideration. We knew that, although our dogs might tolerate a stay in a kennel, the cats would be miserable. So we contracted with a friend's son to provide pet sitting services. Our house is just outside Dallas, so the young man commuted from Plano to Lewisville every day. Besides saving us money on kennel costs, the pet sitter may have saved our cat's life.

Before we left, we met with Kevin to introduce him to the animals and to show him where food, water, toys, and leashes were kept. Kevin was a naturally good pet sitter. He introduced himself to each animal and treated them like the special creatures that they are. Fortunately for our cat, Cheddar, we also gave Kevin a Pet Care Veterinary Release form.

As part of his duties while petsitting, Kevin was to call us frequently to let us know how things were going. As we traveled south through Dallas, Lancaster and Red Oak, Texas, Kevin called. Cheddar, our orange tabby, had gotten into a fight with a neighborhood cat. Kevin immediately took him to the vet to have his cuts cleaned and to get a few stitches. By taking such quick action, our pet sitter had ensured that Cheddar would not develop a serious infection which seems to be the natural byproduct of a cat bite.

Because we had a pet sitter, Cheddar was able to recuperate at home instead of spending a more traumatic and lonely time at the vet's clinic. Kevin even volunteered to stay overnight to provide company and medication for Cheddar. That is the kind of personalized service you get from using a pet sitter. We were so relieved and grateful.

I know that money is only one way to show appreciate and gratitude, but I hope that Kevin will be able to use our small contribution for his college fund. Without the care and intervention of our pet sitter, we might have returned to find a very sick kitty. I will never travel again without hiring a house & pet sitter to care for our pet family.