I have a friend who is house sitting this week. She's staying at the house to care for the elderly dog. Want me to see what's she's charging?

Yes, please do! Curious!

That would be good to know!

Did you ever find out about the house-sitting fee Dotsie?

Now and then when I see huge and beautiful empty homes in our community, which includes a lot of second homes, since we live in an area where many people come to vacation, I imagine what it might be like to serve as a caretaker for one of these beauties.

If, God forbid, I should ever find myself homeless, I think I would try to find a job as a caretaker for one of these fabulous homes.

Seems like a perfect opportunity: I could live - rent and tax-free -- in a huge and beautiful home... and work from home on my computer... And maybe even be paid a stipend by the homeowner in the process!

Ahh! I doubt Steve would think this was a good concept, so it will probably never be more than a fantasy. But your house-sitting story got me to thinking about that, Dotsie!

Anne

Theres is a woman in the resort park I live in Anne and she housesits for people when they leave here in the summer to avoid the heat or for very brief stays when they leave their pets behind. Her rates are $10.00 per day to stop in twice daily to let the pet out and/or feed them. If for any reason she keeps the pet in her home rates are still the same.

She charges $35.00 per week just to turn on lights when people are gone and check everything. She says she will stop in everyday and sometimes leavs the radio on for some noise in the house. She will water plants sometimes outside but everyone here pretty much has desert motiff, pea gravel.

She is so busy you need to call in advance at least a month to reserve her services.

She is more reasonable with her rates because all her customers live here in the same resort as she does and it takes little gas to drive there. She can even walk or ride her bike.

We have just started traveling in retirement. For the first time we'll be gone for a full month in the late fall. A retired couple who moved away from the area and are old friends of ours, have agreed to come house-sit while we're gone. They regret moving away and to them it's a fabulous free vacation!

We live in the San Francisco Bay Area so instead of paying $50/day on a sublet, or $175/day for a hotel, they can live in our fully remodeled 2bd cottage with hillside views, gourmet kitchen, lavish cottage gardens and double patios, with easy access to fabulous restaurants, wineries, museums, and hiking, in every direction of the compass. We're also leaving one of our cars but they'll probably bring their own. Still, it's there if they want to use it.

We'll take them out for an upscale dinner when we come back home. They're foodies like us, and we love going out together!

We travel a lot and always have someone looking after our house, our insurance requires that someone check the house every 2-3 days. We've had both live-in and live-out house-sitters, both work well for us. The best one was when hubby was working in Bermuda for 6 months and I joined him for 3. We were looking all over for someone reliable to live in or check our apartment. Then I found out that one of my best friends had decided to leave her marriage and needed a place to stay for awhile, so it worked out beautifully (sorry, that sounds rather strange, doesn't it...it was sadly exactly what she needed and it worked well for us too). She had a lovely quiet space for herself and we had the perfect apartment sitter.

We've never had to pay anyone...it's always ended up being a mutually-beneficial setup, usually someone needing a place to stay for awhile or wanting a "free vacation". They're welcome to eat anything, use anything, as long as the place is clean and tidy when we get back and everything's back where it was when we left, we don't care. We've only ever had one problem, and it was minor.

we've often talked about house-swapping, but it's really hard to know who you're dealing with, isn't it. I'd gladly house-swap with many of you women here, but don't know too many other people I would take that risk with.