How to Travel All Over the World Rent Free
Have you ever dreamed of spending rent-free vacation time in beautiful places just about anywhere in the world?
If you didn’t know that such thing was possible, hang on, and I will tell you all about it.
I’ve been traveling all over Europe rent free since May 2015. Yes, almost a year, and I’m not ready to get back to the United States quite yet, because whether I’m traveling to Scotland, the UK, Spain, Italy or France my stays are rent free.
How do I do it?
I’m traveling while housesitting, which is becoming more and more popular in countries such as the UK, the US, Canada, France, Spain and Australia especially, but you can find housesitting opportunities in many more countries.
Let me tell you how you can do that too…
What is House-sitting?
I love to say that house-sitting is being a tourist without looking like one, and if you’re like me, that’s a cool plus.
People who own properties and pets often need someone to take care of them while they’re away on vacation or business trips. So, they need someone who would be willing to live in their house for free in exchange for that service.
Most pets include dogs and cats, but can at time extend to other animals. In any case, no surprise here, you will always know what type of pet you’ll be caring for, and how many. Then it’s up to you to take the offer or not. My word of advice here is to always pick animals you feel comfortable with.
In my house-sitting ventures so far, I’ve taken care of two dogs, thirteen cats, two donkeys and a sheep, all together over the year. But the average house will have two cats and a dog, or two dogs and a cat.
I’ve house sat for a whole month with just a single kitty while enjoying a beautiful apartment near Manchester.
Some opportunities may also require some gardening and basic housekeeping. Basically, the goal is to leave the house in the same shape you found it, but if you leave it in even a better shape then you’ve found it, like I usually do, you’ll get praises for it along with the best referrals. At least, that’s been my experience.
Whatever the requirements of the homeowner, it’s pretty laid back and well worth the free stay. Also, keep in mind that not only you won’t pay rent, but utilities and Wi-Fi are also free. Some homeowners may require you to pay some of the utility bills if your consummation goes above and beyond what’s expected, but for the most part, this is very rare. The vast majority won’t ask for anything. So just look for those.
House sitting offers can go from a few days to a few months. My present house-sitting was a 10-month offer, and I liked it so much, that I decided to go for another 8 to 10 months since the offer was still open.
This site is the best one if you want to find a house to sit for the summer.
Who can house-sit?
Anyone who’s willing and able-bodied.
I know house sitters who are in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties and sixties. Some are single, some are married and some are even married with children.
While some homeowners prefer single people, some actually do prefer couples, and some do accept families with children as well.
You will have no problem finding house-sitting opportunities no matter what your age, as long as you can show the homeowner that you have the qualities they’re looking for.
Senior citizens seem to be doing pretty well finding house-sitting opportunities as well. So your age and family situation shouldn’t be an obstacle.
How to Find House-Sitting Opportunities
There are several trusted sites where you can register with a small annual fee that will give you access to more house-sitting opportunities than you will need.
To save you some time, I’m going to give you the two best ones, which are:
#1 http://trustedhousesitters.com
I am registered with both of them, and while all my house-sitting opportunities came from the first one, the second is not bad either.
However, if you I had to pick only one, I would go with TrustedHouseSitters, because that where I got all my opportunities so far.
What do you Need to Get Started?
1- References
The first thing you need to do before you register to a house-sitting site is to ask a handful of people whom you have worked for, rented from, rendered service to, or even friends if they would be willing to give you a positive reference. These will be very valuable before you can get house-sitting references, but don’t worry both reference kinds are rather easy to get.
It would be great if you could come up with 5 or 6 references to start with.
2- Police Check
Then you will need to go online and request a police check (criminal records), which is an official document that will show that you have not committed any crime in the city/state where you live.
Don’t sweat it, it’s very easy to get one.
You can get such certification at a nominal to no cost, but keep in mind that in some countries you may have to wait a few weeks for it to arrive, so do this as early as you can. I’ve got mine in a few minutes by going directly to the sheriff’s office of my town in North Carolina, but you need to check the rules for your own state and country.
Here are the sites where you can learn everything you need to know about getting your police check certification for the following countries:
For US Citizens
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/abroad/legal-matters/criminal-record-check.html
For UK Citizens
http://www.disclosurescotland.co.uk/basicdisclosureonline/index.htm
For Canadian Citizens
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cr-cj/fing-empr2-eng.htm
For Australian Citizens
http://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/police-checks/national-police-checks.aspx
For New Zealand citizens
http://www.justice.govt.nz/services/criminal-records
For Irish Citizens
http://www.garda.ie/Controller.aspx?Page=2742&Lang=1
For South African Citizens
http://www.saps.gov.za/services/applying_clearence_certificate.php
How to Create your Profile
Homeowners prefer none smokers, so if you do smoke, I’m not going to lie to you, it will be more difficult for you to find what you’re looking for, but if you are a non-smoker you should specify it in your profile.
There is also a section that will ask for your birth date so your age will show on your profile. However, this is when being older will not be a problem at all, since there is a good chance that some folks will tend to trust older house sitters even better.
In your profile letter, you should talk about your character, your experience with animals, and any positive qualities you can bring to the table.
If you are a professional like me, be sure to mention it, that’s a plus for you.
Make sure you have 2–5 pictures of you with animals for your profile as well. If you could make a short introduction video you will be able to embed the video code in your profile as well, which is a big plus to find opportunities.
When writing your profile or making a video, always make sure you get to the point quickly. People have a short attention span and they are busy. Another advantage of getting to the point quickly is that you won’t be boring.
Once you’re all set it’s time to browse for houses.
How to Get Results Fast
The best and easiest way to find house sitting opportunities fast is to hop onto the site daily as early as you can, and send as many requests as you can.
However, do not send a request unless you have read all the requirements, dates, and location of the place, of course. Once you feel that you like what you see, send a quick yet personalized email to the homeowner through the site, and wait for them to reply to you.
Don’t worry if some don’t reply, some people won’t, but review as many opportunities as you can and send requests away.
The main reasons I was always able to find opportunities rather quickly were because I always read the entire letter from the homeowner, I sent as many requests as possible daily, and I made sure I sent a personalized email so the homeowner knew I understood exactly what they were looking for.
My first positive reply was from Scotland. The homeowner told me; I chose you right away because I could feel that you liked cats and understood how hard it was for me to leave them behind for two weeks. She also added that the other replies she got simply said something like, “yes, I can house-sit for you”.
Anyone can say, I can house-sit, but that’s not what the homeowner wants to hear. They want to know why they should choose you over someone else.
The rule of thumb to get positive feedback is to be friendly, polite, and able to show that you’re a perfect fit. I got all my house-sitting dream opportunities on the first call. People will know if you’re genuine or not.
In order for them to meet you besides through email, at some point they will want to speak to you either on Skype or over the phone. Just be yourself and show them that you’re a good fit for what they’re looking for and you’ll be a winner.
