As a house sitter, your last day on a property is just as important (if not more so) than your first day. Absolutely, first impressions matter — but final impressions endure. A successful handover of the house (and pets) back to the homeowners is the quiet, often underestimated, finale of any house sit. And it’s…
When House Sitters Get Rejected
When applying for house sits, rejection is going to be an unavoidable part of the house sitting lifestyle. For every successful application, there will be several others that won’t go your way — especially if you’re competing with dozens of other sitters for the same appealing property. Even with all my 20 odd years of…
Connecting With The Local Community Online
Expanding from my previous post on how Kiwi house sitters can build and cement good relations with the immediate neighbours, this one will look at the wider community, the sitter’s role in it, and how they can tap into it to their advantage. As I’ve previously stated, house sitting comes with more than just the…
The Ten Commandments Of House Sitting
House sitting is a privileged position of trust. When someone invites you to live in their home to take care of their property, possessions, and pets while they’re away, they’re placing a huge amount of trust in your reliability, respect, and judgment. The last thing you want to do is to let them down. When…
Questions About The Pets
House sitting in New Zealand come with plenty of perks and interesting aspects, but (as I keep saying) they also come with a lot of responsibility. When you add pets into the mix, things get even more complicated. As a Kiwi house sitter, you will have tasks to perform each day, notes to remember, and…
Lawn And Order
When most NZ house sitters think of house sitting, they probably imagine feeding a few pets, collecting the mail, keeping the house clean and tidy, watering a few pot plants, or walking the dog. But there’s another important aspect that sometimes gets forgotten – keeping the lawns mowed and the section tidy. It won’t matter…
German Shorthaired Pointers
If you’re an experienced New Zealand house sitter and you like doggies, chances are you’ve already encountered a wide range of canine breeds, and these may have included German Shorthaired Pointers (GSPs). I seem to come across them quite often on my house sitting jobs. In just the past six months I’ve looked after two…
Don’t Be… Thunderstruck
When it comes to house sitting jobs in New Zealand thunderstorms can pose a few challenges. Unfortunately however, this aspect of looking after somebody’s home and pets is often overlooked by many Kiwi house sitters, and it can catch them off guard when the climatic chaos arrives to spook the homeowner’s animals and damage (if…
Who Pays For The Power?
When homeowners invite house sitters to live on their properties — whether it be for a few days or even several months — clarity around expectations is key. One of the most common points of confusion that can arise between New Zealand house sitters and homeowners is who should pay for the utilities for the…
Matching Your Experience To Each Sit
House sitting offers unique opportunities to explore new places, interact with a menagerie of pets, and help homeowners enjoy their time away with peace of mind. However, it is advised that New Zealand house sitters only apply for sits that align with their skills and experience. We all know the saying ‘don’t run before you…