I have read about home exchanges for many years. Very few people are looking to trade homes with my Iowa location, so home exchange is really not an option for my vacation plans.
For many homeowners who desire a vacation, pet care is an issue, which makes house sitting attractive for the homeowner. House sitting does not require reciprocation; it is one way, which makes it attractive for those seeking a house for a short period of time. If hobby farming or an unusual animal is something you have thought about, house sitting might be one way to get a trial run. In a recent house sitter search, I found a few homeowners who sought only house sitting, no pet care required. I also found several situations where more than a month of house sitting was requested.
Local mom Heather has experience with Housecarers and Caretaker Gazette. She and her family are currently in the southwest U.S. and told me the following:
“We are having wonderful experiences with the housesitting/petsitting we have found through this website [housecarers.com]. There is another good source of alternative housing people can use and it is through the Caretaker Gazette. Both sources are filled with lots of interesting housing options, some with income. Housecarers.com costs about $50 a year to be able to fully use and the Caretaker Gazette is around $30 a year and is mostly housing with income.” She continues, “There are some really interesting property caretaking ads in the Gazette. Some are at small resorts on islands. There are housesitting jobs in Scotland as well. We are loving housesitting!”
Housecarers allows you to search without paying membership. I did a recent search and found a few situations where the housesitter would need to pay utilities. Caretaker Gazette did not allow searches unless the membership fee was paid. It listed samples, including success stories, to give a general idea of the type of situation available. I felt that seeing current want ads at Housecarers helped sell membership, while not seeing current want ads deterred me from buying a Caretaker Gazette. For other lodging considerations, be sure to read Planning summer vacation lodging.
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