House Sitters - A Reasonable Vacation Expense

17 May, 2010

A friend of the family was putting together vacation plans a couple of months ago when I suggested to her she hire a house sitter to watch over her place while she was out of the country for two weeks. At first she balked. After all, a person's home is their private domain, and inviting someone in to essentially have the run of the house for a fortnight is even less appealing than it sounds. At least on first blush.

We spoke for a while about this, and after that first conversation she said she'd think about it. I'd ask her about it every so often, just to gauge where she was in the process. Mostly, she wasn't anywhere in the process; she'd already decided against it. As soon as I figured that out, I saw an opportunity for a different tactic.

I asked her what she was going to do about her mail delivery. She said she'd probably just have the post office hold it for her, but wasn't totally decided yet. Actually, that's a smart idea if you're going to be away for awhile. The post office will gladly halt deliver service on the day you specify, and restart the service when you return. I did tell her, however, that if she had a house sitter that would be one less thing that could go wrong.

I asked about her yard. Who was going to do the yard work. It was a precarious time of year when she went on vacation, and over two weeks she might have needed the lawn mowed or the driveway and sidewalks shoveled. She hadn't really considered her yard, which means I finally had her thinking about a house sitter.

I asked what her plans were regarding lights, both inside and out. She no sooner had said she was just going to leave the place dark when she realized how awful that really sounds. It would only take a couple of days of a burglar scoping out her house to realize no one was at home, and that could prove very costly for her. She's got some very nice furnishings in her house, some exceedingly valuable, which no burglar would pass up.

We talked a while longer, and I still wasn't certain which way she was leaning. Finally she asked me who might be a good house sitter and I told her she already knew the perfect person: her good friend Steve, who happens to be my younger brother. He lives with roommates, so he wouldn't be leaving a place vacant while he sat at her place. She warmed to the idea quickly.

In the end she did use Steve to house sit while she was in Mexico for two weeks, and it really only cost her some food she bought ahead of time and a couple of Pay Per View movies that were totally part of the deal.

It's not always practical or even possible to have someone sit in your house while you're away on vacation, but a house sitter in addition to your monitored home security system is a very effective way to protect your house and belongings while you're away.