Making money while sitting
A growing number of Australians are using their initiative and putting aside a fortune, just by house sitting for holiday makers who want someone to look after their home.
SAVINGS are hard to come by, but a growing number of Australians are using initiative and putting aside a fortune, just by sitting around.
Online companies match wouldbe house sitters with holidaymakers who want someone to look after home and pets.
The house sitters live rent free, while homeowners save on pet sitting costs and enjoy peace of mind.
Sites include australianhouse sitter. com.au, housesitters.com.au and mindahome.com.au.
Mindahome statistics revealed 33 per cent of sitters age 18 to 34 are house sitting to save money for their own home deposit. Founder Sue Coombs said her site had 7000 registered house sitters and 500-800 available homes at any time.
“Around 99 per cent of the jobs include looking after pets,” Ms Coombs said. “Pets today are part of the family and people don’t want to put them in kennels.”
Ms Coombs said that Mindahome acts as an introduction service.
“House sitters register and pay $49 a year and we are the meeting point,” she said. “We encourage people to check references, ring them up and meet them if they can.”
Many young house sitters will go from job to job to reach their goals.
Average job lengths are two to six weeks, but Ms Coombs said they can be as short as a weekend, or more than a year in length.
Mimi Ho and Kurt Donnelly returned from two years of travel and began house sitting in January. The couple are currently looking after a house, three dogs and a cat and have bookings through to September.
“We would love to save around $50,000 to one day use as a home deposit,” Ms Ho said. “It has been great saving money so far .”
Mr Donnelly is an online currency trader and Ms Ho an IT consultant, meaning they can work from anywhere.