Is House Sitting a Good Idea for your Holiday?
The whole concept and idea of a house sitter is that someone will move to your house to live in it for the time that you will be out on a holiday. This approach is one of the favorite of most homeowners since it will make it evident for potential robbers that there is not only life but also activity in the house that they intend to rob.
However, this might not be such a good idea especially when you consider it is a rare occurrence you happen to hire as house sitter someone you are comfortable with and who you can trust completely. Such people are usually close friends and relatives who agree to go over and “check” the house, not live in it for the duration of your trip.
This leaves most homeowners, who insist on having someone residing in their homes while they travel to hire strangers and employees of “house-sitting agencies” who offer them to keep a vigilant close eye on their properties and valuables.
It does not matter if you are hiring a person from a reputable business to take care of the house sitting during the time that you will be away or if you get a close friend or a family member to do this job. You should still have some considerations and take the proper precautions before accepting or leaving your home in the hands of someone other than you.
- Do not leave your valuables exposed:
Regardless if you are asking someone you trust completely to take care of your home for you, leaving your valuables exposed is an invitation for an accident or worse. Leaving your valuables protected refers to putting under lock and key those pieces of jewelry that are expensive or that are an invitation to be stolen such as diamonds, gold, other valuable metals and precious stones.
The best way to do this is to take them to the bank and store them in a safe deposit box. In the case of those valuables that are momentums more than anything else, keeping them safely stored away from accidents and other events is the right thing to do and generally all that is required.
– Keep contact:
Staying in touch with the person that will be taking care of your home is definitely something that you need to make sure that you do effectively.
– Insure your house:
Disaster happens when you least expect it and as such you need to foresee as much as possible so that you will not see yourself loosing everything without the chance of getting at least a starting point to rebuild your home.
Insurance of your home should consider and include the fact that you might be hiring or having someone who does not normally live in your house taking care of it during the time that you will be on a holiday.