Active, non-smoking, retired couple. Dependable, trustworthy, & good at communication

About this sitter

We are a retired couple – active, healthy, non-smoking and financially secure. We are exploring the world through house sitting and our own travels.

One of the great joys of house sitting is getting to know and love many different pets. Although we have been life-long dog and cat owners, we currently get our canine and feline fixes from the dogs and cats we house sit. In the past, Jim trained border collies for agility trials and Barbara was a foster mother for kittens. So, whether we are taking your dog(s) for walks or cuddling with your cats, we enjoy it all!

Our backgrounds make us well-suited for housesitting. Jim had a 29-year career at Boeing and is very reliable, handy with tools and excels at problem solving. Barbara’s work was in residential building construction (hands-on and project management) and is organized, practical and cares greatly about homes. We are both conscientious, organized and practical. Not to mention, tidy and neat.

Since we are long-term homeowners, we appreciate your concerns about safety, maintenance and upkeep of your home and property. We would enjoy working in the yard, garden or on any needed projects around your house. In addition, we have also had house sitters in our home. So, we understand the trust, dependability, and communication you are expecting and will receive from us.

Please take a look at our references.
We would love to email, talk or video chat with you.

Why they want to house sit

We are old enough to have financial security, and young enough to still want new experiences and adventures. Housesitting lets us experience different lifestyles in a small but personal way – whether it is a London flat or New Zealand acreage with gardens and livestock. We feel fortunate to be in excellent health at our ages and this makes us want to stay active, explore and keep learning. Housesitting allows us to do all three while helping others and their pets and animals. And when we are in someone’s home, we get to feel the responsibility and domesticity that we are accustomed to. Oh, yeah, we get to walk the dogs and cuddle the cats!

Their experience

Our housesitting experience started in August of 2016. Our house sits have taken us from an urban flat in London, to acreage in New Zealand with prolific gardens, to helping renovate a rental property in rural France, and others. We enjoy exploring the different lifestyles in all of our house sits.

Beyond the housesits, we have acquired a great deal of experience in home ownership and maintenance. We have owned homes and rental properties and understand the effort needed to keep a house in good shape, clean and safe. Having had house sitters in our home, we also remember the trepidation we had before taking on our first house sitter.

Having been life-long dog and cat owners, we know what it is like to love a pet. We also know that animals sense when they are loved and well-cared for. And we are very aware that animals do not clean up after themselves and those chores are our trade for receiving their affection and cuddles. It is totally worth it.

What can they bring to the assignment

We bring many traits and experiences to our house sits:

* Most importantly, we bring ourselves - honest, smart, conscientious, handy, kind, and trustworthy. Not to mention tidy, caring and hard working.
* We bring a huge amount of experience in home ownership - the pride of owning a home, as well as knowing how to fix a leaking faucet, add chlorine to the pool, or when to just call the professional.
* We bring our love of animals and the delight we receive when they sense that we will care for them as well as their "parents" do.