Our First House Sit, trustedhousesitters.com, Valle de Abdalajís
Zagan the motorhome’s taking a very well-earned rest. He’s parked behind the locked gates of the villa we’re house sitting near the Andalucian town of Valle de Abdalajís, in the hills north of Málaga. This is our very first house sit, and as the idea of house sitting might appeal to some of you guys too, I figured I’d give you an idea what it’s all about, and over the coming weeks give a few updates on how we’re getting on.
Valle de Abdalajís
House sitting is a win-win situation based, to some degree, on trust. A home owner who wants or needs to be away for a period of time may not want their house to be left unoccupied, perhaps to ensure their pets are looked after, to help secure the property, to comply with insurance policy terms and so on. Travellers who’re happy to take care of pets, and keep the house in good order, can apply for house sits via websites like trustedhousesitters.com. ***Please note there are affiliate links on this page – so if you sign up via these links we get a small payment***. Typically the house sits involve no exchange of money – the traveller gets to live in the house for free, as long as they’re happy to take care of the house and pets for free. Not a bad deal!
Ju signed us up to trustedhousesitters.com about a month ago, for a yearly fee of £71.20 (she wangled a discount code from somewhere), and went through the process of completing a profile describing who we are, and why we’re suitable candidates for house sitting. She explained how we own properties in the UK, so know the basics about looking after houses. We’ve renovated a few kitchens and bathrooms, so have the associated practical skills for troubleshooting problems ourselves. In terms of pets we’ve had our King Charlies Cavalier Spaniel Charlie for 9 years now, and are comfortable dealing with foreign vets, walking dogs, feeding them and so on. She also gave a link to this blog so house owners could have a look at it and get an idea who we are and what we’re doing.
Walking the dogs on the road near the villa
Once our profile was created we asked old bosses, our letting management agent and friends to provide character references, and went through a security check to confirm we were who we said we were. Once that was done, Ju started to look for properties in Southern Spain, as she knew we’d be re-entering Spain in Algeciras. She applied for 3 or 4 house sits before coming up trumps with this one. The others didn’t work out with timings, or the fact we have our own dog or we need somewhere secure to park a 6m long motorhome.
Valle de Abdalajís. The town has a garage, two supermarkets, several tapas bars, a doctors, a pharmacy and a fair few churches
The owners of this villa were already out of the country when we applied for the sit, so they opted to interview us via Skype before we mutually decided if the house sit would work. They asked us a few questions about our experience (we had no direct house sitting experience, but have various relevant skills anyway), our dog (we were confident he’s get on with other dogs, he always has in the past), and whether we were happy with the dates (the house sit started the next day, and would last about 5 or 6 weeks). We chatted about the location of the house, any particular requirements of the dogs, what work was need to maintain the house (cleaning, weeding, looking after the swimming pool, keeping gates and doors locked) and a few other bits and bobs. At the end of the Skype call we decided it was a goer, and the owner arranged for their daughter to meet us at a nearby garage and do a hand-over in the villa.
I have my own pack of dogs! They all get on, and wander about easily on the plot, so they’re no trouble
And that was it! Both of us were a little nervous, as this wasn’t something we’d done before and, if I’m honest, it felt too good to be true. After a few months in Morocco we were ready for a rest, and were contemplating a month on a campsite somewhere, which would cost us a few hundred euros. Instead we’re in a 3 bedroom villa, although obviously we’re only using one of the bedrooms). We have a pool with a view down over the town and Mediterranean countryside, a bath (a big plus when you’ve only had showers for months), secure parking for our motorhome, satellite TV, WiFi, a kitchen (with a freezer packed full of the sausages we got at Morrisons in Gibraltar!), and a wood burner all to ourselves.
The owners emailed instructions on how to manage the pump and valves to clean the pool
We got together all the bits and bobs for the pool hoover, worked out where it plugged into the pool and got started!
Pool Boy!
Once we were in, we got to know the dogs, who are all very relaxed with Charlie and very friendly with us. I was keen to understand how to clean the pool, and went through the instructions the owner sent us, coupled with a few YouTube videos, to understand how the system worked, and then got out there and hoovered the pool and cleaned the cover. The house has an automated plant watering system, but some vegetables and flowers aren’t on the system so we’ve found them all and, once the sun goes down, we water them by hand. One of the dogs is old, so just needs company and letting out, and as the plot’s large he wanders about as he see fit, but doesn’t go for walks. The other two are active, and we’ve walked in the adjacent countryside with Charlie, tracking down the bins we need to take rubbish to (there is no house collection here in Spain). We’ve also started to do some weeding, and will do a few hours a week on the garden to keep it in good condition.
We’ve only been here a couple of days, but are starting to feel comfortable with the place. We’ve been in contact with the owners via email, WhatsApp and Skype, so they’re sure we’re OK with the house, dogs and pool. I’ve been out and washed the van, taking advantage of our own dedicated supply of water, a hosepipe and a ladder! We’ve listened to BBC Radio via the Internet, cooked some of those sausages, had a swim in the pool, watched some satellite TV, stared at a huge bird of prey soaring overhead, listened to the bands practising in the town for the upcoming holy week celebrations, run through a few lessons of our Michel Thomas Spanish Language course, and booked our place on the nearby Caminito del Rey.
How we’ll get on in the coming weeks remains to be seen, watch this space. So far, so good. We’re really pleased with the house sit. The villa is magnificent, as is the view from the patio area out over the olive trees and rock faces around us. The dogs are cool, and easy to take care of, and we’re able to leave them for a few hours so we can get out and about. The owners are helpful and we’ve got good lines of communication with them for any questions either way. Ju checked out what we’d be likely to pay to rent a villa like this in the area and the results were €60 to €100 a night. At the bottom end of the spectrum, five weeks would cost about €2000, so we’re very comfortable spending a few hours a week looking after the place!
If you fancy giving house sitting a go yourselves, have a look at the trustedhousesitters.com website – just click on the image below.
Cheers, Jay
This is fantastic — a true Win Win. I’ve read news stories on the topic, but it’s great to read a first-hand account. We’re looking into doing some slow travel soon, and housesitting seems like a great alternative to Airbnb and the like.
Cheers!
-PoF
Who are you and what have you done with Jason?
Ha, I’m the Real Jason Wayne! It’s been a long time coming fella, staying in one place a while started to look attractive months back, and coming back from 3 months full-on fun in Morocco was a perfect halt point. Looking forward to doing some gardening. And some rioja. And some tapas. And some sunshine. :-)
Well we seriously hope you enjoy your time, you too Julie . I bet you’ve got real ale stocked away from Gib, a full bath and heaps of free internet… Enjoy. Kindest Wayne.
Enjoy putting down roots for a short while. We’ve enjoyed our house sits and plan to do some when travelling to Spain & Portugal on our first long post-FIRE tour this winter: http://www.vanvoyage.co.uk/p/trusted-house-sitters.html
“Who are you and what have you done with Jason?”
Haha, classic with one hitch…..I’ve just spat a mouthful of tea everywhere !
Great read again and a very clever way of finding some unwinding space. Result and surprise surprise a local fiesta to look forward to. Enjoy.
GlorYa x
Haha (re comment above) but seriously it all sounds wonderful – have a fab time!
Well done the house sitting, sounds like another great way of getting involved with the community as well as enjoying the freedom that Motorhomes give you. You will enjoy the Caminito it is good fun. My cousin did it the year before they repaired it, he is a bit nuts 🥜 you will realise just how nuts when you do the walk. Enjoy the house sit and we look forward to reading more about your journey.
Cheers guys, I recall reading about David doing the walk and it got us interested. All the tickets were booked for most of the next month, but we found a couple of morning spots on a Spanish guided tour. Our Spanish will not be up to it but we’ll just enjoy the views. Right, I’m off for a bath! Cheers, happy travels, Jay
Hello Ju and Jay. Enjoying reading the blog as always. We’ve been traveling in our van since June 2015 and have found a good workaway volunteer place to base ourselves at in rural central portugal. Good set up with the host, she’s away for month long trips when we look after things and then when she’s back we go away and housesit. We tow the car so just leave the van at the workaway and take the car. Try to pick sits within a days drive and around a months stay. We’re in southern France for a month at the moment looking after a couple of labradores and some watering in the garden.
We find it’s another great way to explore new areas. It’s strange to be back in a building but things like long hot showers, not having to fill up with water is nice for a change.
We use Mind My House and in most cases have been contacted by the owners but also get a daily update of new sits available in our house sit area.
Weve met several sitters that literally move from one sit to another, if youbuild up good reviews you end up being in demand, but good to be able to pick what and where you want to go.
I’m sure you’ll enjoy the next few weeks and will be keen to do more.
Shawn and Emma
Our plan for when we retire in a few years time will be doing similar to you guys and travelling round Europe in our motorhome for part of the year, renting out our house to finance it and registering on trusted house and pet sitters to get accommodation in the UK when we come back to visit friends and family. We have friends currently in New Zealand doing a 3 month house sit – having a very relaxed time in a house by the coast, looking after the house, dog and garden.
A great way to set down some roots for a short time and kick back and relax after your Morroccan adventure….. plus you have scored with a beautiful location. Definitely a win-win.
We had to turn down our first potential house sit recently as the dates didn’t work out in the end as we have a trip home planned for my mum’s 80th birthday, but we will definitely be looking for more opportunities soon.
Wow! Great result.
Enjoy the luxury of a bath, proper bed and to top it all, a swimming pool!!
Yeah baby! And safe parking for Zagan, WiFi, Sat TV, a low fat chip cooker and soft water on tap! Woo hoo!