Meet the couples living in Sydney near rent free by house-sitting for strangers with pets
SHREWD couples have found a way to live in desirable suburbs without paying big rents. You’ll never believe how they’re doing it.
A MEASLY $4: that’s all Natalie Buckley and Madison Cartwright pay in rental costs each month to live in Sydney’s inner city and they’re not alone.
A growing number of shrewd couples have found a way to sidestep Sydney’s sky high rents and live almost rent and bill free by house-sitting for strangers with pets.
House-sitting has allowed these couples to save thousands of dollars and live in suburbs they wouldn’t normally be able to afford and some have found it so rewarding that they now house sit on a permanent basis.
Ms Buckley and Mr Cartwright have been house-sitting since late last year and in just a few months have saved $7000, which they are putting towards a home deposit.
“We moved out of the apartment we’d been renting for years and no longer have a permanent address. We just move from house to house, lining up our next house-sitting job as the last one ends,” Ms Buckley said.
“It’s not paid work. The owners expect you to take care of their pets and in return you can stay at their home for free while they are away a few weeks or months.”
The couple has back to back house-sitting jobs lined up until June, by which time they expect to be ready to buy a house of their own.
Couples who have been house-sitting for longer have saved substantially more.
Dave and Ester Muller stayed in strangers’ houses for 18 months, saving roughly $25,000 in rent and $2000 in bills.
The couple now rent a property in Brookvale, but say they’ll resume house-sitting soon.
“We’ll be house-sitting over our next holiday,” Ms Muller said.
Matthew Luxford and Ayjan Mustafa are house-sitting permanently to help save for a home deposit and wedding and estimate they’ve saved $13,000 in the six months they’ve been doing it continuously.
Mr Luxford also saved thousands of dollars in commuting costs over the two years prior by taking breaks away from his Central Coast home to house sit.
“I lived in the Central Coast, but worked in Sydney so I was probably saving $200 a week in travel costs. I spent most of each year house-sitting in Sydney so it added up to a lot of savings.”
He added that he started house-sitting through Mindahome.com.au, which charges $49 a year in fees, or roughly $4 a month, to match registered house sitters with homeowners who are going away and usually want their pets looked after.
After doing a handful of jobs, he developed a network of his own and now homeowners come directly to him whenever they go on extended trips.
Mindahome founder Sue Coombs said she started her website after discovering how expensive it was for holidaying homeowners to rent out kennels for their dogs.
“It’s a great option for homeowners to also save money and we’ve seen all kinds of pets need looking after, including snakes, rats and a worm farm,” she said.