Property Caretaking: How To Get The Job & Make The Most Of It

From farms to estates to retreats and inns and even yachts, caretakers and house-sitters live and work on a wide variety of properties all over the world. Some positions come with lots of perks and salaries and benefits too, while others are merely an exchange of work for housing. Some require full-time hours and some only a few hours a week.

Property caretaking can encompass tasks like landscaping, gardening, building and equipment maintenance and repair, even milking cows. Every job is unique and so are the people you'll work for. Sometimes the owners are present, oftentimes not.

Here are a few (old) sample ads from the Caretaker Gazette, the publication we used to find our own property caretaking jobs:

Help Wanted!

ALASKA
CARETAKER NEEDED late September to May on a self-sufficient Aleutian homestead. Free housing and stipend. Orcas, eiders, sea otters, caribou, hydroelectric power, Internet, loom, hot tub. Writers and naturalists have prospered here.

HAWAII
CARETAKER(S) NEEDED. Responsible, competent single man or couple, with one child OK, with strong body and alternative-minded. Must be enthusiastic about rustic jungle life, experience with off-grid living and solar equipment. No tobacco or alcohol users please. Maintenance of 2%uFFFD acre homestead in a beautiful coastal jungle area in an eclectic neighborhood on the Big Island. Care for orchards, garden, and cats. Small but comfortable cabin provided.

NEW MEXICO
HELP WANTED year-round to caretake home, property, and pets (one dog, six cats). 37 acre property half way between Santa Fe and Taos, bordered by the Rio Grande. Two bedroom, recently remodeled home, (unfurnished) plus utilities offered, as well as negotiated salary.

JAMAICA
YOU ARE INVITED TO SHARE in the benefits of our growing nature retreat, organic farm and alternative teaching center. Our ten-acre primitive retreat is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. Home of a developing healing arts center, we are only 2000' from the Caribbean Sea, safe, secure, and private. The farm has a running river and Artesian springs. We grow almost every tropical fruit and vegetable imaginable. We are registered with environmental groups and agencies worldwide as a bird and wildlife sanctuary. Live rent-free in exchange for light maintenance work such as weeding, raking, gardening, maintenance of fences and buildings, shopping for supplies, rototilling and weed-eating work. Applicants should be in good health, handy, and resourceful with a common sense understanding of the hazards of nature.

• Rent-free, mortgage-free housing is the obvious one, and free utilities often--usually--go along with that.
  
  
• Caretaking can allow couples and families to spend more time together.
  
  
• Caretakers and housesitters are often afforded significant amounts of free time to pursue other interests, which makes these great situations for artists, writers and photographers, among others.
  
  
• Some caretaking positions, particularly those that require only a minimal number of hours per week, allow for the caretakers to work off-property as well. That salary, combined with the free housing and other perks the caretaking position may include, can really help one become financially fit and even debt-free. Of course, you could also do other work at home and online for additional income.
  
  
• Many caretaking positions offer a stipend or salary along with the free housing. There are often other perks as well, such as space to garden, use of tools and equipment, and sometimes use of a vehicle.
  
  
• Caretaking and housesitting can give you the chance to live for extended periods in all sorts of interesting places around the world, without having to buy or rent property there or spend money on lodging.

Before we learned of the Caretaker Gazette, Steve and I had decided we wanted to live on a small, working farm. So we put our own "situation wanted" ad in an organic farming newsletter and soon began receiving correspondence from around the eastern U.S., with offers of all kinds. One response came from a Buddhist retreat, while another was from an off-grid homestead tucked in the mountains of Vermont.

Where we ended up, though, was on Howland Homestead Farm in South Kent, Connecticut. There, the owners raised rare-breed, grass-fed cows for both meat and milk, chickens, pigs and eventually sheep, and grew their own fruits and vegetables. Steve and I were offered an upstairs apartment in their historic farmhouse, over an acre of land for our own garden, a share of the farm's products, and use of equipment.

This first arrangement wasn't exactly caretaking, because we did pay a reduced rent. At the same time, though, we were paid for doing work on the farm, made some income from selling our produce at the farmers market and a self-serve stand, and received meat, milk and eggs. We also had time to work off the property if we chose to.

After about a year and half at Howland Homestead, however, we'd discovered the Gazette and found out what kinds of caretaking jobs were out there and decided to move on. After meeting and interviewing with several property owners in Vermont, Maine and Connecticut, Steve and I settled on a caretaking situation in Confluence, Pennsylania in the rural southwestern part of the state.

RamCat Farm was more of a "gentleman's farm," because it really didn't produce any income for the owners. (Quite the opposite!) On the farm were horses and a pony, angora goats--which did require sheering--lots of rescued dogs and cats, and eventually, once Steve and I built the chicken house (pictured right), a dozen hens and one very happy rooster. The owners, a doctor and his wife, lived about two hours north in the city of Pittsbugh and would come to the farm for a day or two at a time, roughly once a week, while Steve and I lived there full-time.

In exchange for free housing in our own spacious apartment above the garage, free utilities, all the garden space we wanted, use of a truck and any and all equipment and tools on the property, a monthly salary, and health insurance, Steve and I cared for the animals, made hay, mowed the grass (a lot of it!), did building and equipment maintenance (and hired out whatever we couldn't do), and overall kept an eye on the property--about 180 acres of it. We didn't have a set number of working hours; we just did what needed doing. Otherwise, our time was our own.

During our years at RamCat Farm, Steve did a lot of art--particularly artistic metalwork (like the branch-patterned railing pictured left), which provided extra income--and worked as a river guide on the Youghiogheny. Our caretaking position also allowed me the time to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail for six months. And I had the chance to write two novels. Caretaking gave us both the opportunity to pursue other interests, both individually and as a couple, and to enjoy more time together.

We stayed on RamCat Farm for more than five years, until the doctor/owner retired, and he and his wife made the transition from their city home to the farm. We could have stayed on, but Steve and I decided to move back to Arizona, where we took another caretaking job, this time at a remote property in the Bradshaw Mountains.

That last caretaking job of ours began in April, 2003. Our duties included basic grounds work, upkeep of the pool, some minor animal care (the owners only had a few dogs, a few pet goats and a few chickens), building maintenance and some easy house-cleaning. In exchange, we received free housing in two casitas and a monthly stipend of $800. Ultimately, though, we decided the property was a bit too remote for us, and we ended up moving back to Flagstaff, Steve's home town, six months later.

Are you interested in possibly pursuing a caretaking job yourself? Well, in my opinion, there's really just one great source. Sure, you can try other things, like putting a situation wanted ad in newspapers in an area you're interested in living. And there's always Craigslist perhaps and a number of websites about housesitting, but, to me, the Caretaker Gazette is the #1 source for caretaking and housesitting jobs around the world.

The Caretaker Gazette is a family-owned and operated publishing business run by Gary Dunn since 1983. The Gazette is approved by Consumer Reports Web Watch.

If you want to be sure an advertisement is legitimate, this is the source to use. And you can even submit your own "situation wanted" ad, too.

The Gazette can be mailed in hard copy or you can receive it, along with ads submitted between publications, by email.

For more information,
visit the website
of
The Caretaker Gazette

The number one thing I found that gave Steve and I the edge on other applicants was our ability to write a really good, down-to-earth letter. Often, property owners will ask for applications in writing, either by snail-mail, e-mail or fax, rather than a phone call. And this was how I preferred it as well. Letter-writing gave me (because I did most of the writing for the both of us) the chance to express myself, to explain Steve's and my background, skills and experience and what we were looking for in a property caretaking position.

I suggest making your letter personal and personable, not like a business letter. Property owners are essentially inviting you into their homes and entrusting you, the caretaker, with some of their most valuable possessions, often including pets, so they really want to know who you are. A detached bit of correspondence is really not going to do the trick in most cases, and you may never get a response.

If spelling and punctuation aren't your forte, it would probably be a good idea to have someone proof-read your letter. A goof here and there would be no big deal, but a letter riddled with errors can and will detract from your message.

Also, attach a resume to your letter. Yes, gear it towards caretaking, meaning add any skills that you think will apply but that may not have been included when you used your resume for other types of jobs, but, at the same time, keep all or most of your prior work experience in there, too. Again, owners want to know who you are and where you've come from in a number of different ways. Even though you may be applying for a farm caretaking position, owners will be interested to know your background as an accountant, let's say. After all, caretakers often have to manage money. So you never know when skills acquired and used in other types of work will be appealing to owners.

Provide references, just like with any other job. In fact, they're often very important to property owners, who will likely check one or more of them. So contact your references first and be sure they're okay with being used as such. Tell them they will likely get a call or email and explain what type of position you're going for. Usually, property owners request three references, but Steve and I always provided more, including family and friends, previous or current employers and other types of contacts.

You might even provide a photo or two of yourself. Just make sure it doesn't look like a driver's license photo ... or a mug shot. Send a picture of you taken in a place or doing something you enjoy or, if you're a couple, of the two of you together.

And if or when you finally get on the phone and then meet the property owners, be yourself. Try to relax. For the most part, you can dress casually. (Just make it neat-and-clean casual, of course.) These "interviews" generally aren't the type where you'll be sitting across a desk from the employer. Rather, you'll probably end up walking around the property and maybe even jumping in to help, getting your hands and clothes dirty in the process. Happened to us more than once.

Watch a segment about the Caretaker Gazette on

NBC's TODAY Show

Having been caretakers for seven years, we learned a thing or two about how to make the experience the best it can be for both caretakers and property owners. Here are some things to keep in mind and consider:

• Communication is key: Keep the lines of communication open at all times, even if the owners are absent. Be sure to let them/him/her know that you want to know right away if they aren't satisfied with something or if you're not doing something the way they'd like. By the same token, you as the caretaker/s need to let the owners know what you need. If things are left to fester on either end, nothing good will come of it.
  
  
• Be clear about what's expected by each party, right from the get-go: Discuss not only the tasks the caretaker is expected to perform but how many hours are expected each week or month. Do you get days off? When? How many? How about vacation time? When can you or should you call in outside vendors or contractors to take care of problems? What can and can't you use on the property? And so forth. Make a list of questions for the property owner and encourage them to do the same for you.
  
  
• Don't get in the habit of doing way more than is expected: It can become expected, if you know what I mean. Do what you're asked to do and do it well, but be aware that continually going above and beyond may lead to it seeming like the norm. That's not to say you can't or shouldn't do extra things you're not asked to do on the property to be helpful and nice. Besides, unexpected needs arise and sometimes often. But I just think it's prudent to be aware of what overdoing it on a frequent basis can lead to. It happened to us.
  
  
• Treat the property as if it were your own: That is, the caretaker has a vested interest in the property, too, and owners will notice and appreciate that frame of mind in their caretaker/s.

Read this article from the New York Times
about a
New Wave Of Caretakers