If money was no issue?

I love travelling. Seeing new places, meeting new people and experiencing new and different cultures.

The only real problem is paying for it.

Through Christian House Sitters people all over the world are enjoying the pleasures of travelling without having to pay any rent for their accommodation and in addition, if needed, having someone who will look after their home and pets free of charge while they are away.

Membership lasts a year so I have just looked back at the past 12 months and I see that we have been able to provide lovely, rent-free accommodation in the following countries.

Scotland

Germany

South Africa

England

Australia

Spain

Wales

Ireland

Mexico

France

New Zealand

USA

Do you know anyone who may benefit from this wonderful opportunity?

Have a look at our website and contact me if you have any questions. CLICK HERE

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Have you got any interesting, funny or heart warming vacation stories that you would like to share on this blog?

If so please let me know using the contact form. Especially if they involve House Sitting!

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God bless you,

Ray

 

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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Where would you like to go? Rent-Free

I am often asked what sort of houses are available through Christian House Sitters and where they are located.

It is a really hard question to answer as the list changes all the time but to give an idea here is a selection of SOME of the houses available today on the site. Remember these are all offered Rent-Free.

NOTE I am not listing all the details for each house just some key points.

ENGLAND
The house is situated near Cliveden, Near to Burnham Bucks but on the border of Berkshire near Maidenhead and Windsor

The house is large and has 6 Bedrooms,.

Downstairs rooms including lounge, dining room, playroom, breakfast room and kitchen. The breakfast room is equipped with an Aga and usual kitchen appliances including Microwave, Washing machine and Dishwasher.

 

GUILDFORD
It is a large detached house set in a very quiet part of Guildford on the edge of a large area of countryside, but within easy access of the town and train station. The Guildford to London train takes just 40 minutes.

We are close to a number of National Trust properties and just 10 minutes from the famous RHS Wisley gardens.

Guildford is a very picturesque town with its own cathedral castle and many beautiful surrounding places of interest for all tastes.

The house comprises a large lounge, dining room, study, conservatory, kitchen and utility room alongside a double garage.

Upstairs are 4 bedrooms (1 double and 3 single)and 2 bathrooms ( 1 en suite) one of the bathrooms has a bath also.

The kitchen has a microwave, dishwasher and good storage space whilst the utility room houses the washing machine.

The lounge has a TV and the Internet connection is available along with the telephone.

FRANCE
4 months in a rural situation, it is quiet & clean with no near neighbours.

Near St Antonin Noble Val

There is a large garden, acres of woodland & meadows, fantastic walking from the door & loads of places to explore, local markets, ancient villages, stunning scenery.

 

CANADA
Saskatoon
Located just 5 miles west of the city on an acreage.
5 bedrooms
Two baths shower and jet tub.
Kitchen fully equipped with microwave oven stove washer dryer.
We will make available a vehicle.
Wifi
TV and satellite

 

NEW ZEALAND
Gisborne
Our house is situated in an elevated position about 5 km from the city centre, overlooking the hills and the sea in the distance. The town is about 45 mins brisk walk. We have three beautiful beaches within five minutes drive of the house.

There are one double and one single bedroom, and one bathroom with shower and bath.

The kitchen has hob, oven, microwave, dishwasher, toaster, sandwich toaster, slow cooker, wok, washing machine.

Our car will be available for sitters to use while they are here.

AUSTRALIA
Melbourne
We own a beautiful brick attic house, with spectacular landscape gardens, our backyard is a mini tropical paradise, a place for relaxation, reading or just enjoying the ambiance.

We live in sunshine, Melbourne, Vic Australia, in a quiet family orientated pocket of tree lined streets, that connect to a wonderful park, which has a bike, walking trail, and a place all the locals meet up with there canine friends, It is a very friendly community.

Our house is double story with living area on lower level, bedroom with ensuite on the top floor, and fully equipped gym room to use at leisure.

USA
Spanaway, Washington
The House is in Spanaway, Washington (state). By auto: one half hour South of Tacoma, one hour South of Seattle, 45 minutes from SeaTac (SEA, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport). The home is 4 years old. We are 3 minutes from a small shopping area (Safeway supermarket, Starbuck’s, restaurants, etc) and less than 15 minutes from a large mall with hundreds of businesses between here and the mall. We are about an hour from the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. Our church is 2 miles and less than 5 minutes away

You could be enjoying a rent-free vacation in one of these or one of the many other houses that we get all over the world.

Also if you need someone honest, reliable and with references to look after your home and if necessary your pets while you are away. Even if you are not in one of our houses. We will help you find someone free-of-charge.
Have a look at our website www.Christian-housesitters.com

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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Faith Filled Family

We are continuing our mini-series reproducing articles about Christian House Sitters that have appeared in the press around the world. This week we feature another article from America.

The following article appeared in the American Magazine Faith Filled Family on the 26th of January 2012

 

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Ray White was born in South Africa. His wife, Marilyn, moved to South Africa from England at eleven months of age.

They now live in England but they have seen the needs of the people in this region, and their heart is to help Christian work in Africa. .

Their organization, Christian House Sitters enables them to support a children’s home in Kenya with proceeds going towards this charity.

Faith Filled Family: How did you come up with the idea for Christian House Sitters?

Ray: When we retired, we had very little money as it had all gone into the work of the Christian Counselling Ministry so in order to be able to have a good vacation we needed to find an alternative to paying full price. We heard about a Secular House Sitting organization and registered and ended up in a house in France for 3 months. It was a wonderful experience but we found it a bit lonely as we knew nobody and could not find a church. Also the home owners who were not Christians left some statues and things around the house that made us feel uncomfortable. Marilyn said that the next time we should use a Christian organization so we searched and could not find one anywhere. Marilyn therefore suggested we start one which we did and the result is Christian House Sitters.

Faith Filled Family: It is my understanding that you two started this ministry on your own. Would you please explain what the CHS does?

Ray: We seek to help home owners and house sitters find each other. People can register as a Sitter, an Owner or as both. If you register as a home owner we help you to find a house sitter to move into your home while you are away on vacation. They will look after your home and pets for you free of charge and in return they receive a rent free vacation in your home. So as an owner you save money by not having to pay anyone to look after your home and pets. You also have the security of knowing that your home and pets are being looked after by a responsible Christian.

If you register as a house sitter you get to travel and stay rent-free in lovely homes all over the world rather than in expensive and often characterless hotel rooms.

How does this work in practice? When you register as an owner we list your house details (without the specific address) on the restricted section of our website that can only be viewed by registered sitters.

We also email all registered sitters drawing their attention to the listing.

Sitters then decide which houses they are interested in and click an enquiry button. That automatically sends the owners their details and their profile info. Then it is over to the owner to make contact and decide which application they like best, check references and arrange the sit.

Faith Filled Family: How can someone sign up for either being as an owner or sitter?

Ray: It is really very easy. All they need to do is visit our website www.Christian-housesitters.com and click on the link to register. They will be asked for their name, the name of their church and minister and for some information about themselves. As long as they are members of a recognized Christian Church we will accept them as members. We also write to the named minister informing him or her that these members of the church have joined CHS.

Faith Filled Family: Can I be an owner and a sitter? What about paying, if I am both would I still pay the sitter fee?

Ray: You can register as a sitter, as an owner or as both. Registration as an owner is FREE. Registration as a Sitter is £25 per year.

Faith Filled Family: How does a sitter gain access to the houses available and the timetables?

Ray: When a sitter registers they select a password. This enables them to login to the members section of the website and see details of all available houses. From here they can also notify home owners of their interest in a house. Also whenever any new house is listed with us we send an email to all registered sitters giving them the details and reminding them that if they are interested they should login and contact the owner.

Faith Filled Family: What advice do you provide for both parties?

Ray: On the website we have a number of sections to help people. These include:

Tell Your Sitter, Advice to Sitters, Suggested Agreement and also more general info under “House Sitting Explained” and under FAQ

Faith Filled Family: How many countries has your ministry been extended into?

Ray: At the moment we have active members in Canada, USA, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales

We are also looking into expanding into other areas as well.

Faith Filled Family: I would think this is a fluid ministry in that owners and sitters are changing. Is this true?

Ray: Yes and no. Many owners remain with us and use our service every time they have a vacation.

There is no limit on how often they can ask for a sitter. We also have many sitters who renew their membership every year. But naturally there are some owners and sitters who do not remain with us and there are also always new people joining.

Faith Filled Family: I understand that the benefits from the sitters’ fee go towards a particular charity. Where does it go?

Ray: 100% of this money goes to support homeless children at a Christian Children’s Home in Kenya.

The cost of running the site is covered by us so all income goes to these needy children. You can read more about the children’s home at www.christian-housesitters.com/kenya.htm

Faith Filled Family: Please explain how and why you chose your beneficiary?

Ray: When we first started we decided that we wanted to support Christian work in Africa because of our personal experience there. Initially this money went to a Christian Organization in South Africa.

Meanwhile our church had been helping a Children’s Home in Kenya. For various reasons the church could no longer afford to continue this financial support and after much prayer we decided to take it on as our project. The work had not been run very efficiently in Kenya so Marilyn, who is experienced in business management, set up a strong accountability structure with herself as the leader. She appointed local Christians to run the home on a day-to-day basis under a local leadership team.

But all major decisions need to be approved by her and she also makes certain that the money is properly accounted for and used wisely. She has had contact with local officials and the home has been inspected by both the area Chief and the District Commissioner who expressed their delight in how well it is being run.

Faith Filled Family: The Home of Peace Children’s Home in Kenya; how many children are cared for at the home?

Ray: This varies slightly but we normally have between 80 and 85 children who would otherwise be living on the streets, begging or stealing to stay alive. We provide them with accommodation, food, clothing, medical care and pay for their schooling. This is all done in a strong Christian atmosphere. As a result we are seeing lives transformed.

Faith Filled Family: You have explained that Home of Peace Children’s Home in Kenya Is supported by the CHS. Does the ministry cover all expenses?

Ray: At this stage we are their only financial support. Over the past 12 months we have built them 2 toilet blocks (before this they had to use a field which we felt was not satisfactory), we have built a nursery room for the younger children, and we have got additional beds for the children. They now all have bedding and mosquito nets and we have been able to keep them in food, medicine and clothing. It is often really difficult and each time we send out money it is an adventure in faith asking God to supply but He has never failed. If we had additional funds we would love to improve the facilities, build some more dormitories, turn our temporary kitchen into a real kitchen, etc.

Faith Filled Family: If someone desires to donate to the Children’s Home, how would they go about doing so?

Ray: They can do that from our site by clicking the donate button or by sponsoring a child. Full details are at www.TLC-childrenstrust.org

NOTE FROM RAY. Some information in the article about the children’s home is now naturally out of date but the current information can be found at www.tlc-childrenstrust.org/update.htm

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

 

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Adding Spice to Retirement

I am running a mini series in which I am reproducing articles that have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world about Christian House Sitters in the hope that it will provide a better perspective of what we do.  These have not been edited by us in any way.

Last week we featured an article from Cathedral Connections.  St Peter’s London Ontario

Here is Article Number 2 and it is taken from the UK Magazine Woman Alive

I’ve become a house sitter’

Sheila Jones from Great Wyrley in the Midlands is a retired researcher and teacher in higher education, and currently an artist.

She worships at St Mark’s and spent her summer house sitting for a couple in Beaconsfield. A few years ago, she joined a worldwide organisation called Christian House Sitters, whereby one looks after a house for anything from a week to several months. She has so far looked after properties in France, England and New Zealand. Sheila has two grown-up children and four grandsons.

She has been widowed for 30 years.

About five years ago, I was browsing the internet and wondering if there was an opportunity to house sit in New Zealand, when I came across http://www.christian-housesitters.com. It is not a house swap, although I could put my house on the website for someone to look after while I am sitting for someone else if I wanted to. It costs just £25 to sign up and it’s a matter of seeing what
locations and properties fit in with the holiday time you have.

I went to France last year and New Zealand the year before that. The longest time I have spent away is nine months in New Zealand. This year, I stayed in England and went back to a lovely house in Beaconsfield, where I have been several  times before.

As a house sitter, you often have to look after the family pets. Sometimes it’s cats or dogs, and this year it was also chickens. But in return, I had all the eggs!

It’s an affordable way of seeing different parts of the country and visiting other parts of the world. I have enjoyed taking part in worship in other churches and it’s lovely to come back and share those experiences.

I usually go on my own, but I have on occasions taken my son or daughter. However, it’s important to let the owners know if there is more than one of you going, so they can get the rooms ready.

I would love to go to Canada, but although there have been houses that have come up from time to time, so far they haven’t fitted in with my free time.

Sheila’s Tips:

If you do house sit, make sure you are there before the owners leave. It enables you to meet them properly and know where things are.

One of the questions asked when you are linked up is whether you would like to be put in touch with one of the house owner’s friends. I would say yes and I always try and go to their local church when I am there. It is always good to see how others worship.

Have a spirit of adventure. If you are retired, it helps you get out of the “retirement mindset”.

Have a look at our website for more details. We are a Christian Ministry NOT a business.

www.christian-housesitters.com

God bless you,

Ray

We are part of the registered charity

TLC Children’s Trust

UK Charity number 1156786

www.tlc-childrenstrust.org

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A Very Funny Airline.

I always appreciate hearing from our house sitters and home owners. Gerry, a South African sitter, who has recently enjoyed a month rent-free vacation through Christian House Sitters looking after a lovely house in New Zealand kindly sent me the following. Thanks Gerry

Kulula is a budget airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a great sense of humour. For example look at their livery.

On a Kulula flight, (there is no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced,”People, people we’re not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!”

On another flight with a very “senior” flight attendant crew, the pilot said,”Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants.” 

On landing, the stewardess said,”Please be sure to take all of your belongings.. If you’re going to leave anything, please make sure it’s something we’d like to have.”

“There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane.”

“Thank you for flying Kulula. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”

As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Durban Airport , a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: “Whoa, big fella. WHOA!”

After a particularly rough landing during thunderstorms in the Karoo , a flight attendant on a flight announced,”Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as hell everything has shifted.”

From a Kulula employee: “Welcome aboard Kulula 271 to Port Elizabeth . To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt; and, if you don’t know how to operate one, you probably shouldn’t be out in public unsupervised.”

“In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child travelling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are travelling with more than one small child, pick your favourite.”

“Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we’ll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Kulula Airlines.”

“Your seats cushions can be used for flotation; and in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with our compliments.”

“As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses..”

And from the pilot during his welcome message:”Kulula Airlines is pleased to announce that we have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!”

Overheard on a Kulula flight into Cape Town , on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain really had to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said,”Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Mother City. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what’s left of our airplane to the gate!”

Another flight attendant’s comment on a less than perfect landing: “We ask you to please remain seated as Captain Kangaroo bounces us to the terminal.”

An airline pilot wrote that on this particular flight he had hammered his ship into the runway really hard. The airline had a policy which required the first officer to stand at the door while the passengers exited, smile, and give them a “Thanks for flying our airline”. He said that, in light of his bad landing, he had a hard time looking the passengers in the eye, thinking that someone would have a smart comment. Finally everyone had gotten off except for a little old lady walking with a cane. She said,”Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?””Why, no Ma’am,” said the pilot. “What is it?” The little old lady said,”Did we land, or were we shot down?”

After a real crusher of a landing in Johannesburg , the attendant came on with,”Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal..”

Part of a flight attendant’s arrival announcement:”We’d like to thank you folks for flying with us today.. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you’ll think of Kulula Airways.”

Heard on a Kulula flight:”Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing.. If you can light ’em, you can smoke ’em.”

Great stuff and good South African fun.

Remember if you fancy a vacation anywhere (including South Africa) we have members all over the world we can help with rent-free accommodation and by providing someone who will look after your home and pets while you are away. Full details are on our website CLICK HERE

God bless you,

Ray

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Some recent rent-free houses around the world

I am often asked what sort of houses we get on the Christian House Sitters website. Some people seem to assume that they will only be tiny apartments tucked away in some dark back street. Far from it we get a wide range from small to big, town to country and everything in between

To give a rough idea here is a short slide show of where some of our recent houses were located and what the sitters found when they arrived.

Remember these were all rent-free. Visit the website for more details CLICK HERE

God bless you

Ray

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Unanswerable Questions

I get loads of emails every day from all over the world. I am not talking about spam. Those I just delete without even reading. I mean real messages from real people who are interested to find out more about Christian House Sitters.

It is fun to look at the timing of the emails. When I wake up in the morning I normally have a bunch from Australia and New Zealand. As the day progresses I start getting the messages from Europe and the UK. Then late in the day and into the evening it is the USA and Canada that dominate my inbox.

We do our best to answer everyone within a maximum of 12 hours. Most are answered far quicker than that.

But among the questions I get there are some that are simply unanswerable.

The most common is from people wanting to know what houses are going to become available at a specific location in the future.

I can’t see into the future. I only know what is available now. I will find out about future houses when their owners decide to list them.

So to try to answer most of the common questions here is a brief summary of what we do and how it works.

Who can Join?

Any Christian who belongs to a recognised Christian Church. People can register as a House Sitters, a Home Owners or as Both.

If you register as a home owner

We help you to find a house sitter to move into your home while you are away on vacation. They look after your home and pets for you and in return they receive a rent free holiday in your home. So the house owner saves money by not having to pay anyone to look after their home and pets. They have the security of knowing that their home and pets are being looked after by a responsible Christian.

If you register as a house sitter

You get to travel and stay rent free in lovely homes rather than an expensive and often characterless hotel room. You are notified about every new listing and can apply for as many as you like.

By becoming a registered House sitter you will benefit by being able to have short or long breaks in your own country or abroad.

Your only expense will be the actual cost of travelling to and from the destination and your food.

You will know that you are helping another Christian to have a break and that when you arrive you will be introduced to their Church and Christian friends.

Naturally it is entirely up to you to decide if you want to get involved or not.

Having done house sitting ourselves we know that arriving in a strange place knowing nobody can be lonely. This should be overcome through using this Christian website.

So what actually happens?

When you register as an owner we list your house details (without the specific address) on the restricted section of our website that can only be viewed by registered sitters. We also email all registered sitters drawing their attention to the listing.

Sitters then decide which houses they are interested in and click an enquiry button. That automatically sends the owners their details and their profile info. Then it is over to the owner to make contact and decide which application they like best, check references and arrange the sit.

What does this all cost?

Registration as an owner is free. Registration as a sitter is only £25 (or the equivalent in your local currency)  per year. All of which goes to supporting a Christian Children’s Home in Kenya. The cost of running the service is covered by Marilyn and Ray White as a service.

If you want any more information please visit the website CLICK HERE or feel free to email me

God bless you

Ray

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Top Vacation Destinations

I love travelling.

God has blessed me and allowed me to visit many countries over the years but I still get excited at the prospect of going somewhere different.

My personal list of places I would still love to visit includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I would also love to return to the USA and South Africa

As I was thinking about places I would like to visit I decided to do a little research and see how my list compares with the  ‘official’ lists.

 AMERICANS TOP PLACES.

According to http://bit.ly/UvW3CJ American people spend a lot of time arranging their vacations. For these people, vacations offer not only an opportunity to bond together with friends and family. It is also a time to get away and loosen up the body and mind. Vacations revitalize and make all of them enjoy what they have. For American people who spend their vacations in another country and for people who wish to go outside the country, they usually decide to go to:
Italy,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Great Britain.

 UK CHOICES

People in the UK spend multiple millions each year travelling. When going abroad their choice of destinations, according to http://bit.ly/6hN1jT, is:

Spain,
France,
Greece,
Italy,
USA

 AUSTRALIAN CHOICES

According to http://bit.ly/XiLuzx Travel + Leisure magazine invited Australians to vote on their dream lists of top spots throughout the world.
The results were:
Italy,
France,
New Zealand,
USA

Where do you want to go?

What is stopping you?

If the only thing stopping you is the cost we can most likely help by cutting out the cost of your accommodation while you are away and also arranging for someone to look after your home and pets free of charge.

Sounds to good to be true? Read on and judge for yourself.

When I looked down those lists it dawned on me that over the past year Christian House Sitters has offered rent-free accommodation in all those countries with the sole exception of Greece. In addition we have also offered rent-free accommodation in a large number of countries that did not make the ‘top places’ lists

This is a collage of a few of the recent rent-free properties we have been able to offer.

So may I encourage you to prayerfully consider the following:

1 If you want a rent-free vacation visit our site CLICK HERE and if you like what you see register as a House Sitter

2. If you want someone to look after your home and pets while you are away visit the site CLICK HERE and register as a Home Owner

3. You could naturally register as both an owner and a sitter.

God bless you,

Ray

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Why Don’t You……..?

I often get contacted by people asking perfectly reasonable questions about Christian House Sitters.  Many of the questions begin with the phrase “Why don’t you….”

So I thought I would try to answer some of the most common questions in  this blog post as that may help you understand what Christian House Sitters do and do not offer.

Question 1. Why don’t you arrange house swaps or house exchanges?

Answer. I know that there are some excellent web sites around that do offer this service and we could easily have done so but after careful and prayerful consideration we decided not to offer it because we feel it is too restrictive.

It greatly limits the available choices for our members. We have found that it is better not to limit yourself to a direct swap. You can have someone look after your house and you in turn can find a house to look after without it necessarily being a direct swap.

So for example someone in America may want to visit the UK, a home owner in the UK may want to go to France and there may be a member in France keen to visit Australia finally there could be someone in Australia wanting to go to the USA. If we were working on an exchange or swap basis we could not help any of these people but with our system they can all be satisfied.

Naturally  people who register with us, as both a sitter and an owner,  can mention in their profile that they would be interested in a direct swap. This will be displayed with their details. But they would not be restricted to a swap. They would have much more flexibility.

Question 2. Why don’t you have as many houses available as some of the secular house sitting websites?

Answer. There are a couple of reasons.

Firstly our pool of potential members is naturally smaller as we only accept people who are members of a recognised Christian church.

But that is not the only reason. I have been doing some research. In fact in order to do the research I ended up having to join a few secular sites. I discovered that most of the houses shown on their sites are not actually available. This is because many of these sites do not remove any listing until the end of the available period.

We on the other hand ask our members to inform us as soon as a house is taken and we then immediately remove the listing. This saves our sitters the frustration of applying for houses that are no longer available. To be honest occasionally owners do forget to inform us. But as soon as a sitter lets us know that they are not getting a reply from an owner or that the owner has replied saying the house has been taken we investigate and if the house has been taken we remove that listing.

Finally our houses are made available for vacations purposes. Through my research into some of the secular sites I was astounded to see that a lot are not vacation offers but simply a way of trying to get free labour.

Here are some real examples “Someone with building experience  to help with renovation of the house. ”

Another said ” Nightwatch the hotel do some gardening, some cleaning, sometimes making breakfast, welcoming clients. Check in clients. In spring and summer we have our own staff which you will be ‘ working’ with. In winter you will be alone, working with us.”

To my way of thinking these are not vacations. They are job opportunities and for jobs with no wages.

Our listings are for a genuine vacation!

Question 3. Why can’t I see the list of available houses before I register?

Answer. This seems a very reasonable question and it is something we could very easily arrange but we believe it would be wrong because it would encourage people to join because they have seen somewhere that meets their requirements. They could then register, wait while we process their application which can take up to 12 hours although it is usually quicker than that, they would then be notified how to login and apply for houses. By this time the house they saw may well have been taken. Some houses go very quickly. Others don’t but houses in popular places can be snapped up fast.  We would rather have people pray about joining and if they feel it is God’s will  for them they can then trust that God will make the right house, in the right place and at the right time available during their 12 months of membership. Our experience is that the vast majority of our sitters find a suitable house and in fact it is not unusual for sitters to have 3 or 4 different vacations in a year. One of our members took a year off to travel around the world. He and his wife found suitable houses in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, America, Canada, France, England and Wales.

During the entire 12 months they only had 2 periods without somewhere to stay rent-free. The first was a week and the second 11 days.

I hope these help you to understand why there are some things that we don’t do even though at first glance they seem so reasonable.

If you would like to find out more about what we do offer then why not visit our website. CLICK HERE.

While  you are on the site please take some time to read the following pages.

A Brief Summery,

About Us

House Sitting Explained

FAQ

Other pages you may find really interesting are:

Comments Received

Media Coverage

Then if you still have questions please feel free to ask.

I look forward to welcoming you as a House Owner, a House Sitter or both.

 

 

 

God bless you,

Ray

P.S. WordPress are adding adverts to blogs. Seems they is not always shown but if there are adverts on this page please note they were not placed by me, not approved by me and do not imply my recommendation.

Sheila’s Experiences

Women Alive is one of the leading Christian Magazines in the UK.

I was recently contacted by someone who wanted to join Christian House Sitters and I asked her where she had heard about our service. She said it was through an article in Women Alive. I had not seen the article but naturally got a copy.

Here is what they wrote on page 9 of the January 2012 edition. I would like to thank Sheila Jones for her lovely comments.

 

 

I’ve become a house sitter’

Sheila Jones (65) from Great Wyrley in the Midlands is a retired researcher and teacher in higher education, and currently an artist. She worships at St Mark’s and spent her summer house sitting for a couple in Beaconsfield. A few years ago, she joined a worldwide organisation called Christian House Sitters, whereby one looks after a house for anything from a week to several months. She has so far looked after properties in France, England and New Zealand. Sheila has two grown-up children and four grandsons. She has been widowed for 30 years.

About five years ago, I was browsing the internet and wondering if there was an opportunity to house sit in New Zealand, when I came across www.christian-housesitters.com. It is not a house swap, although I could put my house on the website for someone to look after while I am sitting for someone else if I wanted to. It costs just £25 to sign up and it’s a matter of seeing what locations and properties fit in with the holiday time you have.

I went to France last year and New Zealand the year before that. The longest time I have spent away is nine months in New Zealand. This year, I stayed in England and went back to a lovely house in Beaconsfield, where I have been several times before.

As a house sitter, you often have to look after the family pets. Sometimes it’s cats or dogs, and this year it was also chickens. But in return, I had all the eggs!

It’s an affordable way of seeing different parts of the country and visiting other parts of the world. I have enjoyed taking part in worship in other churches and it’s lovely to come back and share those experiences.

I usually go on my own, but I have on occasions taken my son or daughter. However, it’s important to let the owners know if there is more than one of you going, so they can get the rooms ready.

I would love to go to Canada, but although there have been houses that have come up from time to time, so far they haven’t fitted in with my free time.

Sheila’s Tips:

If you do house sit, make sure you are there before the owners leave. It enables you to meet them properly and know where things are.

One of the questions asked when you are linked up is whether you would like to be put in touch with one of the house owner’s friends. I would say yes and I always try and go to their local church when I am there. It is always good to see how others worship.

Have a spirit of adventure. If you are retired, it helps you get out of the “retirement mindset”.

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If you are interested in knowing more about Christian House Sitters please visit our website CLICK HERE.

God bless you

Ray