Meighan Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 hi, My husband, my sister, and I are researching a late 2107 move to the Chapala area. My sister may be thinking of stretching her retirement dollars a bit by offering house/pet sitting. She has years of experience managing rentals, and is a serious dog lover. I'm curious if anyone can either point us to a place where most the local folks find sitters, and/or a range of how much sitters might get by the week, just as a point of reference. Is it more like "we give you a place to live for free" or is there usually some kind of compensation? All advice welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillenparadise Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 Well, I am thrilled to house/dog sit for free. I live at the beach in Nayarit and am so glad to get out of the heat in the summer and care for beloved pets in the Lake area and would seriously doubt anyone should expect to make money doing same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xena Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 People who come here to escape their freezing winters or sweltering summers are delighted to House/pet sit for free. They sometimes even pay utilities and maids as part of their deal. At least one person on this board receives top rent for her beautiful home and caring for her four (I believe) cats is part of the deal. Throw in the people who trade sitting each other's pets and friends who just do it as a favor and I'd say you have few opportunities to make money pet sitting. Your sister might on occasion pick up some extra spending money after she makes contacts in the community but I don't think it would be regular work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tzevi Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 Hmm... the year 2107 does seem a long way off - but plenty of time to gather research. On the other hand, if 2017, in reality, is only 6 months away. Generally, pet sitting is not a paid position but often get to live in lovely home with garden, perhaps a pool with maintenance, gardener and cleaning service. Nice perks. The rental management experience may be a better option and of benefit to those who are living here a short time of the year or frequently travel and would be happy with no worries management. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdlngton Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 I know of various people who house/pet sit and get paid. I think the going rate might be between 200-250 pesos per day, but I could be wrong. For shorter trips my maid's mother and her boyfriend house/dog sit for me and I pay them 200 pesos per day. For longer trips I have found sitters on housecarers.com. Almost all have been excellent. In fact I have a lady returning in September who has already been here twice for me and sat for my friend and my neighbors. Sitters from housecarers.com pay their own airfare and receive no pay from the homeowner. Most come from the U.S. or Canada, but I had a lovely couple (Americans) who live in the state of San Luis Potosi and another couple from Australia. They get a place to stay and you get someone to take care of your home and pets. By the way, my excellent returning sitter will have some time available in the fall between several trips I will be making and a trip my neighbors will be going on. We both are thrilled to have her returning. Watch for my announcement here for her available dates. She does not charge. Back to the original question, some people do charge for house/pet sitting. You can advertise on bulletin boards around town and/or in publications like Guadalajara Reporter and El Ojo del Lago or on this forum. Having cards made is a good idea. Leave them at local vets' offices and the animal shelter and pass them out to everyone. Good house/pet sitters can do well here but it may take awhile to build your reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothernewbie Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 My experience is that there are plenty who pet and house sit for compensation. Most of them are VERY busy and, sometimes, you need to book well in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meighan Posted June 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 Thanks for all the feedback. It sounds like there is a real range of different arrangements--great to know! (sorry about the typos--not so easy on my phone) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookie Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 We pay $250.00 pesos per 24 hours to our pet sitters. Our experience with the ones that do charge is that they are always booked far in advance. We have used housecarers.com for sitters twice but our experience was not a good one either time and we won't be doing that again. I prefer to pay someone that lives here because they usually spend more time in our house with our dogs instead of out sight seeing. We also use pet sitters for a day when we go to Guadalajara to shop or to the doctor or just out for the day as we don't like leaving our pets for longer than 3 or 4 hours alone. When you all get here ... PM me please with your contact information and we will be glad to add you as a sitter to call. You can post as you did on this board in the pet section and leave notices on the bulletin boards at the grocery stores and at Lake Chapala Society and with the various vets in town. Our paid pet sitters are expected to water plants and the yard, play with the dogs and clean up after themselves. We have a maid and gardener that come each week so there isn't any house work necessary. I think you could stay pretty busy ... we had friends that did this (a couple) until they moved recently and they both stayed busier than they might like sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guiness Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 We all can certainly use another good house/pet sitter in this area!! We have 4 dogs and we pay our sitter 230 pesos a day. Not a problem. You can start by going to the local vet offices and introducing yourself, put up flyers and post on this space. You will be busier than you can imagine. Welcome. Please do send me your info, we travel frequently and would love to see your info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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