Way O.T. Need Help to find house sitter/roommate

Below is a draft of an e-mail that I intend to send to people that I know and trust. Please read and comment/add suggestions of anything that you could think of that I should say. I feel that I should charge some rent, but do not have an idea how much that should be. I feel if it is free, I will be more likely to get the "wrong type" of people responding. I will probably get a lawyer involved to help protect myself.

""I am out of my comfort zone asking you about this

I am starting a job where I will be away from home quite a bit. I would feel better if there was someone here to take care of the house and pets. I have three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms, so it should be easy to accommodate most anyone. I have satellite TV and internet. There is no phone landline, but could be if desired. Main floor laundry, third bathroom with whirlpool tub, and central air conditioning. A space in an attached garage will be available with opener.

The down side is that I am almost a mile off of a paved road. For someone that has not lived in the country, snow days can be intimidating. I will have someone do the snow removal in the winter. I may ask for help with mowing lawn in the growing season. I have one indoor cat, 8 to 10 outdoor cats and an outdoor dog. All the pets require just minimal care.

I am not concerned about the age of the person. I do not care whether it would be a man or a woman. I do ask if you recommend someone, it would be someone that you would feel comfortable trusting to take care of your own house. I will not consider smokers or drug users.""
Thanks, Roy

I would probably try to work through church first and see if they can provide referrals.

I had a very similar situation. I was offered the house, water, garbage, sewer etc. I would have paid nothing and received nothing but a place to live. The problem for me was after the year period i would have to move again and find someplace else I could afford. I turned it down. It just isn't worth it. I had no animals, no yard work, no house repairs etc to worry about.

While not quite the same situation, very similar. The only way I would have considered it was to receive some type of pay since I would be giving up a good deal where I was to help the other person protect there property. At the end of the year I would be worse off (since my rent currently includes all utilities, TV, internet etc). I wish you the best.

For what it's worth,a friend of my dad picked up and went to Alaska for about 6 months. He called me up before leaving and asked if I would keep an eye on the place for him. I agreed and stayed there fed his dog and cat kept the lawn mowing and what not up and cut a good bit of wood for winter. All I did was pay the price of utility's while I was there. A the time I was just a year into my apprenticeship and it helped us both out. This was in 2001. When he got back from Alaska he said nice job gave me a bunch of canned salmon and caribou meat and a few bucks for the firewood. He said he had to pay for the wood cuz it w wasn't part of the original deal. The whole thing worked really well for us both.

FWIW,
My 25 year old daughter started house sitting a couple of years ago for an airline stewardess who got divorced. She has 2 dogs, parrots, rabbit, etc. SHE pays my daughter. As the woman has a condo and boyfriend in another state, my daughter was there more than 50% of the time. In fact, the neighbors thought it was my daughter's condo and the woman was her mother who was periodically visiting.

IA Roy,

I think I would only put this information out via "word of mouth" rather than written word via email - just to be sure that I didn't tangle with any "equal opportunity" laws about renting-to and/or the hiring-of someone.

But I would want a written agreement before actually letting someone move in. In that contract, I'd specify "No Sub-letting"... or someone could rent your place out to someone else or take in a couple of roommates and pocket the money. (And yep - would likely pay to have that drafted by a lawyer.)

I'd also make it crystal clear in any contract that it could be ended by either party with a 30-day written notice for any reason. Because if you ended up with a person that was not acceptable to you... you don't want some long drawn-out battle to get them out of your home.

I guess I'd only be willing to let a person move into my home whom I personally knew and therefore could judge their character...
As there are too many relatives in the world who blindly say, "Johnny's a good boy or Susie's a good girl" even though they clearly are NOT.

If you plan on allowing others access to your internet - I'd do 2 things:
1. Set up a log-in for your computer so that no one can use it (if they have their own smartphone, tablet or laptop)... OR at the very least, create a guest account that they must log into.
2. Also set up a guest log-in for your wifi too.
(You do not want to get blamed for people looking at inappropriate sites/info/vidoes on YOUR computer or when using your.)

And I'd securely lock up the shop/tools AND any personal/financial/banking/insurance/medical papers.

Sorry if I sound cynical... but I am. Just listen to the news or watch one episode of Judge Judy and you will know why. LOL

Best wishes to you in this endeavor.

I wouldn't even trust my sister to take care of my cats, much less a stranger, if I had to be gone.

A men, to the church referrals. Stan

Read retiredfarmer and sweetfeet's replies multiple times, memorize them, and then go hire a lawyer who can not only do the paperwork, but check in on the place often to make sure the renter is behaving themselves. I know a lot of really good people, but I also know a lot of them who seem like good people whom I wouldn't trust with a handful of used toilet paper, much less my property and my stuff.

This is a bad idea on so many levels . Get some automatic cat feeder and pay a kennel to watch the dog. Keep humans away from your home. { Your state is famous for meth users and meth labs, I have read your newspapers]. You won't get any good outcome with this plan. There will be a long line of only low lives.