House Sitter in Washington, District of Columbia

I run a small international development non-profit organization and need to spend several weeks in the DC area; however a hotel for this time would be much more than we can afford. I'm looking to stay in someone's apartment our house in return for watching it, picking up your mail, or other errands you need me to run. I expect the majority of my meetings to be during the day and so will be home at night. I could pet sit as long as your pet can spend at least 8 hours alone on their own. I am married, have a Masters (from the Johns Hopkins SAIS in DC, for that matter), and live in a rural area of West Coast. I am a homeowner myself and so very respectful. An added advantage is that I am pretty handy and have experience dealing with most any emergency that might come up.