Safeguard Your Property With a House Sitter Using a Background Check

March 11, 2015

The largest investment most individuals make in their lives is their place of residence. Whether it’s a condo, cottage or home, a significant percentage of your savings and earnings are used to purchase and maintain mortgage payments on this property. Not only is the property itself worth a significant sum, but the contents are valuable as well, both monetarily and emotionally.

A house sitter is an individual whose job is to protect your property and its contents while you are away from home. House sitters need to be very vigilant. They must be observant about all aspects of the home from the smell of gas, indicating a gas leak, to thinking of details like removing all flyers and newspapers from the front of the house, thus camouflaging the owner’s absence. Each homeowner should make a thorough list of expectations and details about their home which the home sitter would use as a guideline.

How to use a background check

The most difficult task of finding a house sitter is finding one you can trust. That is when background checks become very useful. The following table outlines what aspects of a background check can be useful to you:

Criminal History
    A criminal record is one of the widely used features in a background check, and can be used to verify that the potential house sitter has not been charged with various activities such as theft, fraud, and other activities that could put your property and belongings at risk


    
Employment History Employment history is a means to find out how legitimate and skilled your future house sitter is. Have they performed duties as a house sitter before? Have they held any other jobs that may prove to be beneficial?

    Credit History
    Credit history is, like a criminal history, a way to make you feel safer about the sitter you chose for your home. When an individual has had multiple credit infractions, they may feel pressure to consider illegal actions such as theft, to cover their expenses.

Credit history is an item that assists in your decision. Many house sitters may not have amazing credit, but are still trustworthy.

Drug Testing    Drug testing is a means to ensure that your house is not used for illegal activities while you are absent. Having a drug infraction against your property significantly lowers the value of the place of residence, and with the correct checks is easily avoidable.
Identity Verification Verifying the identity of the house sitter ensures several things, such as the honesty of their identity and that they are eligible for employment.

How do I find a house sitter?

Finding just the right house sitter may take some time. The stakes are high when entrusting your home with a stranger, so the process should be methodical and not rushed. Posting on HouseSitter.com is the most convenient way to start your search and hopefully hire a house sitter you can trust. No matter where you live in the United States, HouseSitter.com has house sitters for you.

If you are unsuccessful finding the right house sitter ton HouseSitter.com, simply post a job description on HouseSitter-job for your location, and wait for the house sitter to come to you!