As High End Properties Languish, Need for Caretakers Grows

How would you like to live in a palatial estate with no housing or utility costs and nothing much to do except care for a dog and deal with occasional emergencies if and when they arise?

Incredibly, more and more displaced American workers are finding a way to do just that, by building up resumes as professional caretakers and then getting work watching unoccupied high end properties while the owners are away, or while they wait for the real estate market in the U.S. to finally recover.

Caretaking isn’t all fun and games though.

Successful candidates do have to invest in professional websites and resumes, and have or develop real skills in gardening, animal care, and home maintenance. People who are just looking for a free place to crash are unlikely to find steady employment. People who are recently displaced by the economic downturn and have good resumes and real vitae, however, may well suddenly find themselves facing real opportunities to match their backgrounds.

According to a recent New York Times article on the growing need for qualified caretakers, both in the U.S. and globally, business really started to take off around January of 2009. Bruce Matters, a professional caretaker who has been running a property management business in the Hamptons since 1976, explains in the NYT article that he is seeing the face of the profession change along with the economic climate.

“It used to be retired policemen and the like who would come here to take care of someone’s house,” said Matters. “For the past year and a half, I’ve seen ex-entrepreneurs, bankers and real estate agents moving in. Everyone and their brother wants to jump on the care-taking bandwagon.”

Matters also is witnessing an increase in third party requests for caretakers, a direct result of the growing U.S. foreclosure crisis. More and more he gets calls from banks and mortgage lenders.

“It’s mostly done under the radar out here, but when a house is seized, they need someone to take care of it.”

Prospective caretakers can check out Mind My House, a website that lists mostly short-term housesitting gigs, or subscribe to the Caretaker Gazette. An online subscription of the Gazette runs $29.95 per year, and gets you access to the website and a list of new caretaking openings in your mailbox every other month.

Caretaking isn’t for everyone, but if you’re currently at loose ends, and can’t decipher the U.S. real estate market and are sick of trying, it might be worth a shot for awhile. You won’t get rich, but you won’t have to spend much (or any) money either. Plus you’ll meet lots of grateful rich people and have time to work on that novel you keep putting off.

When the job market comes back, you can too.

Your cubicle will still be waiting.

Maybe.