Hello! My family and I are looking for a house sit our house from approximately 1 September 2012 for one year while I am on sabbatical leave from the university. The dates are somewhat flexible.
OUR HOUSE: Our house is a duplex situated in a residential neighborhood, one block from a park and playground. The house is about 2-3 years old and just over 1200 sq ft (with a large storage area as well). The first floor is a large open plan living space with hardwood floors, granite top kitchen, and new stainless steel appliances (including a washer/dryer). The carpeted upstairs holds 3 bedrooms (currently furnished as master bedroom, kid’s room, and office/guest room). The house is kept cool by a shady oak tree in summer, but receives lovely sunlight on sunny winter days. It has a small, shady garden in front, with perennials, three apple trees, a composter, and rain barrels. The covered front porch has a small barbecue grill and a table and chairs for outdoor dining, or reading a book with a cup of tea on lovely autumn days. The house would be suitable for a singe person or couple.
PETS: We have two friendly female shorthair cats that require care and affection. We are looking for a house sitter to ensure that someone is there to feed them 2-3 times per day, and to keep them company and play with them. We occasionally leave them alone for short holidays (2-8 days) and arrange for neighbors, friends, or professional cat sitters to come in 2 times per day while we are away. We expect the house sitter could do the same for short trips. Although they are allowed in the garden during the day under supervision, we no longer allow them out after dusk because of coyotes.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD: We live in a residential neighborhood with lots of trees, about four blocks from the Commercial Drive area in East Vancouver. The Commercial Drive area is very dynamic, full of local shops, coffee houses, bakeries, delis, groceries, restaurants, pubs, and colorful characters. We love where we live because we are a quiet distance from the action, but with comfortable access to all of these amenities. We are within walking distance of a library, two indoor swimming pools, and two community centres that sponsor all kinds of activities. There are lots of young families in our neighborhood, and we commonly see bicyclists, pedestrians, and families walking along the bicycle route. We are within walking distance of several schools.
TRANSPORTATION: We live on a bicycle route, from which it takes about minutes to bicycle downtown. We are 2-4 blocks from two bus routes to downtown, and a 15-to-20 minute walk to the Commercial Drive/Broadway Skytrain station. It takes about 10 minutes to drive downtown, 30 minutes by car to reach ski slopes, and minutes to reach beaches (depending on your choice of beach). There are lots of co-op cars in the neighborhood.
We are looking for someone who can stay in our house from approximately September 1 until June 30, while we are away for sabbatical leave from the university. We are hoping to find someone a little bit flexible about the times because our travel dates are not exactly set yet. We hope to discuss those arrangements with the prospective house sitter, as we are open to overlapping dates with the house sitter.