About us: We are an active, non-smoking, cheerful, responsible, flexible, animal-loving, professional couple who have been homeowners.
Rob is a self-employed, former CEO, has been in the shipping container industry for the past 23 years, and can work from anywhere. Reliable internet is critical for him. Jen formerly worked in the mortgage banking, forensic accounting, and shipping industries. For the past two years, she has been freelancing.
Why we want to housesit: We moved to Costa Rica full-time in September 2023 and plan to explore different areas to figure out where we’d like to settle. Housesitting is an excellent way to accomplish this, so we are very flexible about location and pets.
Experience: Our experience caring for homes comes mainly from owning our homes over the past 25 years. Our last home was built in 1925 and we lived there for 17 years before selling it in We are quite familiar with what can go wrong, the importance of attending to things immediately, and general maintenance and upkeep (inside and outside).
Our experience caring for pets is a bit varied. We used to have two cats, two rescue dogs (an Old English Mastiff and a Dachshund mix), a snake (Florida King), and a lizard (Bearded Dragon). It was quite the site when they were all in the backyard hanging out! We love animals, and we bring some unique experiences. For example, after our snake had cancer surgery, we administered injections. Our last dog went blind due to an unexpected health condition, so we modified our household and re-taught him how to climb stairs and walk off-leash. Rob also has volunteer experience with two different nonprofit organizations - one in the US that did wildlife rehabilitation and another in South Africa that focused on rehabilitating primarily baboons but also included vervet monkeys. Jen used to volunteer at the Oregon Humane Society mainly focusing on dogs. She participated in a lot of programs that taught dog handling and training, and she worked one-on-one with a handful of difficult dogs. She also spent 5 years as a volunteer on their technical animal rescue team, which allowed her to become a certified recreational tree climber (for “cat in tree” rescue) and learn high-angle rope rescue (for “dog off cliff” rescue).
What we can bring to the assignment: We are mature, dependable, self-reliant, and trustworthy. We also like to read, cook, walk, hike, and get outdoors.
We will take care of your house and pets as if they are ours. Thank you for considering us. We look forward to hearing from you.