With the Tier 4 restrictions confining us to Kent for the foreseeable future we are having to carefully consider our future housesitting lifestyle. It looks more and more likely that we will have to find somewhere to settle long-term.
Any other sitters seriously considering their futures?
@Jon-JWalking we really don’t know what to do. We are currently in Airbnb but we are going to have to leave on the 1st Jan. We have got a sit booked from 3rd Jan for a couple of weeks but they are meant to be travelling to South Africa so really not sure they will be travelling. They want to review the situation on the 27th Dec but we are thinking we probably need to sort ourselves out before that time.
In a really difficult situation. Thinking we are going to end up in national lockdown after Christmas so feel we need something more long term again.
Are you housesitting or renting at the moment?
Just finishing a sit today then renting Airbnbs through to mid January. Housesit booked then but expect it to be cancelled.
Really my heart gos out to you
@Jon-JWalking so what are your thoughts?
Are you going to cancel your January sit to try and find something more long term or move to your Airbnb and get through Christmas and see what the situation is then.
I have to admit I thought with London and South East locked down there would be more rentals available around the rest of the country but I can’t believe how many in our price range still seem to be booked up.
We’re currently in a Premier Inn for a couple of nights before our Airbnb. Still undecided what to do but verging on cancelling the sit and finding somewhere for 3 months. Very expensive though but we don’t seem to have a lot of choice. Rethinking our whole travelling/housesitting/nomadic lifestyle currently
I am fortunate that I kept my flat in Glasgow, been here 6 months now, only managed to get one sit in Scotland over the summer. There have been very few listed in Scotland recently, in fact, yesterday there were 2. Another listed today, for October next year!!
I have put off buying a car, for now, was hoping to travel again, but in the new year will need to make that decision. If I buy a car, at least I can do sits in the UK, when travel is allowed, but would probably mean not going back to SE Asia for a while.
I have managed to get a couple of gigs on Rover over the last couple of weeks, so at least I am getting my dog fix…
The other thing I have considered is getting a dog - but that would definitely be the end of my sitting and travelling, which I don’t really want to do…fingers crossed thing improve early next year.
I volunteer at my local shelter and foster pets through a rescue. You may want to consider doing something like that, so you can get your pet fix without making a long-term commitment to a pet and curtailing your travels. It is very rewarding to help facilitate their adoptions. Of course, if you do get a pet, you can be both a HO and a sitter once travel opens up!
I have fostered in the past, failed twice, that’s how I ended up with 2 springer spaniels !! But even they are not fostering right now.
@Jon-JWalking Thank goodness for Premier Inns, we have spent a lot of time in those over past 6 months!!! 
Even thinking if we settle back down at some point going for the purple colour theme to make us feel at home.
Have you ever tried asking on Airbnb if they would accept a cheaper price for a longer stay? And if so how did they react? We keep seeing properties that are expensive but wonder if they would take a cheaper price if they were guaranteed a 3 month income rather than just an odd night here and there. It makes sense to us but not sure if they would think we were being cheeky!
I haven’t tried it but I know that some Airbnb only take longer bookings, I booked a week in Jakarta, then tried to book same again for a few days, but it doesn’t even appear if you search bookings for a few days. I found this :
When you select your dates, you will notice that the price range can change accordingly. If you book a place weekly or monthly, you should see a discount appearing on the total price.
“If you’re booking a place for a longer period, you can negotiate the price. You only need to contact the Airbnb host via the button “contact this host” and they might give you a special offer. Usually, you will have a certain period to make the booking. (Last time I did this, I had a 24-hour window to book the special offer.)”
So it must be possible.
Very interesting. Never done it before but will certainly look into it now. You would have thought hosts would be pleased to have any bookings at the moment.
@Petermac that is good to know. We can see that some are offering a monthly discount but are still very expensive.
Might just have to try asking and see what they say.
We have a two bed property in Worcester that we rent to a family, they have been there for five years so we don’t want to evict them during this time, it doesn’t seem fair. However we are trying to find rentals around the same price as the rent we receive from them!! It is proving impossible!!!
We love a Premier Inn, in fact I think they should have a loyalty card for regular users. Great comfy beds. Like the idea if decorating in purple though, that’d be great.
Never booked longer than a month in an Airbnb but they are always cheaper if you go for the month.
Unbelievable that prices aren’t dropping isn’t it? Surely owners are struggling to rent places out and would just be pleased to get a booking.
I can’t believe how many are booked out over January.
Either there are a lot more people in a similar position to us than you would think or there are a lot of city workers deciding to extend their Christmas break and work from home somewhere different away from tier 4 
It does make you wonder doesn’t it? Perhaps there really are loads of homeless nomads out there although I suspect not. I think a lot of Airbnb hosts are just taking their places off the market. We know a few who have just booked out the next few months to avoid guest contact.
Had a couple of Premier Inns cancelled now so it’s getting worse!
They will be taking into account staff wages safety
Balancing out number of guests etc .
Hope something works out.