Local Couple Find Sitters While Homeowners Are on Vacation

By Ruth Lepper

Planning to be away from home for an extended period of time? Pat and Rich Richardson are the people to call. They have been running Home Sitting Services of San Diego County for more than 20 years. They hire senior citizens to do the work, with about 25 people on call throughout the county.

“They have to be fully retired,” Pat said. “They can’t have a job or some other activity that would take them away from the home. They have to be able to drive, be non-smokers and love animals.”

The Richardsons have provided sitters for homes from Chula Vista to Rancho Santa Fe and Fallbrook, and on a few occasions, Temecula.

“It usually runs from three to 10 days,” she said of the sitting assignments. “It’s mostly for vacations and business trips.”

The sitters, couples or a single person, do whatever they would be doing in their own homes. Watch television, water the lawn, go for walks and clean up after themselves. If there are pets, they take care of them.

The pets come in all shapes and sizes. Dogs have ranged from Maltese to Great Danes.

“It’s mostly dogs and cats,” Pat said. “Occasionally, we’ve had a hamster, sometimes a rat. Snakes are all right if they’re in a cage. We’ve had lizards and iguanas.”

Pat’s uncle started Home Sitting Services in Denver after he had been a housesitter for a friend and realized there was a need for the type of services he could offer. The business expanded to 85 agencies around the country. He started the business in San Diego for his daughter to run, but when she opted out, Pat decided to step in.

“I quit my job and took it over,” she said. “I started it and never looked back.”

There is always room for more sitters, Pat said. For more information about being a sitter or to make use of the agency’s services, call her at (760) 765-1292.