What to do with the house?

After we'd decided where to go and for how long, the next big issue was what to do with the house (& cat) while we were gone. 

We got a couple of rental companies to come and visit and tell us the ins and outs of renting.  The longer they stood (or sat) and patronized us and tried to sell us insurances etc, the more I disliked the idea.  The man from Ashton & Burtonshaw was particularly irritating.  By the end of the extremely long session I was ready to slap him, and even with Richard kicking me under the table I still didn't manage to be polite or refrain from making biting comments.   It reminded me of all the times I had been insulted by rental companies when I had been the renter, with contracts that make you feel like a criminal for daring to want to live in their house.  From an owner's position, I couldn't quite grasp why they felt the need to sell me extra insurance in case my tenants didn't pay the rent, when they were charging a hefty fee to vet those tenants in the first place.  Surely, if they did their job properly the tenant would be loyally paying every month!

After finding out all the costs for renting - extra on the mortgage, extra on the house insurance, gas certificates, electricity safety certificates, moving all our furniture out and putting it in storage - and the hassle of sorting this all out when all I wanted to do was look forward to and plan for the trip, we did a budget plan for three scenarios.  Firstly, renting with all the associated costs, secondly, leaving the house empty with the hazards this would entail, and thirdly, getting a housesitter.

The housesitter idea had come from the Gap year for Grown ups book, I'd never really heard of it before.  I did some research on the net and found some good sites where potential housesitters advertise and owners get in touch.  They also gave me lots of info about the whole process and a form to use for a contract.  It sounded like a good idea.  They stay in your house rent-free, but pay the bills for the utilities they use, look after the house, garden and pets!  This could solve all our problems in one - looking after our house and garden, we could leave all our furniture etc and the cat wouldn't have to move to my mother's.  With a mortgage break (which we had overpaid to secure), financially it didn't work out worse than renting, and potentially a lot less hassle. 

So we set about advertising on the site Mindmyhouse.com, which has housesitters from around the world interested in all sorts of sits.  We wanted preferably an older couple who could definitely commit to the whole 10 months, but could be a bit flexible if we needed to come home in a hurry!  We had dozens of replies, from all sorts of people - retired people, those trying to save for a mortgage, writers, some from overseas travelling to see the world.  We interviewed and picked a nice couple that we got on well with, and Ellie seemed to like.  They had a lot of experience with difficult animals, especially cats.  We checked their references and saw their CRB check.   At a second meeting we signed the contract and agreed the cost of the bills, and a deposit.  All sorted!