Recession-Stressed Professionals Become Caretakers of Luxury Properties

Creating a lifestyle out of wanderlust has a certain appeal these days. People of diverse ages, career status and finances are hitting the road as caretakers of upscale properties around the world.

My own focus is on environmentally-sound mini vehicles that hit the road to faraway places, providing wheels and housing at an affordable price. The essence of the desire is the same.

People are chosing to escape their economically-challenged, stressful lifestyles as caretakers of luxury or novel second-home properties around the world.

Gary Dunn, the publisher of The Caretaker Gazette, a newsletter and Web site that matches property owners with caretakers, said it was a “boom time” for the business. The Caretaker Gazette has over 11,000 paid subscribers, up more than 10 percent from two years earlier, he said. (NYTimes)

Susan Holtham, runs Mindmyhouse.com, an online service listing housesitting and caretaker positions, mostly in Europe, agrees that caretakers have moved beyond ex-policemen.

Some positions pay and others do not. Responsibilities vary. Living as a caretaker offers an opportunity to explore the world, in typically luxurious surroundings, at someone else’s expense. Now that’s not a bad idea for responsible, reputable people with a desire to shake up their own lives a bit, at someone else’s expense.

Every cloud has a silver lining. This is one example. A

via Have Mop, Will Travel: A New Wave of Caretakers NYT