Landing the first assignment is the hardest for every New house-sitter. This is how it was for new house sitter Bragi Jonsson. A lover of travel and the sharing economy, Bragi learned about house sitting and was very eager to try it. In the beginning, he applied for many assignments without any success.  This went on for about six months and a lot of new house sitters would find this repeated rejection disheartening and some would even decide to give up. But not Bragi, lucky for him and now some very grateful homeowners he got the help he needed to get started. What happened after that is nothing short of inspiring. He went on to become a successful house sitter and embark on the adventure of a lifetime!

New house-sitter Bragi’s beginning in Iceland

Bragi had many experiences throughout his life that helped him to become a terrific house sitter today. Some people are better suited to house sit than others are. One could say Bragi is one of the best people for the job. He grew up in Reykjavik, Iceland spending summers on outlying farms helping with the animals. As a young adult, he helped his sister raise her children and began honing his skills in the hospitality industry working in local hotels. He continued helping on farms in the summers helping with birthing lambs.

He loves to travel and worked in several countries over the years as well, including Iceland, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Ireland, and Norway. Living in these countries helped him amass a whole litany of work experiences and prepared him for his life as a New house-sitter. He continued to work in hotels and pubs in Norway and Ireland but also went on to garner experience working on cargo ships and various factories. Later in life, he slowed down a bit and became a security guard working night shifts in Iceland, doing small tours for visitors to Reykjavik on the side.

The sharing economy inspired a change of direction

With the growth of the Sharing Economy and Bragi’s appetite to travel he started Couch surfing as an affordable way to travel more and see new destinations. He discovered that accommodation didn’t have to be expensive. There are a lot of affordable options other than hotels so he began to explore different accommodation ideas. He read about house-sitting and became very excited. Bragi decided to register with four platforms and one of those house-sitting sites was HouseSitMatch.

HouseSit Match offered the help Bragi needed to get started house sitting

He began applying for house sits, optimistic and excited. But, months passed and he wasn’t being selected by any homeowners. Determined, he reached out to each of the platforms for support and advice to get started. Lamia spoke with him a couple of times to find out more about his life and motivations for house-sitting. Bragi really felt the help he received from Lamia made the difference to his success finally landing a house sit. She helped him structure his profile to highlight his many professional skills to become a successful house sitter. Lamia and Bragi met in London on his way to his first assignment. Both helpful, friendly people it’s no surprise they are now friends today.

New house-sitter Bragi finds paradise

Bragi is a security guard and a New house-sitter, and understands the meaning of a relationship based on trust, and the important role he’d play when homeowners invite him to care for their property and pets. He has always spent time with animals, in fact, he loves animals of all kinds and has extensive experience with dogs, cats, horses and many others. Lamias help to shine a light on these skills helped Bragi get his first house sitting assignment in Marbella, Spain! He is still traveling in Spain, now working on his fifth consecutive house sit. Two of the assignments came about because of a referral from the homeowner on his first assignment.

And, Bragis extensive experience with animals on farms helped him land two house sits where homeowners were asking for a couple! He did an incredible job and garnered outstanding references.

He can’t believe the amazing adventure house sitting has provided for him, especially in the warm winters of the Southern Mediterranean. He really appreciates the contrast between regular temperatures of -3 to -13°C in Southern Iceland vs +10 to +20°C in Southern Spain in winter!

The financial benefits of house-sitting were life changing for Bragi

He feels that as a New house-sitter he has found a wonderful new way of life combining his love of animals, his professional skills as a security guard and his appetite to discover new countries and locations. House-sitting meets all these needs and more! Spending the majority of his house-sitting time in Spain, Bragi was astounded to learn how much cheaper the cost of living was in comparison to living costs in Iceland. Bragi found most prices to be 60 -70% cheaper in Spain than in Iceland! Everything including rent, restaurants, beer and wine and transportation are all dramatically cheaper than in Iceland. Not only does Braggis paradise have more favorable warm weather it is also really affordable!

Bragi left Iceland six months ago to begin his first assignment. The four house sits that followed helped him embark on a life changing adventure. Bragis next trip is to Santiago de Compostela in North Spain. He plans to finish a hitchhiking trip that he’d started from Denmark to Portugal many years ago.

House-sitting is the perfect way to travel well and save money in the process. Bragi now knows the incredible benefits house-sitting can offer travelers; staying like a local in Spain, living better because of a low cost of living doing the things he loves most, traveling and caring for animals.

If you would like to try house-sitting register with HouseSitMatch and we can help you find either a housesitter to help you, or a housesit to start your journey!

To register as a House-sitter follow this link

To register as a Homeowner follow this link