Wanted: Rural couple seeks city snowbirds for winter housing

Shannon and Brad Hardy have taken out an unusual classified ad — they are looking for a house to sit this winter.

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For most of the year, the couple lives in a trailer on Shannon’s father’s rural property in Haldimand County, where they landed after they were displaced from their rental unit about a year ago because the owner wanted to move back in.

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But they need somewhere warmer to spend the winter, and are hoping to match with snowbirds in Hamilton or the Greater Toronto Area who want someone trustworthy to look after their house from November to May.

“The ideal situation for us would be house sitting for snowbirds, as we can live well and keep saving money,” Shannon said, explaining she and Brad want to have a baby and build a house beside their Dunnville-area hobby farm within the next few years.

Paying rent for six months of the year would slow that process, so they launched a website — snowbirdsitters.ca — and took out an ad in The Spectator promising to “keep your home in good condition and under a watchful eye while you’re away .”

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The idea is that no money changes hands. The Hardys will pay the utility bills but live rent-free, and the trade-off for the homeowner is the peace of mind that comes with leaving their property in good hands.

“Why not keep saving money and be beneficial to someone else as well?” said Shannon, 31, a self-employed house cleaner whose husband works in management at a car-parts warehouse.

“We’re a very happy couple,” Shannon said. “Clean, quiet, mature, friendly.”

They are non-smokers with no pets, and the house would be “deep cleaned” regularly, she added.

This novel attempted solution to the housing crunch is borne of necessity, said Shannon, with prices rising in Haldimand and little inventory available to rent or buy. The Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington reported Tuesday that the average price of a home in Haldimand County in September reached $698,964.

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“An economy like this is tough for people my age who are running out of time to get on with their lives,” she said.

“But even though I’m living in a trailer, this is what privilege looks like nowadays. Nobody can buy houses right now.”

The couple’s trailer is more like an apartment than a camper, with upgraded bathroom fixtures that will be transferred to their future house, Shannon said. But the trailer has a lot of windows and is “very poorly insulated,” and costly to heat with propane.

“And then if anything goes wrong, it’s a scary thought,” she said. “We could pile into my dad’s house in a serious emergency, but he just doesn’t have the space for us.”

The idea is to rent for the winter months only, as the couple needs to be back on the farm once the weather warms.

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Last winter they rented a bedroom in an already-crowded house, and they would like something more private this year. But motel rooms with kitchenettes cost as much to rent per month as apartments.

Shannon is hopeful the right people will come out to the farm to meet her and Brad, and see how meticulously they keep their trailer.

“(House sitting) is definitely our first pick for what we would do. We can clear criminal record checks and anything else they need to feel secure,” Shannon said, inviting anyone interested in exploring the possibility to visit the website or contact her at 289-828-3316.

JP Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

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