Swedish-American couple with two teenage children, Lucy (14) & Ben (16)

About this sitter

We are John and Dorothee, with our two teenage children, Benjamin and Lucy. John is American, Dorothee-originally from Germany, but we both have Swedish citizenship and have lived here for over 17 years.
Dorothee has recently obtained her Green Card so we are planning our move to the USA for the summer of 2026.
John is a high school English and Social Studies teacher approaching retirement.... but planning on working many years forward. His first career is as a carpenter and he has a contractors license in California.
Ben and Lucy are good students, love playing music and are active in sports. So being in a neighborhood with good schools is important for us.
Dorothee is a certified Montessori preschool teacher.
Our hope is to find a home for a full year, while we get our bearings in the US. We are willing to pay expenses although we hope for a mutually beneficial agreement between ourselves and the owners.
We own a home here in Sweden and are planning on renting it out initially, during our first year in the US.
In the long-shot circumstance that a family would want to live in our home for a year, in exchange for us living in their home, we would be willing to consider that situation too.
We are active members of a Christian church here in Kalmar and will want to find a community of believers near our eventual place of residence.

We can easily get both official and personal references with regards to our clean record and good character.

Why they want to house sit

We simply want to explore the options. Registering here on MindMyHouse is a way to reach out and see if there is a like-minded family that would be open for a mutually beneficial arrangement.
We are experienced in regular upkeep of a home and are practically inclined. We do all the work on our own home and John has built an addition to our current house. We enjoy keeping a nice garden.

Their experience

Years ago, in Irvine, CA, John had some experience housesitting and it was positive.
We have owned and maintained two homes here in Sweden and take pride in making them beautiful and pleasant places to live.
Both the interior of the home and the garden are important to us. We are not expert gardeners, but we do keep our own garden as nice as we can and would do the same in a house-sitting situation.

What can they bring to the assignment

As expressed above, we have our own home and are responsible and reliable people. We are both handy with practical upkeep and the responsibilities of a household.
All general maintenance is to be expected of us and even minor repairs could be discussed as a term or condition in an agreement.
We have had egg-laying chickens and are animal lovers.