Professional House Sitting - Selecting Sits
Getting Started
You’ve decided to take the plunge and start applying for house sits! Congratulations!
Suddenly you’re faced with websites full of pictures of delightful fur children, images of people’s living rooms and little profile photos.
How do I know which sits to apply for?
What kind of questions should I ask?
Where should I be looking?
What ‘red flags’ should I look out for?
Depending on which site or app you’ve decided to sign up with, your approach may differ. The site I use most commonly is Trusted House Sitters, mostly because I have found I like the layout and the search function. I have also found that Trusted is often a mecca for UK based sits, with a plethora of honest reviews from previous house sitters.
For this reason I’ll use Trusted as my example for this guide.
Finding ‘Sits’
After signing up to Trusted (completing and registering your profile), you can navigate to the ‘Find a house sit’ page. Here you can select your chosen dates for sitting, the duration of sits, the types of pets you are comfortable sitting and more.
*Unpopular opinion alert* When you are applying for a sit, I believe, as the sitter, it is your responsibility to ensure the sit is suitable to you. What I mean by this is; you need to ensure you have a list of questions ready for the home owners to check suitability. It is not the fault of the owners if you forget to ask them about something MONUMENALLY IMPORTANT to you, because they failed to tell you about it.
For example; you have a car and do not want to pay for parking during your sit. This is not unreasonable. But it is up to you to ask the owners about parking options and if they tell you ‘there’s street parking available near the house’ but they’re not sure about the costs, it is up to you to check if that is paid or not.
Example 2: You can’t cook. The owners tell you that there is a grocer nearby and a nice pub in town. If your intention is to eat lunch and dinner at the only pub in town, it is not unreasonable to expect if your sit is longer than a few nights, that you will eat every meal on the menu very quickly. It is not the owner’s responsibility to warn you that you might be eating chicken pot pie for dinner every night of your 14 day sit.
Tip 1: Read the ads thoroughly before applying for sits. If the ad states ‘not suitable for solo sitters’ and you are sitting alone, then don’t apply for it. There may be any number of reasons the owners have stated more than one person is required for the sit. Save them the hassle and leave their sit for pairs and couples to apply.
Do your own research before you apply, this should go beyond what is listed in the ad. I recommend this to include;
Any special requirements you need to access the sit - visas, passport etc.
How far away is the listed suburb from amenities?
If you are catching public transport, checking what will be available around the dates you would be travelling (eg. are services disrupted on a Sunday?)
Grocery stores/restaurants/shops
Safety of the area in which the sit is located
Entertainment/experiences in the local area
Anything mentioned in the ad that you are unsure about. ie. Ad mentions that cat needs diabetes injection daily. Check what this means before applying to save the owners ruling you out when they learn you have a needle phobia.
Once you’ve found a sit that you like the look of (photos, pets, descriptions of the property/location and duties required) you are ready to submit your application!
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