Hi, is there a way to find people specifically interested in long term sits?
We have had a number of wonderful sitters in the past but also some doozies and so now only invite personally folks who look like they might be good matches.
Any advice most welcome!
Depending on the situation, we may be interested in a long term one. 
Hi @Scimitar
In your listing, use key words in your title. Such as exclusive, unique 3 months Opportunity then in your intro give specifics of the criteria you must have. I would be direct so as to attract the right people from the start without narrowing so much that you might put people off.
For example our sitter should or must be ——, able to——, be willing to——
Provide good photos, descriptions of home and pets and their needs.
Many of us love long term sits and where and when will also attract different folks so highlight the splendors of your location during that season.
All the best.
We would say make sure it is the key message in your listing heading, give the sitters an idea of how long long term is - 3 months, 6 months, etc.
We’re always keen to look at long term sits depending on location, responsibilities, etc.
We prefer long term sits and are looking for something extended in the new year.
I think you will find there will be a lot of interest, especially from experienced sitters.
If you add your listing link to your forum profile, you will get some good advise how to tweak wording within your listing and manage expectations from those applying.
Thank you, @Amparo. As I said, we have had wonderful sitters, but the doozies (who have been seriously bad) have all come from advertising rather than direct invitations, so while I realise this is entirely anecdotal and not scientific, it has rather put me off opening our page to applications.
Oh I am so sorry to hear that. I would say post as far ahead as possible as many of us that do long term sits are booked well in advanced.
Look for people who have great comments in their reviews. People who are really pleased tend to express themselves well I find.
I would love to see your listing but I am booked into end of 2023, NZ and Australia are still on my radar…
Don’t give up and keep seeking recommendations. Perhaps some of my colleagues here will have some insight or availability.
Best wishes
We are experienced sitters but new to being home owners needing sitters for when we are overseas later this year full time house sitting. We recently filled our 5 month sit (no pets) by being very specific in our listing by saying we won’t split the sit dates and only want sitters to apply who can commit to the full 5 months. We said that we provide a very professional quality service to our owners and we are wanting sitters who offer the same type of service to us. Sitters who are reliable, will do what they promise us and who will commit to the full term of the sit (we don’t want to split the sit). While our sit hasn’t happened yet, our chosen sitters seem excellent.
Hello @Scimitar,
We would be very interested in a longer term sit depending upon the particulars. I see from your post that it says you are from New Zealand. I’ve wanted to visit since I met my foreign exchange student prom date from NZ(a long time ago!) We are new to THS and while we do have a couple sits confirmed, we don’t have any feedback on our profile as of yet as we haven’t yet retired to travel. Our only issue is that traveling the world, we won’t have a vehicle but if there are grocery stores, restaurants and/or public transportation available, we are certainly open to long term sits. We are scheduled out through mid February, but are very open and flexible after that and will be visiting one way or another within the upcoming year.
Dan
post moderated
Thanks @crookie for your advice and delighted you’ve been successful! Hope everything goes smoothly for you and you have a wonderful time away. As I said on the main page - we’ve had some truly wonderful HS (before covid, we traveled for a 3 month block each year) so are hoping to find a similar match for next year. Best wishes and thank you again
@Scimitar If I understand your question correctly, you’d like to know how to search for and invite sitters who are willing to stay for 3 months rather than have sitters respond to your listing. When I completed our sitter profile, the only question regarding sit preferences was about location, not length. So I don’t think there’s a filter that would suit your needs when searching for a sitter.
Anecdotally, you say that all of the « doozies » applied to your listed sit. How about the wonderful sitters? Did they also apply to your listing or did you find them via their profile?
Hi @Scimitar
I see you’re in New Zealand…where exactly? It could be difficult to attract people from outside New Zealand to stay in your home for 3 months but that could depend on what kind of pets (if any) you have to look after, if a car is offered and length of visa.
I’m from the UK and the maximum length of stay allowed would be 6 months so am not sure I’d want to stay in one place for 3 of those unless I could explore. I speak from experience as, before the pandemic spent 6 months in the North island doing 8 housesits booked via THS the longest of which was for 3 weeks. I had a fabulous time and all bar one of the owners left me their car to use. On 31/10 I’m flying to Christchurch to spend 6 months housesitting and travelling around there. I’ve got 6 housesits booked so far (4 through Kiwihousesitters and 2 indirectly via THS as for a lady who I sat for in the North island, moved to Picton & invited me to sit twice). Again all of those owners except one are leaving me a car to use.
Not that I am aware of, although asking on here I see a few people have mentioned they would be interested.
Failing that it seems you will have to follow the usual route of listing your sit.
Thanks Mary-Kay. We approached the brilliant ones directly. And they were really wonderful (and in the majority)!
Hi @Scimitar and welcome to the community forum. You have a beautiful home in a beautiful area, not to mention those precious Staffies!
This is a great question and I see you have had several replies. I might also add, if you are looking at someone for a long term sit, make sure you have pics of all seasons involved (spring with flowers, summer with pool (if appl), fall with change colors and winter with snow. This way sitters can see exactly what they are applying for during the particular seasons they will be there.
As sitters, we will be looking for long term sits in the future, so good luck and happy hunting!
Debbie - Forum Team Moderator
We often do long-term sits (3, 4, 5 months) but you’d never find use to invite us because our location doesn’t reflect where we’re looking for sits. Some people change their location but we find we’re looking for sits for many months to a year out and these can be on different continents, so no single location will help. I hope you’ll try posting your sit to open it up to those who are really looking and want to be in your area for longer periods of time. Good luck!
We would be interested in long term sits. But we also have our own dog and 2 small shorthair cats. No behavioral issues. Sometimes we have our 17 (18) yr old, but shes making other plans now. So basically we are semi retired. I posted an introduction as well.
Thank you for your interest - we couldn’t accommodate extra animals in addition to our own I’m afraid.
Best wishes,
@Scimitar
There’s no way to specifically look up sitters who are interested in long-term sits, because there’s no way for sitters to indicate this, except to write it in their profiles.
But if you read their reviews, you can look at the dates of each previous sit, and see how long the sits were.
Good luck!
I was thinking the same thing as I was reading the comments. Whats the difference! To me its the getting to know you stage that determines a persons character not how people apply. Maybe they spend more time on reading profiles when they are searching for sitters and less when its an application, or its just coincidence.