Hi! New from Bay Area! Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome & Getting Started
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I probably read every review on trustpilot as well as scoured social media. I can see this being a little scary at first for both sitters and owners.

But here I am, I just finished setting up my account and posted some dates for a sit over Christmas. I honestly thought, even though we are on the outskirts, the Bay Area will be highly popular.

Is it normal to have zero responses after a few days?

Just want to check if I did anything wrong or if my photos look funky. I could probably update with photos taken during day light but I just wanted to get the process started.

Any feedback on my account?
Hope all is well!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!

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This question has been asked a lot and it is a little late to be posting for Christmas, a lot of us sitters have been booked up for several months.
Despite that, you never know and just need that one sitter or couple to apply and click with!
One of the moderators may well reply and suggest you put a link to your sit here as I can’t see it.

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HI @CatandNox

Welcome to the TrustedHouseSitters community! I know it can seem a bit daunting at first, but once you have your first experience with THS you’ll be hooked, or at least that’s how it was for me haha.

Here’s How to add a listing or profile link to your FORUM profile

Adding this link to your forum profile will enable forum members to quickly access your listing and provide feedback. We have lots of experienced pet parents and sitters on the forum who can take a look at your profile and see if there is any room for improvement.

Happy early Thanksgiving to you too :hugs:

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Hello @CatandNox - a warm welcome to the forum and we are very happy to hear that you’ve done all your due diligence and joined our family of pet lovers and travellers! Christmas is one of the busiest times of the house sitting calendar, so don’t be put off by not getting an immediate response. Whilst a lot of sitters book early, others are still planning their holidays and there’s often a resurgence in applications once Thanksgiving is past! One holiday at a time haha!

As @Julie_A says, adding your profile in the forum will give you extra exposure and enable that feedback you’ve asked for to happen. So I’ve taken liberty of adding for you (I can just as easily remove if you’d prefer). Hopefully by the time you come back online you’ll have some helpful advice from our members.

You have a lovely house and Nox is gorgeous as we’ll all see below… It’s also a huge benefit that you are including a car. Having a hot-tub is a lovely bonus too for some, if it will be available to use - we have one here in France and love plunging in on cold evenings to sit watching the stars!

My only suggestion would be to maybe remove a few of the home images where there are multiples per room. I know we are always saying lots of photos are good, but I think in your case you have a lovely home that’s quickly evident, and it would be good to get to pics of Nox sooner rather than later :slight_smile: Others may disagree, but I’d remove images 2/5/9/10/11/17 and just leave one picture of the bathroom the sitters will use. Finally from me… will it likely be a snowy winter wonderland over Christmas? That might be worth a mention if it is. Lots of people love the idea of snow for Christmas, especially if they live somewhere where it never falls!

I’m sure you’ll get some other feedback too so I’ll handover to our forum listing experts!!

Nox

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@CatandNox A well-written listing overall, especially as it seems to be your first time listing. I found it warm and inviting.

You do a good job of explaining Nox’s maximum exercise ability, but little about what the minimum would be. There may be sitters who would be excellent for Nox but perhaps aren’t as active as you. Give details (time/distance) of what 2-3 walks a day could be, as perhaps a minimum. Also mention how long he can be left alone, and whether he’s crated or left free in the home when you’re away from home. Sitters want to see if they are a good fit for Nox’s needs.

Looking at @Vanessa_A 's suggestions of photos to be removed, if I’ve counted correctly she has suggested the washer/dryer and the stairs. I would leave both in. For the length of the sit, the washer/dryer would be appreciated. For those who may have difficulty with stairs, that photo is relevant. You could go with less of Nox, but most owners prefer to share many of their favourite ones.

When a vehicle is available, I really appreciate a photo or details of it. I want to make sure it’s something I feel comfortable handling; it’s not a status thing at all. Especially in the US, many people drive larger vehicles than I’m comfortable with. For many this would not be an issue, but it can still be helpful. It’s unlikely to be manual transmission in the US, but if it is, state that as many drivers do not drive manual transmission vehicles.

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Every review on Trustpilot? Aren’t there 15000? =)

Anyway, welcome! FYI, I think your photos look great and didn’t feel a need to remove any.

As @Vanessa_A noted, it’s not your location but the timing. I’m guessing Christmas is the hardest time for HOs to find a sitter. But hopefully there will be that post-Thanksgiving surge of applicants!

On a related note, I’m not sure how I feel about the upsell, but account upgrades are 50% off for Thanksgiving, right? I’m only a sitter, but I understand the lowest HO level doesn’t let you see who saves/favourites your listing, but the other two HO levels do. If you know who saves your listing (but doesn’t apply yet), you can proactively invite/message them.

I used to live in the Bay Area and Sacramento, and honestly I’m not sure what all the fuss is about. =) But let’s say it’s SF. Then you could highlight that more in your headline and details. For example, gmaps says it’s 30 minutes from city to city, so you could say in the headline, “(30 min to SF! + Car!) Best doggo of Crockett Hills.” And in the details, you could mention driving times to SF, Berkeley, Napa, Tiburon, Muir Beach, as you see fit. (edit: and maybe driving time to nearest BART station w/parking)

As @Snowbird noted, more vehicle info would be nice. At least mention that one is provided in the text, not just the tags. (I missed that there was a car included, though I wasn’t looking for it.) And definitely talk a little about the minimum Nox interaction you’re comfortable with. After all, if you provide a car but the sitter doesn’t have time to go to SF in it, that’s not great. Can Nox go in the car, like taking the doggie to the beach?

Overall, I think your listing is great, with the slight caveat that a responsible sitter would worry about Nox being high maintenance, if the sitter wants to explore the Bay Area.

Also, your listing doesn’t come up when I search for San Francisco + Christmas sits. It isn’t flagged as “Christmas” for some reason. Not sure why. You could ask member services.

Best of luck!

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Hi!
Thank you so much for the feedback!

I have an automatic Prius so that should be easy to drive for most.

That’s a good point! I remember when I moved to the US, the sizes of vehicles can be overwhelming.

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Hi,

Thank you for the great feedback. I wonder why it doesn’t show up. I will check it out!

Yes, maybe San Francisco should be more of a sell a less so people can place it. Some people in the Bay Area don’t know Crockett.

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Thank you so much!! That’s some great feedback!

I will look through the photos and see about trimming.

I will definitely describe the car a bit!!