Hi, we have recently joined up after being recommended by family. I think our house is nice, pets friendly and put lots of detail in our profile but after a week we don’t have any sitters apply. How long does it normally take to get applicants, would it be because it’s the first time and no reviews? Our dates aren’t until end of august and February but worrying we won’t have any options before then.
There are too few sitters right now to fill all the sits available, but we recommend doing what we did as sitters during the lockdown periods: register on multiple sites. You can also let forum members take a look at you listing, let the THS staff boost your listing or write to sitters in your area (especially new ones without references).
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Thank you we have just had an application for one of the dates 
Just after an idea as to what to expect, but sounds like it’s not just us wanting a sitter. I guess just need to be patient and hope for some interest.
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Hello @Rex-tilly and welcome to the forum and to TrustedHousesitters. There are so many variables to consider to answer your questions. Certainly one is that the rapid increase in homeowner listings worldwide, and not just for THS, has affected the availability of housesitters.
The first way we can increases your chances of being selected is to have you embed your listing into your forum username/profile. Members are excellent at giving constructive feedback. Tweaking your listing may just make all the difference. Here are the instructions for how to add your listing:
How to add your listing to your forum username/profile
One thing you’ve mentioned is that you’ve added lots of detail. Keep in mind there is a Welcome Guide you provide any confirmed sitter. The details in your listing should focus on what a sitter needs to consider to make sure they are a good fit for your needs. I see listings explaining where the pet food is stored, for example. That should go into the Welcome Guide. I’m mentioning this not only for your sake but for the other homeowners who may add too much detail into their listing.
Francine,
Volunteer Forum Moderator 
We have seen sits filled within hours, others need to wait for weeks to get any interest. But we actually don’t scroll down to older listings, since the HO might already be talking to someone (a lot of HOs forget to take down their listing).
Thank you, it is all new to us and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I will try and add my listing and welcome any feedback. I read quite a few before I finalised mine but I guess just needs the right people looking at the dates and location.
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Hi, @Rex-tilly. Glad you are here on THS and the forum!
In addition to the advice already shared, be sure to have inviting, accurate pictures of your home, particularly the spaces the sitter will be occupying. When we first joined we could only post 7 pictures; now it is considerably more (we have 17 pictures).
For our most recent trip in June, we posted our dates in February, took it down in April and re-posted it. I don’t know if that helped us, but shortly after we had a couple from Israel reach out and book with us. We tend to make our travel plans well in advance, but we know some folks prefer to (or need to) make decisions much closer to the dates of travel (as I write this I am looking into a last-minute trip to the west coast of the USA next week 
)
You can also look through the sitter profiles and see if any are available for your dates. While we have had a number of sitters from out of the area, we also have found one local sitter who lives in an apartment and enjoys coming to our house for our screened-in back-porch and garden.
Best of luck to you!
Welcome Rex-tilly,
I have been a member for a short time and for a couple of sits got quite nervous about no applications. I am very pro-active, sending out invitations and contacting local (and distant) potential sitters. I also just confirm the first sitter that I really feel good about (not always the first application) rather than wait for a huge list of people. And that works for me because the sitters I have had have been fantastic, wonderful, interesting and just all round good people. I feel fortunate.
I have had a couple of cancellations but I always have alternate plans just in case.
So, hang in there!
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