Partly because I want to tell you about mine.
There is a lot to learn in hearing people describe their single worst housesit, I think, as well as some emotional solidarity to be had.
I’ll go first?
This was off of TH, my first time trying it that way—a woman on Facebook. I normally wouldn’t use Facebook for any housing or travel things but she seemed solid and maybe I was feeling good off the back of a recent successful TH sit.
I was in a big city at the time and she had a second country house about an hour out. She offered to drive me out and fully stock the fridge, and it was only taking care of one cat and her outdoor plants. The house was tiny but cute with a massive porch and in a lovely semi rural area near a well-known beach. Meanwhile she would be in the city tending to her ailing mother.
Before accepting I told her how important wifi is for me as a digi nomad. She couldn’t quite confirm the wifi situation. I told her I could try the sit for a few days and if it didn’t work, we would reconfigure the plan. She agreed and offered to come pick me up and drive me back after a few days if needed (she was coming back to the property in a few days for errands anyway). Ideally the sit would be two weeks, though.
The whole drive there was her telling sob stories about life situations and bad sitters before, something I now know is a red flag. Ironically she talked a lot about red flags? Confusing. It’s not that I don’t mind life stories, it was just a bombardment of personal info and a victimized, struggling mentality, which would unfortunately come into the picture later on. She was still friendly and smart, though. But she also got me talking a lot, asking lots of personal questions.
You know how there’s a line between being friendly and then someone sort of “making fast friends” with you for a reason? There seemed to be no boundaries. She also offered a lot of other favors, like connecting me to people in the city. Something about it seemed strange, even though technically it was friendly? It was like…what was she compensating for already? Was she going to ask me for more favors? Or did she know she was sending me into a difficult scenario?
Upon arriving I had an immediate allergic reaction to the bed the first night. We’re talking unable to breathe, extreme coughing, hives, nausea. I asked if she had dust mites or black mold and she swore she didn’t. In the morning I also realized that the “bike” at the house for transport was a rickety, slow bicycle which was too small for me. Riding it to the nearest store 1km away was a slow and uncomfortable process which had to be done in mid day heat as the shops all had minimal hours. The cat was mostly outdoors and easy enough, but there were also stray cats from the area constantly trying to get into the house. The wifi definitely wasn’t working well enough.
Over the first weekend she asked me to show the house to potential buyers. As it was still in my “first few days” trial, I agreed. They were hours late so I wound up waiting for them all day. They spent an hour walking around the house and asking me questions, despite me repeatedly explaining I didn’t know the info and was just a friend of the HO.
The next door neighbors were also very loud. It was a family with multiple kids and for some reason their house was right next door, in the country…Ibheard everything. So much for peace and quiet.
The allergies continued, to the point where I wasn’t sleeping properly. I still think it was something in the mattress. It was affecting my days and would get a lot worse at night. I spent a lot of time researching what it could be—the cedar? The humidity? Covid? A lot of the symptoms still pointed to mites and mold. I started sleeping on the couch and could only breathe sitting straight up. Sleeping this way sort of threw my back out. I rode the rickety bike to the one nearby pharmacy and was taking some pills but nothing helped. In case it was humidity, I gargled with saltwater as I have dealt w humidity before. It didn’t help.
One day I decided to try a long bike ride to the beach, thinking maybe it would help. It took several hours but was mostly peaceful, except for encountering a couple “in coitus” on the side of the road 
Who I passed verrrrrry slowly on my slow squeaky bike
That night the cat dragged a very alive bird into the house. I spent most of the night trying to get it out, not easy because any open door or window started to attract all the cats . This was when it begin to almost get comically bad. I also was texting the HO a lot. She was very conversational, but still talking a lot about her difficult situations. She also got a bit weird if I didn’t answer her texts within the hour, as if she wanted me to constantly be there for her…but I was trying to get work done on the super slow wifi…somehow this house and its scenarios were eating up all my time, health + energy.
The next morning after the bird finally flew out, the HO was supposed to come to the property but postponed. I told her I need to go back to the city as I’m not sleeping, getting sicker, no wifi, etc. She asked if I could wait multiple more days. I tried. I think I lasted one or two more nights, but I had started coughing & throwing up all night. (Delightful). I searched for nearby hotels thinking maybe if I stay somewhere else locally I could heal and still come care for the cat and plants. But all hotels were too far for the bicycle and extremely expensive.
After one especially horrific night of throwing up I finally called KO. The next morning I informed the HO that my health has reached red alert and I need to exit ASAP, even if by taxi. She gave me the number of a taxi company in the area. I informed her I’d left a ton of food for the cat, enough for many days, and asked if I needed to leave the keys with a neighbor? There were many houses on her street. She said the neighbors were not an option (I wonder why?). She had absolutely zero backup, which I realize now is very dangerous. Either way, the cat was only barely around and definitely out hunting things so it wasn’t a huge worry to feed her. I had already stayed longer than I should have and longer than I agreed. But the HO seemed to start freaking out with worry over the cat (more than my health).
The taxi came by noon. I had to book an expensive last-minute accommodation back in the city. My health immediately got better when I left the house and that area, but I was still sick and recovering for over a week afterward. It was like a respiratory infection and honestly a bit scary in post CoVid times. Mind you I’m a solo traveler so it was just me taking care of me.
During this illness, a day or so after I left the house, after fully explaining and communicating with the HO every step of the way, I got a series of long, hateful and horrible messages from her. It was like she had completely 180’ed and gone to a very dark place. I stood up for myself and eventually blocked her, but I was truthfully a little shocked…she didn’t check on me or offer condolences at all, or even thank me for trying? Definitely no compensation for the taxi or anything else, either.
In all this I learned a lot—what to ask, what to look out for, what to make sure is there before I go somewhere. And I decided never to go for sits off of TH again.
Let’s hear your horror story?
