Joining as a new owner - advice please

I am wondering about joining but not sure if it is worthwhile. What is the chance of finding a sitter for a couple of weeks in early July. We live in a pleasant area in rural England with a dog, cat, a couple of hens and 3 fancy rats.

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It probably depends on a lot of factors, but from what you write we would be most enticed by caring for rats! Longer sits are usually also more sought after. There will be a good deal of competition for sitters this year, though, and there are a few threads in this forum with helpful tips on how to make your listing more enticing. PS: You can also get 25 % off if another member invites you and there coupons online last time I checked.

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Hello, I live in Devon and had 4 sitters apply for my place within about 3 days. This was for 2 weeks in early August looking after 1 quite needy dog and 2 cats. I confirmed my sitter recently following a video conversation.

For full disclosure, I do work for THS. Though I have a vested interest in people joining I also wanted to share my experience of my first listing.

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7 posts were merged into an existing topic: Where have all the sitters gone to?

Hi @ClaireGavin and welcome to the forum. If you’ve done any reading here you’ll see that currently the numbers favour sitters in your country. There are complex reasons for this, almost all due to situations outside the control of TrustedHousesitters. However, you’ll also read in this post of a staff member who had no problems finding a sitter. Chances are they are familiar with and followed these guidelines:

How to create the perfect home and pet owner listing

I think a successful THS member - owner or sitter - needs to put in the work to (honestly) promote themselves as best they can. For owners, one of the biggest stumbling blocks is when they state that a car is needed, as this is limiting for many sitters. My tip is to look at your situation and make sure that a car is truly a NEED, rather than a preference. Many sitters are resourceful and can manage without a car.

As for membership and whether it’s worth it, there are some money-back guarantees built into membership pricing. I’ll add a link below:

Membership pricing

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welcome @ClaireGavin
nothing like some fancy rats :grin:
Enjoy the forum

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