There’s some sits which are perfect 5* listings for a brief stay maybe a week maximum but which wouldn’t suit if it was a month or longer. Of course the reverse is also true.
I’ve done shorter sits where the Host invites me back for a much longer sit- it’s quite hard to put into words exactly why it’d be different though… and not so appealing to do a long stint. Mostly it’s about personal circumstances but also maybe location boredom….
Personally, I’m not interested in long sits, no matter how great the pets, home or location. I sit for variety and love nesting at home, too.
The first sit I accepted three+ years ago was an unsolicited one that I was invited to do in a terrific West Coast location, with two lovely, easy dogs, a great home and car. It was a six-week sit and I asked the hosts to break it up — I did about two weeks on either end and another sitter took two weeks in the middle, so I could go home.
Among other unsolicited sits, I was offered months in waterfront Hawaii and in France, and I turned them down.
For us it depends on many, many factors as we are so flexible. We don’t have any hard or fast rules. The biggest surprise for us recently, as we needed to stay close to home for our residency renewal, was short sits in locations not far from us but places we hadn’t explored fully such as a week in Porto. As they say you rarely explore your own backyard. A week in Porto
To each their own.
If in a beautiful natural area, I could easily do a long sit. My problem is, the longer the sit, the more attached I become to the animal(s).
I personally get overwhelmed being in a city for more than a week. Better food and culture, but I need open space.
@Maggie8K, please send me any sits in HI and France that you don’t want.
The Hawaii sit was from a host who was a university professor going on sabbatical. He said he liked my reviews. The French sits were from Nomador.
subscribed!
Awww. Thank you 
How have you found Nomador? We were members but didn’t renew.
I tried it about two years+ ago to see whether I could get sits in places where THS was thin. I did, but I found the user experience crappy, so I didn’t renew. I also got more sits than I could do on THS anyway. Now, I’ve weaned myself off THS, though my membership has a while to run. I’ve been doing a bunch of nonsit travel and doing sits now and again, via repeats and referrals.
I guess full time sitters will probably like long sits. The longest I’ve done so far is a month. That’s usually for summer sits when I want to get away from extreme heat in southern Spain.
So, in my case, more than location, it’s the time of year what makes me prefer longer or shorter sits. But I also wouldn’t do a long sit in an isolated area.
Yes definitely seasonal factors come into play, we did one longer sit in 43° heat in Australia so it became exhausting with very early walks at 5am or really late at 10pm. In the Channel Islands there were continuous rainstorms last winter making dog walks quite challenging at times and of course its dark after 4pm. In each case a long sit would be just too much work.
Short sits have their own issues as it takes 24 hours to settle in, then shortly afterwards you’re clearing up and leaving.
As a full-time sitter, my day to day comfort and experience is my top consideration when deciding on the sits I do, regardless of length. Though if I am trying to fill a shorter gap in my schedule, certain things take on less importance.
This means there have been many times I passed on applying for sits in really desirable locations–particularly longer-term ones–because there were just aspects of it that I knew would probably not work well for me, and the location really doesn’t compensate if the daily experience may be continually challenging in one or more ways.
The house being too small, looking cluttered, uncomfortable in certain ways, etc… was usually a factor in these instances.
The size of the house is definitely a big consideration for me when it comes to longer sits especially. I get kind of antsy in smaller spaces–and I travel with my husband-- so dwellings like studio apartments or guest houses that are just one open space are definitely out.
I do not count out apartments or smaller houses outright, but I would study the pictures carefully to get a sense of the size if it is not mentioned. I did a sit in Prague a few years ago in an ‘apartment’ but it was about 3,000 square feet so more like a house.
And the exact length can factor in as well. I may be okay doing a sit in a smaller apartment or house up to a couple of weeks perhaps, if it is in a spot that really appeals, but I probably would not do a a month-long sit in such a space.
For example, we have done a number of sits in bungalow style residences in California over the last several months that ranged from a few days to about 2 weeks, and while all the homes were beautiful–and in great locations-- I don’t know if I would stay in them for a month or more.
Most of my most recent longer-term sits–a month or so-- have all been in pretty spacious houses, and that was one of the draws of applying for sure.
While a house would not need to qualify for the cover of Architectural Digest for me to consider sitting there, if I am honest, I am definitely a big fan f more spacious, luxury-type homes. I would say almost all the houses I end up in are pretty nice, regardless of size. Many of the smaller houses I have sat in always had a comfy, cozy vibe and that is nice too sometimes.
We are all over the shop. Our past sits have been between one and two weeks. All were perfect for us and suited our needs at the time. We were travelling around them and we could slot them in well for us.
We are travelling again soon and I’m searching for fairly specific sit locations and dates to fit in with other plans. Shorter sits this time 
but if nothing works then we will just be paying for somewhere.
In the future we are certainly open to planning a trip around a sit if it’s enticing. Each one evaluated on its merits against our needs.
Also we have a nice small home, but love sits in homes that are architecturally specific to the location. I don’t mean flash and fancy necessarily, often just interesting to us as an experience. We search out similar when we are paying.
I only do short sits locally. Otherwise it’s not worth it.
I prefer to sit old houses, my best one so far was a 14th century house with a moat around it and access was a drawbridge. Think it was also haunted. Others are are 16/17th century houses, usually old farmhouses which are full of character, beamed ceilings and inglenook fireplaces, Acres of land to walk the dogs and wonderful countryside views.
Do haunted houses break the third party rule?
Love your reply 
For me, I think it’s mostly about the view. If I can look out the window while working and see trees or a body of water, I’m happy. Last view was dense forest. Current view is through trees, over a body of water, with a sparkling city on the other side. 
