My husband has a sabbatical in 2026. We have one month available. I’ve adjusted my dates of availability. But how do we let families know we’d like a long term sit like 4-5 weeks?
You can save a search for sits of 1 month + then you will be notified when listings are published .
THS works best when hosts publish dates and sitters apply.
I haven’t seen many 2026 sits, yet, but some for sure already. Seems many plan their Christmas now in my favorited sits.
A month isn’t a «long» sit as such IMO, a «long» sit is for me several months. One month would be a normal holiday in many (European) countries where a yearly holiday would be between 28-38 days, typically (I think the EU-directive says min. 20 days, but it is common to have more. Some workplaces or tariff agreements give more, some have senior holiday which adds days etc.)
So depending somewhat on your wishes, you will certainly have options. Easier to get sits in the US and UK, as numbers of sits/ sitters favor the sitters.
@Jewel, the calendar availability function for housesitters on THS is frankly pointless. We gave up on it a long time ago. Technically, it could be used by pet parents to search for housesitters and invite them to sit - but this practice almost never works.
Rather, as @Silversitters suggested, use search function to setup one or more searches (e.g. location X city/country for anytime in 2026 and for minimum one month duration). Even if no search results appear then Save the search and enable notifications. You can setup multiple Saved Searches for multiple locations.
The housesitter community is very diverse in terms of situation, preferences and experience. For some housesitters then one-month is a very long time, for others it is brief. We have completed several housesits between one and three months duration.
Good luck!
You typically don’t let hosts know what sits you desire. Rather, you watch for sits to pop up that meet your desired criteria. When they pop up, you apply for the sit and hope you and the hosts mesh enough that they extend a formal invitation for you to do the sit.
Knowing when sits pop up that meet your criteria is where your search filters are useful. Those filters are more art than science and probably worth your time and effort to fiddle with a bit until you have a good understanding of what they will or will not do.
If you don’t have many reviews yet, consider doing some short term, nearby sits right now to build up a favorable THS reputation.
Good luck.
I think its more of. The case that you look out for a listing that comes up that fits your dates and length of time, then you apply, and hopefully, if you have a chat with the homeowner and your needs fit, you can secure the sit.
If you don’t have many reviews yet, you could try fitting in a couple of short-term, nearby sits through the platform to get some good reviews up on your on your profile.