Since I am in CA, with a number of sits, suddenly I am getting requests to come by before to meet and do the run through – which I normally do when I arrive for the sit. I know others have done this, and I have done this once before, in a different area. But suddenly I am requested to do this for several sits, when it hasn’t happened to me before. Is it just because they know I am in the area? It is not the worst thing, but yesterday I traveled through LA traffic. So only 25 miles, but over an hour of driving time one way, in mid afternoon. The sit will be great as there is a pool, hot tub, sauna, gym. But I could have just done all the stuff when I got there for the sit. I now need to go in the other direction to Orange county for a sit in 2 weeks.
We only do a meet up ahead of the sit if and when it’s convenient for us .
If they are new hosts and we are nearby , it can be for our benefit to see the home before confirming the sit .
If it’s a simple handover and hosts won’t be there on arrival , we have arranged a video walk through .
Dogs or cats?
It feels like with dogs, it’s probably better to figure out a playdate and maybe a practice walk with or without the petparent. This could often mean starting the sit the day before the homeowner leaves, or coming several hours before the pet parent leaves. If that’s not possible or convenient, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for a pet parent choosing a local sitter to ASK if you could stop by before the sit at a day and time convenient for both to do a kind of “advance” handover. But I think this needs to be agreed on before the sit is confirmed as part of logistics.
Personally, I wouldn’t do the visit without a confirmation. The fact is they could still unconfirm if it didn’t go well but it has to be clear that you have it by this point and it’s only going to be cancelled if it goes badly.
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I have done meet ups ahead of sits, but only if it is convenient for me. I haven’t had a host requesting it. If they did I would only do it if it was convenient in terms of time, of money and of effort.
I’ve done it where I was in the area of the actual home or where I could use my transport card and get there in like 20 min. Over an hour drive each way would be a «sorry no can do» for me, while others might not think it is more than a short drive.
Since you’re in LA/OC area and you know how terrible the traffic is, I would only do it if it were convenient for you.
We have a sit in October. We have our sitter and we liked them so much (from the video call) and they sit primarily in CA, we told them if they happen to be in OC, come on by for a drink. They contacted me to say they will be in Southern Cal for a while and now they are coming over for happy hour in a couple weeks. We are excited to get to know them.
These are all confirmed sits. Maybe because I am nearby.
As a homeowner, I recently had an application from a lady who wanted to sit for us and bring her dog. She lives locally and offered to bring her dog over for a meet and greet. I gladly took her up on her offer, but offered to reimburse her for her gas costs in coming to my house.
I personally love homeowners who send an email saying “you sound like a perfect fit” and hit the confirm button! I detest video chats although have done them. I’m fine with just an old fashioned phone call or chat via email. We’ve done over 50 sits and have never had a bad experience and have found the homeowners we’ve had the best experience with are the ones who made quick decisions and confirmed without having to go through meet ups and video chats. This may be contrary to how other sitters feel or their experiences, but it has certainly worked for us.
I was reimbursed for gas once, the first time an HO asked me to come over. But the dog was a difficult dog. Not socialized, used all kinds of hand signals. These seem to be just to meet me. And it seems to be most of my sits in CA. Maybe because they know I am local for a few months.
We do lots of sits in CA (I grew up near San Fran) and meet ahead of the sit often.
I completely understand the LA traffic complaint, and so should the owners.
Maybe state in your applications that you are willing to meet ahead of time IF they are only 15 minutes away (with traffic)?? And you really do not have time to drive 2 hours round trip. If they cannot understand this, time to move on…
You can do a video chat to get a tour and to “see” whatever the owner wants you to see. This should be easy to do with cell phones.
Where can you drive in LA that is 15 minutes? It seems the sits are always on different sides of downtown LA. Was south in Palos Verdes, then just north of the city, then anaheim, then redondo, going north next to Griffith, then Carlsbad (near San Diego) then N Tustin. All within reasonable distances, but a pain for a 20 minute meet and greet. Like today, Redondo to N Tustin. 40 miles each way.
It could also be pragmatic. If there are keys for example and not a simple code you could use for entry, it would make a lot of sense to make sure you have the keys in advance. Given that these are LA sits and LA is competitive, it’s also what the market can bear!
Actually I did get the key. And found out the cat is only coming for Jul 4th weekend. Daughter dropping her off. Not an issue, the house is beautiful. Gorgeous backyard with lovely pool and hot tub. Side yard with extensive veggie garden, for me to eat. It is a 2.5 week sit. And applied to another sit in Carlsbad, and told them I would be there next week, in case they wanted meet. And they offered me the master, since my daughter is staying with me. I declined, again, don’t want to clean to full baths. We are using the other 2 bedrooms. As much as it is nice to stay in a lovely, large home, it is a lot to clean. There is a full size grand piano. Dusting…
Presumably they only know you are in the area because you told them. Maybe limit sharing that information.
I hear what you are saying. I meant that if you are in Anaheim, perhaps you would be willing to meet with another owner nearby, in Anaheim. Etc, etc.
However, if you are in Anaheim, and someone in Pasadena wants to meet with you in person, then no, you are not willing to do this due to the long drive. People should understand that. Video calls should suffice.
I’m from OC, although traveling a lot these days…so you’re the one getting all the great sits, huh? Lol
I responded actually to say that because of the drive time and headache, I offer a zoom call ahead of time, then get there early when possible to do logistics live.
Up until now, I have always arrived early. It is only the last several sits that they have requested a meet and greet. 25 sits in and never happened before. I usually just arrive early, or even get there after they have left and depend on the WG. That is why I made the post because this is so unusual and suddenly so frequent.
But it was nice to get there and see pools and hot tubs in both the last meet and greets.
Could it be Rover type of users who are used to sitters coming over for meet and greet?
We have met HOs before a sit, but only when we were in the area and it was convenient for both parties.
In one memorable meet up prior to a sit, we discovered they had indoor cameras (of course we told them it’s not allowed) and that the bird be allowed to eat from our dinner plates. LOL 
Of course, neither was mentioned in their listing.
Needless to say, we declined the sit and obviously would never sit for them.
So in this case, a pre-sit meet up served us very well!
We spent 3 months in New Zealand, offering, like the polite, responsible humans we are, to meet homeowners in person before the sit. You know, just to make sure we all exist and aren’t some elaborate catfishing operations. We were often nearby, happy to pop over. Not a single taker. Nada. Most preferred the “hey, the keys are under the rock/gumboot/mysterious garden gnome” approach.
Now we’ve left NZ and are applying for sits again and suddenly everyone wants to meet in person before confirmin. Now it’s all coffee catch-ups and “We just feel more comfortable meeting first.” Oh, now you want to see our faces and Zoom, WhatsApp are not good enough? Where were you when we were practically waving from the next paddock? It’s like the universe said: “Let’s see how baaaaadly we can time this.”