My challenge: Many homeowners prefer females or married couples 🙁

From my point of view as a HO, I generally won’t hold anyone’s appearance or gender against them. That being said, I do prefer couples because one of my cats really prefers men, and with a couple, there is double the chance of all three cats getting enough attention :slight_smile: Plus, in my mind (right or wrong), I picture a “couple” as being more likely to hang out in the apartment slightly more, thereby giving the cats additional attention.

That being said, I’ve had single men, women and couples sit for me and no great difference among them.

Hi Brian
That’s a shame, we are fairly new to trusted house sitters and would like to think we would view all sitters the same.
Read each offer and make an offer on all who fit our needs, male/female, single/couple.
Good luck
Gill and Colin
P.s we are looking for a sitter in December

When I was on here as an owner, I had no problem hiring a solo male as long as I liked his profile. Do you mention i.e. that you don’t drink alot, not a smoker, no drugs and not a partier? What kind of lifestyle you have or what is your routine? And that you would ask permission if you wanted to have someone over like a friend? Also, try to get as many verifications/recommendations as you can and also offer to provide them upon request. I hope this helps!

I am a single guy in my 60’s who has had multiple sits in my home to watch my two dogs. When looking at the potential sitters, it all comes down to how they explain their love for watching pets, their experience (one of my dogs has some issues) and our connection during the zoom call or phone call. Nothing to do with being single or male. Although, I have not had a single male sit at my home, to be honest, not many have applied. The several who did, never responded to my follow-up. I say this all to encourage you to keep applying.

3 Likes

When are you looking to sit? We need a sitter for 4th April for 7 days. Please see my advert. :slightly_smiling_face:

Hi Brian. While I do see listings that specifically request couples and/ or single females, most listings don’t state a preference. I imagine you are only applying to the latter. If so, unless people are specifically telling you that is why, don’t assume. Sitters have a tendency to do that since most owners probably don’t give detailed reasoning as to why they chose who they did. They start to project their own insecurities about their 'desirability ’ --being too old or too young, gender, lack of experience, etc…

And in some cases their suspicions may be correct but just because some people have certain preferences doesn’t mean everyone feels that way. And if any of them happened to have told you that specifically, again, doesn’t mean everyone feels that way.
People may have certain inaccurate perceptions about certain types of people and ultimately we can’t control that. For example, it wasn’t until I saw a post on this forum that I found out some people viewed full time sitters with no home suspiciously…any owner I have encountered has found this aspect of my life awesome. So matter of opinion.

I also think this worry about these biases. and just wanting to seem like a ‘good candidate’ in general probably leads to people creating applications and profiles that come off as trying too hard to sell themselves, and people pick up on that vibe. They aren’t really letting the owner get a real sense of them as a person, they are just saying a bunch of stuff they think they want to hear, like how you’ll spend most of your time at the house keeping it tidy. I don’t think anyone would expect that of you.

To me it is all about the energy and if you believe you have something to offer and you would be a good sitter, you’ll attract opportunities. Gender, age, couple status…all irrelevant. Nobody will be everybody’s cup of tea and you don’t want to take any ‘rejections’ personally or make assumptions about the owner’s thought process. Just be authentic in presenting yourself and you’ll find your matches.

Delete

3 Likes

Hello @Brian_S
I’m a new HO and would snap you up if you were in the UK😃 I live in a smallish (but perfectly adequate) cottage and wonder if sitters will skip over me in favour of some of the more impressive homes in my immediate area! Although am currently chatting with a couple from the US so maybe not…. Good luck finding appropriate sits. Jx

Would definitely consider changing the first photo on your profile to one of you smiling and with an animal. It doesn’t seem to give you justice and first impressions do matter.

Hi Brian_S,
I previously had an older single gentleman look after my home and dogs, and he was great. However, my last sit was a single male and he left my home in a mess with damage. Unfortunately, because of this, moving forward I will only select couples or perhaps single females. It’s just not worth the risk. I wonder if others have experienced same causing them not to select single males? Also, like Timmy, I would suggest you change your first/cover photo.

Agree. The second photo is much better. I’d delete the first photo completely.

I am saddened and disheartened to think that any homeowner would discount any sitter because of gender, based on one unsatisfactory sitter. For example, for all males to be judged by one would do a disservice to the many excellent male sitters. Those of us who have been on this forum for some time know of many male sitters who go that extra mile to give their all for the pets and the homes.

I realize the reverse can also happen. A sitter may feel they would never sit for a particular gender, from one less-than-satisfactory sit. Again, they discount the vast majority who would be excellent.

I do understand a homeowner selecting by gender or couple vs solo, depending on their particular sit needs and their pets. Other than that, please let’s assess each sit and sitter by their merits, not by their gender, colour, race, or sexual orientation. Let’s rise above that.

This is my personal opinion.

10 Likes

Very well said @Snowbird

4 Likes

@Snowbird I absolutely agree and it works both ways for example a sitter who may have an unfortunate sit experience and relate it to the owner’s gender or circumstances, letting that one experience influence their future choices.

We all draw from personal and life experiences and sometimes the lessons are so powerful that they can dramatically change our perception and forward thinking.

I’ve related on the forum how my judgment of young sitters was clouded by true life experiences closer to home, not a sitter I hasten to add, until an amazing young woman changed my generalization theory, thank goodness she did as not having her come into our lives would have been a huge loss.

7 Likes

I agree with this.

@Brian_S, I think it would also help to be clearer about whether you are sitting solo or with your wife (it wasnt quite clear to me). Something like “I mainly sit solo as I’m retired and my wife is still working. Sometimes she may like to join me but only with your agreement first of course.”

1 Like

@Snowbird I respect your opinion and ask that you respect my decision based on my experience. Thanks.

It’s really frustrating to spend time sending a great submission (that you’re told is fab) but is then rejected because you’re not the specific sitter type they want. If you want a solo female please say so. If you want a couple only please say so. With the added “fun” of the 5 applicant rule it will help HOs too as you won’t get sitters that you don’t want blocking up the funnel!

2 Likes

It’d be nice if TH listings had a field for this. Like, “preferred sitter type: any/solo female/couple/other.”

2 Likes

Good afternoon, my name is Julian and I am considering taking out a membership!

I am wondering as a single male without any previous recommendations from previous house sits, will I find it a problem getting my first house sit? I don’t really want to take out the membership if I am unlikely to get any house sits!

Going for me, is that I am 55 and mature!

Many thanks

Julian

Hi @Julian1. Welcome to our community! I’m glad you found us. You raise a good question, one that’s come up a few times in the past. I moved your post here, so you can see how members have responded to someone with the same question.

If you have any questions about joining TrustedHousesitters, please reach out.

Hi @Julian1,
I started out exactly like you mid May last year and it did require effort to get my first sit. 23 applications to be precise but I’ve now done 11 sits since including sits in Denmark, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Crete and Spain.
I’d suggest starting local and/or filling last minute sits to build up your feedback. It gets easier the more feedback you have 've found.

1 Like