Hello - new to THS and just found another post where someone was having difficulty navigating the website. I’m a pet & home owner looking for a sitter. When I click on find a sitter page, if I type “Bowral” (where I live) in the “Search sitters by location” I’m getting people who live in my area, rather than people who want to housesit in my area. How can I find sitters who want to house sit (visit) in my area, rather than as it appears from my search results, that they already live here? I’ve also tried the virtual assistant and found that unhelpful. Thanks, Beth
Sadly it doesn’t work that way @BASywulsky - you can’t search sitters on where they’d like to sit. Best advice is to create a great listing (good pics, clear responsibilities, welcoming tone, amenities and accurate pet info) and await applications. Invited are very hit & miss anyway as people are working or on other platforms or have multiple favourite places they’re sitting and so on. You can add it here for help if that’s not working too. #invitesrarelywork
@BASywulsky, as @Cuttlefish rightly noted then the THS process primarily relies on prospective housesitters applying to your listing. Rather than you choosing a prospective housesitter. If this is different to THS Marketing then talk to THS Marketing.
Here’s a couple of weblinks that may be helpful - Getting Started pages of both THS and THS Forum.
Additionally, the magnifying glass on top right of THS Forum is search function. Suggest try ‘listing’ and peruse many prior THS Forum threads on information and optimization of your listing.
Hi @BASywulsky 
Welcome to THS! You’ve found one of the quirks of the platform. The “Find a sitter” search is mainly a directory of sitter profiles, not a search for sitters who are actively looking for sits in your location. Unfortunately, there isn’t currently a way for owners to filter by “sitters wanting to come to Bowral”.
The usual approach is to post your listing with a strong title, clear dates, good photos, and a warm description of your home and pets. Sitters then discover your sit through the location and dates they are interested in.
A few extra tips: apply your dates well in advance if possible, keep your calendar updated, and don’t be afraid to politely invite a few suitable sitters whose profiles suggest they enjoy your area or type of pets. But as others have said, invites can be unpredictable. A good listing usually does more of the heavy lifting.
Find A Sitter: in my opinion this should link to ‘How to make your Listing Appealing to Sitters’ with bullet points on what makes for a great Listing.
I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating here again: imagine that your Listing is a flower in bloom and that sitters are bees looking for sweet nectar. Well it’s a bit like that.
Best wishes, buzz buzz 
Welcome to the forum and to THS. Your misunderstanding of how THS works is quite common with new members seeking someone to stay in their home. THS hosts generally do go looking for sitters one by one. Instead, you assemble an inviting (but honest) profile that highlights reasons someone might want to travel some distance at their own expense to care for your home and pets. Then you publish the dates you need a sitter and, hopefully, sitters contact you (rather than you contacting them) to start the matchmaking process.
You can directly contact sitters to ask about their availability and interest but that route is only occasionally effective.
Adding information I wish I knew when I started in THS, respond promptly to any messages from sitters expressing interest in your sit. Do NOT wait until you have “enough” applicants; you only need 1 good applicant. Most experienced sitters are applying for multiple sits on overlapping dates and will not wait more than 24 to 48 hours to hear from you.