I set up my profile and listing and have spent a ton of time changing it because of notes I have read within the Forum. I admit, I have been confused by the difference between how the processes and parts of the listing seem to be presented in the platform and how the forum seems to advise creating a listing. As a result, I have made a lot of edits AFTER submitting my listing and having it posted, so I sure hope that people who marked my listing as a favorite are not somehow being spammed by my updates and corrections. - But I digress
Right now, with just one cat who is self-sufficient except for really wanting a lot of snuggles and lap time, we could get by hiring someone to visit him daily - but want to start getting established here for the day when we add a dog and really will benefit form people spending more of the day at the house.
I can see that the fact we are traveling over the holidays is making things harder for us, but it looks like almost everyone listing in our area has a tag that says “low applications”, so I expect it to be hard going for me.
So, when do I bail and remove a sit? I see that there is a place to list things that are 10 days out, but at that point I may not be able to find someone to hire locally to stop by the house.
It seems that while the platform encourages me to search for sitters, that it is both impossible to search by availability and it is also somehow offensive to sitters for me to initiate contact. I am not mad no one has applied yet, but I am trying to be inoffensive while planning for non-response.
Can anyone give me some advice when to switch gears?
Sitters aren’t offended by unsolicited invitations. They just generally don’t accept many such invitations. But of course, everyone is different and you never know. Maybe you’ll find someone that way. And you only need one sitter per sit anyway.
As a HO I would secure the drop in sitter. Because 1) to be successful on this platform you need a Plan B and having established relationships with local paid sitters is helpful! and 2) holiday sits are hard to fill. If that is your normal time of year for travel then definitely have a couple of paid sitters locally that you can use.
Going forward, for holiday sits, post them very early. Like mid-year or so.
Add your THS link to your forum profile, and ask for feedback on your profile. That way, you’ve got lots of sitters who love to help giving advice… and there may be one that suits you perfectly that ends up applying, you’ve got nothing to lose.
Do it now, then give it a few days and see what happens on the forum. Yes there’s the 10 days thing, but you don’t need the 10 days thing to get sitters eyes on your profile.
Plus people on here are fantastic at seeing how profiles could be improved for the better, that help owners to secure sitters shortly after. So do that, see what others say over the next few days, because you never know, there may be something really obvious that someone see’s in your profile, that you overlooked, it happens all the time.
Plus, yes you are right about the holidays and it’s best if you secure sitters for that period way in advance, HOWEVER, remember there are a lot of sitters who want to sit close to their family at this time of year, and that would be a perfect match for you, because you know they’ll possibly want to return next year too at this time of year.
As HappyDeb has commented - link your profile to the community forum here so more of us seasoned sitters can provide feedback. It can take some time to secure a sitter depending on where you live. We did a lovely sit about four years ago for a couple who were a three hours drive north of us. Our son happens to live in the same city so it was great to combine a sit with visiting our son and family. The homeowners travel a lot and they post their listings about six months in advance but eventually they find sitters so don’t despair!
As @HappyDeb noted, suggest add your THS listing to your THS Forum profile (weblink below).
The Christmas period is a time of material excess demand for housesitters. Listings vary dramatically in their attractiveness to housesitters, and on the sheer quality of the photos and information in the listing. Suggest invest time & effort to make your listing shine - use magnifying glass at top screen to search past THS Forum posts on top tips for great listings.
Consider one or more short listings, say a weekend, ASAP to establish initial reviews. They help initiate trust before peak Christmas period.
Thanks! I was reviewing some comments by sitters including a series who were all on a bandwagon of removing all their favorites because people had initiated contact and they felt they were being spammed. Guess I got nervous about it when I also saw again and again “Don’t contact them, they will contact you!”
What a lovely home! I can see how it kept you busy and it’s worth it - you will enjoy it for many years. And a lovely part of the country!
The only big hurdle is transportation, a sitter would have to drive or rent a car. Can you make a car available or offer to offset a rental car?
Other than that, I think for holiday sits your timing would have to be earlier for a non-local sitter as flights are so expensive. And many local sitters choose to sit for pay (if they sit at all) as it’s such a popular time for people to travel.
For this time I would line up your paid sitter, and if you want to make this work for the future think about how to provide transportation.
@woodsandwater you might want to think about not ending the sit on New Year’s Eve. That typically leaves the sitter getting a hotel on the most expensive night of the year (unless they live close and can just go home). I sit every year for the holidays and I only consider sits sits that include both Christmas and New Year’s day.
I would get the Plan B in place for both sets of dates but keep your listing live in case you find a good fit. What a lovely home! The bedrooms look so inviting, neat and clean. You really sound super lovely and flexible with the options provided to accommodate sitters.
My suggestions for improvement would be:
Remove the bit about the mother in law snow birding if she is not in there during the sits listed as most sitters do not want to share space with strangers during the sit.
Consider de-cluttering the kitchen counters and stuff on fridge and re-take photos. Have the house in the state of how the photos look for the start of the sit.
If the master bedroom is pictured, i would remove it if you don’t want people sleeping in it. Specify which beds and sizes are available to sitters (I know you mentioned a couple of queen beds and not sure if the master bed is listed - its a bit unclear)
AS for people who have favorited your sit, they will receive your listing in their email only if you post new sits. You can accomplish this by removing your dates and then relisting the same exact dates.
As @systaran mentioned, making the Christmas sit end on NYE is a bit tough, maybe change the end time to Dec 30 in the afternoon if kitty can tolerate being there alone until your return on NYE. Or state that you are flexible with this end date.
The sit looks great and it’s one I would apply to if I were nearby.
One change I would suggest is changing arrival and departure times to “to be agreed later”. As it is now, it really doesn’t match the flexibility you show in the wording. In one of the sit the time frame is really narrow. Most sitters appreciate flexibility and like to negotiate arrival and departure times with hosts.
Good luck!
Please update the forum if you get a suitable sitter.
Thank you @Systaran - This makes sense. I haven’t figured out yet the best way to combine making it clear that our trip is scheduled and not going to change (something I saw sitters want to know) but also indicate what level of flexibility we can offer about people arriving the day before or leaving the day after etc. We didn’t want to fly on the 31st but that was the earliest we could get a flight out and actually shifted our departure to avoid staying even more beyond our desired time in MN. Sorry anyone from my home state who chooses to be offended
I assume I will get better at these nuances over time!
Thank you @GotYourBack It looks like someone helped me get my link into the right place - so thanks to that Forum member as well!
Yes, a back-up plan is logical, but I need to respect the drop-in sitter as well. I think for the Thanksgiving trip I will base it on when my local person needs a solid yes/no and then keep working through this the longer I live here.
We are very rural so the number of available humans is low - and the number of service providers lower still. I love the first and accept the second as the consequences.
Thanks @MTBer - These are helpful suggestions. I appreciate it! I will likely update many of the photos several times as we keep working on the house. I just saw there is actually an open cupboard in the upstairs kitchen photo! The Kitchens are the hardest for me because we cook all the time, so getting it that clear when I am not about to have company is a challenge
Bedrooms
I read somewhere that either on the web or on the app people can’t see the captions for the photos, which is really awkward. I definitely did not include the primary/master BR in the photos but no one would know if they can’t see the captions. Also I was somewhere in the system and it asked me to identify the size of bed, but it only allowed me to indicate one. I haven’t been able to find my way back to that spot to try again to fix it. Another thing I will figure out as I go!
Mom-suite
I will clarify this section, as we would not get a sitter when Mom is around, but she keeps stuff here year round and we do bring her home with us after Christmas. I thought it might be important for people to know why the downstairs “guest” room looks so occupied, but maybe some of this stuff is better discussed in the welcome guide or something.
I don’t think it needs to be discussed at all. As long as the downstairs guest room has space for sitters to hang/fold their clothes, and put their suitcases, and charge their phones…well no need to divulge the rest. The caveat would be if mother in law needs special medial equipment, then just say it’s there for when she visits.
No one needs to know that she snowbirds with you, and it muddies the water mentioning it. Sitters just need to know they will have the place to themselves when sitting!
