This just happened to me! I had a sit for Thanksgiving week booked, and when I messaged the sitter to confirm last week, he canceled saying his father was sick! I listed the sit again and got several applicants saying they really wanted the sit. When I asked to schedule a video call, 3 of them didn’t respond (even though it showed they read my message), and one scheduled a time with me then didn’t respond with a phone number. I reached my 5 applicant limit, but I waited a couple of days then sent them all messages saying I was declining their applications because they didn’t respond to me in a timely manner. It is rude to apply then not respond to a homeowner!
^This. So many sitters complaining about slow or no responses from hosts, whereas I’ve had numerous applicants apply and then when I reach out I get no response or they cancel for various reasons.
I just got declined for a sit that I applied for 7 YEARS AGO! 
I think that sets the record for slow homeowner response. Can anyone top that one? (I am curious if anyone’s heard back more than 7 years after they applied to a sit?) Oy vey. It gave me a good laugh today. Glad I went ahead with my plans in 2019!
That gave me a good laugh too - thanks for sharing @ChristineH 
What a hoot. Still, you can’t quite say you were ghosted …
Thanks for sharing. I love it!
Have you considered thanking them for their diligent response?
Or perhaps say that you were hoping you would get the sit, since they had shown no objection, your expectations were high?
Nah, no reason to be snarky. I hope to do a sit for them one day in the future. (Who knows what happened back then?)
Just kidding
I wonder how this could have happened, though.
Aren’t applications supposed to “expire” once the start date has been reached?