Hello all
I’m in the process of joining Trusted Housesitters and am totally new to the concept of house sitting. Quick question. I’m needing house sitter for (Ted, 7 year old West Highland Terrier) in April 2024. How many applications seem reasonable and how long do folks generally leave it before agreeing on one?
Thanks in advance everyone.
There’s a cap on 5 applications @ChrisCJ for each listing so that’s the number you’ll get initially until you decline and I pause the listing for more should they not suit.
Wow, thanks for the quick reply - I hadn’t appreciated the capping of 5 which makes perfect sense. Thank you very much.
Hi @ChrisCJ and welcome to the forum. There are a number of factors which will determine how many applications you may receive - your location, the presentation of your listing and photos, the responsibilities involved etc. Unfortunately not all listings attract applicants. As @Cuttlefish has mentioned, attractive listings for one reason or another, will automatically be paused by THS when 5 applications have been received. The owner then needs to decline (with a message for courtesy to sitter) those not suitable then either contact those considered suitable and/or manually unpause the listing to hopefully attract more applicants up to 5 again. It is very much recommended that there is a video chat between owner and prospective sitter/s before confirmation so that both can ask questions and decide whether it is a good match or not; it is an equal exchange after all, so both need to be comfortable when making the decision. Communication is really important for a successful sit.
Hi @ChrisCJ I agree with what the others have said but it’s very important that you don’t hang about keeping applicants waiting, as they’ll be applying for other sits too. The terms and conditions state you should respond within 72 hours (although some don’t which is very frustrating). If you keep applicants waiting you’ll likely lose them
@ChrisCJ , Welcome to THS and the forum. The THS website Help Desk has a lot of useful info to help you get started.
Take a look at these topics:
In addition, the forum is full of information. Click on the spyglass icon in the upper right and add search terms or questions to read what has been discussed on a topic.
And if you want feedback on your listing, add it to your forum profile and members of the forum will give you tips and suggestions on how to make it stand out. Here are the instructions:
How to add your listing or profile to your forum profile
And feel free to post any thoughts or questions you have here on the forum. Enjoy.
We’ve got bookings up to Oct 2024, so the sooner you post, the sooner you can put it out of your mind.
The quantity of applications depends on where you are based. It is capped at 5 so you don’t feel overwhelmed at reviewing everyone.
PS Go with your heart, there will be one particular sitter that you are drawn to, go for them, and if you are not drawn to anyone, just keep looking.
Thanks @HappyDeb - sound advice. I need to practice trusting my ‘gut reaction’!
Great many thanks for the advice; much appreciated.
This is my first outing at THS and I might be messing up already. I got an application. I responded with a bit more information and questions and did not get any response. I have sent a couple more messages without response so I confirmed as that seemed the only thing I hadn’t done but still nothing even after asking if she’d changed her mind. Should I now just decline her application, giving up on her? She has such good reviews. She has not changed her availability for my sit so I think I’m getting the message. What do you think, what do you suggest?
That does not mean anything. Very few sitters manage their availability calendar. Generally, the only thing you can see there if they have another sit confirmed on the struck dates.
It is unclear how long a period of time you are talking about. If it all was today, I would have some more patience.
It’s been since Friday actually. I honestly don’t know what’s supposed to happen after I send a confirmation. But that happened on Sunday and nothing has happened except I’ve sent a couple of messages asking for communication and hearing nothing so far. It is frustrating and I just don’t know how I’m supposed to handle this. Thanks for your response though, it’s good to know that sitters don’t manage their calendars!
Oh, from before the weekend! If the sit is soon, it might be best to give up on her. THS has a rule saying that one should answer within 72 hours.
It is always good to have a second channel of communication. The THS messaging system is not always entirely reliable.
So many (most?) home owners have a videochat with a prospective sitter. When that is done via Whatsapp, one has their number. If they do not reply to messages, one can just call them to hear what is going on.
It doesn’t sound great. Most sitters will respond really quickly, as they were the one that were interested in your sit to start with. I’d consider moving on.
Always trust your heart and your gut. You are already feeling like something just doesn’t feel right, so trust your feelings. You’ll know-know when you’ve found the right person.
For the future, asking questions beforehand is totally normal, what you did was right. The fact they didn’t respond speaks for itself.
Also, we end up video chatting with about 60% of home owners too, that’s totally normal, but we only video if an HO would like us to, it’s not for our benefit, I say that we’re open to video’ing when I apply, but I don’t bring it up after that unless the HO mentions it (basically because I don’t want to put off HO’s who aren’t used to video chatting).
Hope that helps
Hi @debelsas. I sometimes don’t get a notification from the THS site/app and so I always ask the HO to switch to phone and WA after the initial contact showing interest in either side.
I always like to answer super quick, but sometimes the THS tech can be hit and miss. Can you try them via phone?
Sometimes it can also be confusing re the confirmation process as people think they have confirmed, but actually one more step is required.
I have had to prompt HOs who thought it was all confirmed, but didn’t realise there was one more step required.
They really wanted me, so I gave them the time to sort it and they were very apologetic. But thankfully we were using the phone and WA so we neither needed to pull out and were able to explain to each other what was going on…,
Best of luck wit it all.