Search Function Covers too large of an area

I’ve started using these filters when searching for New York City only. So far I dont see Connecticut or New Jersey .
This is how the filter reads.

For Manhattan use.
‘New York County, New York, US’

For Brooklyn use ‘Kings County, New York, US’

  • Manhattan = New York County
  • Brooklyn = Kings County
  • Queens = Queens County
  • Staten Island = Richmond County
  • The Bronx = Bronx County
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This is what I have been doing for various Counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. I search San Francisco County, Marin County, San Mateo County and this gives me better results.

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Searching for London sits, I come up with over 400 which are not located in the city, but the suburbs. When I combed through, I found three actual sits in the center. Wha has happened to all the city sits in London? Why the heck are all the suburbs of London lumped into the city search. Some places are light years from the center. Very misleading. Any one else having the same issue? Maybe it is just my computer???

Hi @tilly
I wanted to extend a warm welcome to the forum. I am pleased you have found us.
I will also pass your feedback onto our product team.

There is another thread that may also be of interest.

If you have any other questions, please use the spyglass at the top right hand side, and search by key words. There are many questions and answers on various threads.

Best wishes
Therese and the forum team

London search has always been broken. It was discussed a loooong time ago and has never been fixed so I suspect they just don’t know how to fix it. They also don’t seem to understand what City of London means either as all sorts of places show as that when they should just be London.
I suggest searching for Greater London which produces only 48 results currently. London itself seems to cover South-East England and possibly even further afield.

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No, actually, that is not the case. I have been a member since 2014 0r 2015 and the city ones were never “broken.” New York City is now the same. It lumps all the suburban areas into NYC.

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Hello, @tilly I can help you with your search. When searching for sits within a city if you click the ‘sort by’ then select ‘distance’ and click apply it will show you the available sits in that location first followed by the ones further afield.
Hope that helps and thank you for being a member since 2014/15 how awesome :grin:

I find it helpful in the United States to search by County rather than city. If I am searching by the name of a town, I noticed a new feature where you can filter by “distance” which appears to actually work! The fact remains that if an Owner CHOOSES to place their home in a city other than where they actually live, that is how it will show up. It will show up on the map and be labelled with the WRONG CITY.

@tilly For London UK sits try this filter.

Greater London, United Kingdom Region

Hello! I’ve already done two successful sits, and now I’d love to combine a summer sit with a family wedding in west London in the UK. There are three London options for searches, none of which result in uniquely London locations. Does anyone have any tips on how to streamline my search so I receive only Greater London locations? Many of the current Greater London option results are way out geographically, making searches a bit hit or miss. Thanks for your help!

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The only way is to zoom in on the map to focus on what I would term ‘proper’ London. The three options are totally bonkers as far as I can see taking in much of Essex, Sussex and the other surrounding counties nor do they seem to differentiate between London, Greater London and City of London so there doesn’t seem much point in having three anyway. Sorry for the rant but I find this search function disingenuous especially when if you search as a non-member far more sits appear and once you log-in as a member the number of sits falls. The explanation is that the non-member results show all ‘potential’ sits whether or not they are current which to me doesn’t really provide a true picture.

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Hello @Suellen Welcome to the community, thank you for your contribution to this topic :grin:

Have you tried the following when looking?

There are more tips further up this thread as well. If you have any questions just let me know.

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And within the map function, as you zoom in and out, click on the “update results” button (you will see it in the map) to see results in your currently selected map area.

I would love to be able to search on regions or continents like "South America, “Europe” or “The Caribbean” OR to be able to add multiple locations to one search. I have a time frame where I want to do sits in Europe but I can either set up a separate search for each European country or an Anywhere search and just ignore those that aren’t in Europe. Neither one is a great solution.

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I believe that you can also search for one country, for example, France, then go to the map, and as you move around the map, sits in other countries will appear. Try it!

This is true and I play with the map when in “dream” mode but would like the search capabilities so that I get notifications using my search criteria. As long as I’m wishing. :smile:

@PVGemini Yes indeed I do use that function. My gripe is that having typed in City of London to the search engine the results include a huge area that is clearly not the city as such and even includes some of the surrounding counties. If the option of City of London is going to be in the drop down menu sure it would make sense to focus the map just on that area rather than users having to zoom in each time?

Hello,
I did go through the categories to find an answer to this question, but I cannot seem to find an answer.
I am new to house sitting and I am getting my feet wet in the US because I am from the US.
I would like to house sit in the UK, specifically around inner London or not far from it.
I am not seeking tourist information. I am trying to use the “Find a house sit” Search tool, but I am not familiar with the cities/towns when I receive search matches for London.

Anyway, I did write down the inner boroughs of London, but what comes up for London is not the borough. I have no idea where the city/town is located on TH. I also need a sit close to public transport. Those sits are also highly wanted, so Googling location is not the best thing when time is an issue to get in that application.

Any suggestions from a sitter in the know?

Thank you

Hi @Bamboo , when you search, click on City of London, then click on sort by and choose Distance. The sits labeled London usually include the area of London. If you want to know more about the sections of London, Google the name of the neighborhood. If you want to know about public transport options, go to Google Maps, enter the location and click on Transit. Railway stations and bus stops will be listed. I also like the app and website, Rome2Rio. It’s very helpful but it is not always 100% accurate, so I double check using Google. Good luck!

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Hi @Bamboo I live in the UK and I don’t know all the areas of London! I agree with what @mars has said.

Read the listing carefully. Often the area and closest public transport are named. I’ll then check on maps to get an idea of where roughly they might be located.

If I don’t know the area I will google it to find out more about it. I have been put off applying for one sit after googling the area, but most of the time I’ve been happy with what I’ve discovered.

We did a weekend sit in London recently and tried the Citymapper app that I’ve seen recommended on here. It was a game changer! It tells you the best and quickest route to get from A to B using public transport, and made us confident to explore using buses as well as the underground. There is a website too that you could use for planning, for example to see how long it would take you to get from the area of the housesit to somewhere you want to visit.

We really enjoy exploring new areas of London that we’d never otherwise have visited. At our recent sit, I couldn’t believe how much birdsong we could hear each morning. More than at home!

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