I sent the invite, and it shows that the sitter saw the message but hasn’t responded. Should I follow up with them? Maybe say something like, “Since you saw the email and didn’t respond, I understand you’re not interested in house-sitting”? Or should I just move on to the next person?
Move on. If they wanted the sit, they would’ve responded.
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Invites often have a low success rate; instead having a highly attractive listing that gains applicants is your best bet. Here’s why:
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Give it a few hours, maybe overnight if you really like them, then move on, move on, move on.
Also, bear in mind just because a sitters calendar may look like they are free, doesn’t mean to say they actually are, as the sitters calendars are flawed in many ways, as has been mentioned many times before on here.
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thank you all for your reply,
You can make this sit a lot more attractive for potential applicants. The headline doesn’t need to mention that this is a house-sitting opportunity or that you love your pets. We all know. What we don’t know is that there’s a car available and that the home has views of the water. Something like “Ocean views, car available” would attract attention.
It also looks like the dog isn’t part of this sit? Remove them from the listing for these sits. Cats-only sits get more applicants.
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I also highly recommend that you remove all reference of the dog (including the photos) to attract cat lovers. After all, this sit is a cat sit.
I would put a nice picture of the cats as the first image to catch people’s attention.
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Great advice from @Val.
Your sit certainly sounds like a nice stay and overall appears friendly and welcoming. However, I agree that your title needs changing and definitely remove the dog as to not mislead sitters. I would also add that while most of your responsibilities section is fine, some things seem a little vague. You repeat the paragraph about ‘join our household,’ which only adds word count, so I’d just remove it. Details need to be more specific than just “make sure our cats are well-fed, loved & pampered.”
Are they indoor or outdoor cats? What is their routine & feeding times? How long are you happy for them to be left? How should a sitter care for & manage a half blind cat - any special conditions? Medications? Where do the cats sleep?
May I also add that while of course it’s totally up to you to decide who you think is a good match for your sit, requesting someone to handle “unexpected responsibilities with grace and calm” is rather subjective and are qualities, not responsibilities. A responsibility would be to “inform us of and manage (within reason) any unexpected house or pet concerns during the sit.” Sitters can certainly be expected to perform all responsibilities they have agreed to and behave in an appropriate & practical way that does not break any THS code of conduct, but they cannot be expected to demonstrate and live up to whatever your idea of ‘grace’ and ‘calm’ may be; this is a pet-sit exchange, not an add for a paid job on job-seeker. This statement may be a bit of a turn off for many - just a thought.
You would also definitely attract more people if you didn’t expect mowing of lawns. Some sitters are happy to mow lawns, but others won’t and it may limit your pool of applicants, especially as it looks like you have a large plot of land. There are a few existing threads about this topic you might want to check out.
Overall though your sit sounds fairly relaxed and attractive, and you have lovely photos. Hope that helps and good luck! 
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Manners maketh the man or woman. Unfortunately quite a few people do not do sitters or pet owners the common courtesy of a quick ‘thanks but no thanks’. Move on definitely.
I had a lady recently ask me to pet sit by invite with a tiny message to me, as I knew she would have seen that I had read her message, I sent a quick reply to say I was not available but would reply properly soon. Two hours later I sent a nice longer message thanking her for inviting me, and that I had put her sit as a favourite as it looked wonderful and that I’d love to be considered if our dates matched another time. My message took ages to type up. She read it and no reply. Hey ho, I like polite communication at all times.
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Jigger looks amazing by the way, what a dog 
Is this a sitter you spoke with already and are finalizing/confirming, or just one you picked from a list?
thank you , he is such a goofball—a big, lovable homebody who makes sitters uncomfortable by always watching them. I call him our ‘living Roomba’ because he waits for you to eat just to see if you drop anything. That’s why we’re taking him with us this time!
she was confirmed and came from her country, but someone offered her a paid positions
You see, that’s what confuses me. Many people say I’m too detailed and think I’m micromanaging, but now you’re saying I’m not detailed enough. As for mowing, we live in a very rural area without paid power. We have to handle it ourselves, and the young people who mow lawns head to the city to make money.
I don’t think you’re putting too much detail, I think you just tend to repeat yourself and brush over or exclude the key details that sitters actually want and need to know. Your intro and home and location section are fine, really, it’s your responsibilities section that needs some work. If you were a pet sitter, ask yourself what you would be wondering about the pets you’re going to look after. When do they need feeding? Do they go outside? How long can they be left alone for if I go out? Where do they sleep? There is a cat who is apparently half blind - what would I need to do or be aware of to look after him?? Will any of the cats need medication? Try listing these answers in clear dot point form, and delete any expectation or statement that isn’t a clear responsibility or statement about the pets and their needs. For example:
In terms of mowing, a huge plot of land like that really isn’t going to be in a sitter’s favour, and doesn’t seem like it’s a fair exchange - that would also be a lot of physically intensive work not suitable for some sitters (and think about the fact that as a rural property in the middle of nature, it’s likely to mainly only attract older/retired sitters). It isn’t a sitter’s problem that there aren’t mowers around, and they can’t really be asked or expected to do this. My suggestion is to just drop the mowing expectation (is a few weeks really going to kill you??) or seek a local paid sitter or service who you can also pay to mow the lawns. You could also consider advertising on Workaway or Rover instead - Workaway is where people are far more willing to do garden work!
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The scenario you’re describing is a bit confusing, I think because of the terminology used.
In an effort to clarify: an Invitation is sent to a sitter. On its own it does not mean the sitter has agreed to the sit. Confirmed means the sitter has accepted the sit via the THS platform, not just verbally with you or in messages. Once confirmed, only the homeowner can cancel the sit.
Forgive me if I get this wrong but it sounds like you thought the two of you had an agreement, maybe per conversations, but since she never responded to your invitation she did not technically commit to your sit.
Hopefully you’ll receive more applications, and once you have found another sitter, make sure they Confirm on the platform. Until that process is complete you don’t have a sitter. You’ll know it’s complete when the sitter appears in your dashboard with the dates of the sit and you can send them your Welcome Guide. ( I hope this helps and doesn’t just confuse things more 
)
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When I get invitations it is usually pretty apparent that they have sent out a lot of invites. I know many do not feel obligated to answer (specially if they get a lot of invites). Many are also restricted to their vacations to be able to sit. In forum it could seem that a lot do sits full time but I would think the majority do not.
I would say move on. They would have been in touch if they wanted to.
Like @Shafofo I find the terminology here a bit confusing @mmariapiehl
So just to be sure, this is what you should see on your dashboard, when both you and the sitter have confirmed the sit. If it does not say “Sitter confirmed”, then the sit has not been confirmed.
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It’s totally understandable that you need the mowing done, and if you can’t hire someone, you can’t. How long does it usually take you to do the mowing? Is once a week the average frequency? Do you have a riding lawnmower? Do you bag the trimmings, or do you leave them? Does the mowing also require edging? How long does that take? How much does your edger weigh? If a sitters knows these, they may know whether the sit is for them. I would do a once-a-week hourlong mow on a rider, no bagging and no edging. If you need three hours with a push mower and the trimmings bagged and dumped beyond the treeline and an hour with a heavy gas-powered edger twice a week, you may need someone larger than I am. Sitters need to know this before they apply for a sit during mowing season.
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