I’m new to THS & have officially booked my first two sits.
One is close to home (a staycation) I’ll be using to build up the all important reviews and the other is about 5 hours south. The southern trip will actually be in about 1.5 weeks and will be my first sit!
Question about safety: I am a solo female house sitter & am curious if THS does any checks/background checks on homeowners, as they do on the pet sitters?
Are there any ways that other sitters care for themselves/prioritize safety, especially female sitters who sit solo?
Great questions @Leah_Margaret and well done for confirming your first two sits .
No homeowners aren’t checked or verified by THS when they join up .
You could look for sits that have reviews from other sitters rather than New listings with no reviews.
There are lots of solo female sitters on this forum who will willingly share their advice .
Hello @Leah_Margaret and welcome. There are loads of solo female sitters on here who will share advice. You can also use the spyglass at the top as this comes up quote a bit on the forum. Here’s one to get you going on inside info
Almost all my housesits have been solo, except one, my husband joined me for two weeks of a 4 week sit in the Scottish Highlands in 2019.
Video chats are very helpful to see the space, meet the people and ask many many questions. I have stayed in one truely rough neighbourhood, Phillips in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I did mention to future sitters that the area was not one to walk around at night in my review. As a solo traveller the usual rules apply, no walking the streets after dark, being vigilant while walking around and aware of surroundings, lock doors etc. I refuse my gender to be a reason to miss out on great opportunities as a traveller. I also use Couchsurfing solo and met the most amazing humans that way. I think it’s a mindset. Always trust your intuition and be sensible in places you’re unfamiliar with.
What you will soon discover is that if you trust your intuition, then you can’t go wrong.
We sit as a couple, but we’ve completed around 30 sits, for the first few sits we choose sits based on the cuteness of their pets, but we realised that we think all pets all cute. But after the first few, we started using our intuition and gut feeling about HO’s too, and it has served us well, we’ve had an amazing time, no bad sits, brilliant pets, and lovely owners.
So just trust your intuition, happy positive energy attracts happy positive energy, and doubt attracts doubt.
But maybe choose places that have an alarm if you are really worried, or apartments rather than houses with their own entrance, just to get over your fear.
I sit solo (apart from the 2nd week of a recent 2 week sit when a friend joined me, which the HO agreed to before the sit was confirmed). Whether it is a city sit or a rural one I exercise the same caution that I would if I were visiting the area without being a sitter - be street or countryside alert.
The “no 3rd parties in the house” rule helps ensure you don’t have to worry about someone else in the home.
Where possible I try to get to know neighbours.
The only time I felt a tiny bit cautious was when the sit was remote, but I kept doors locked when I was inside or in the huge garden with the pets.
My friends like that I regularly (frequently) post on FB, with or without pets depending on HO preferences. They know where I am going too.
Solo Traveler as well. If I can just throw some logic and reason in the mix too to see if that helps. You are going to other communities/homes where people live their every day lives just like you do at your home. The home owners live/breathe/work/shop in the community you are going to just as you do in your own hometown. I think we all have a bit of a false sense of security in our own hometown, so it helps me to remember, there’s throngs of people doing the same thing I am where I’m going, its just different geography really. Enjoy your sits!!
Hi everyone! I want to say a thank you to all who responded and also, especially after reading what you wrote @SoloGal, clarify my ask.
I have lived in major cities (Chicago, Twin Cities, Cleveland wait, that is major right? ha ha) for most of my 20’s, 30’s and nearly now 40’s! I have also traveled extensively, like you @KenandMary1998 I slept out of my 1986 Volvo Station wagon in my 20’s (!! I miss those days !!).
I feel very confident navigating neighborhoods, cities, streets at night, etc. I am not looking for guarantees about safety outside the home: I recognize that no matter where you go there is risk and also: folks of all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, etc. make HOME everywhere we may land, everyday!
I wanted to ask specifically about WHAT THS SITTERS look for IN HOMES to be aware of their own safety. I.E - if the home owner has cameras, or Alexas speakers: is that a turn off? What kind of screening questions are you asking of the home owner? What are you looking for in their posting? Have you ever arrived and recognized a safety concern?
I feel confident in my travel abilities, street smarts, etc. and was looking for guidance on what folks ask, look for and have maybe said NO to in past.
I hope this clarification helps and my gratitude for your responses shows thru! Thank you!
I travel alone and I love it. I’m very aware of my surroundings at all times. I find when I go to new sits I leave the outside lights on at nite till morning. I leave a kitchen light on all times. I’ve even made calls to the visitors or chamber of commerce to ask about the saftey of the areas. I never feel dumb asking a question. If its my saftey on line theres no dumb questions to me. I go to the same grocery store so I am a familiar face to the check out person. A lot of times stricking a short conversation about where I’m from before they say I have an accent. If your like me more of a homebody type it was really hard for me to take this 1st step. Scared of the unknown. But
I told myself to always let my friends know whats going on. And follow my instincts. I think that right there is your saftey mechanism. Just like animals have instincts we have them to. Follow yours. Good luck.
