Local Sits - sitters located in the same city/town as house sit

Hi @PeachyL welcome to our community forum, thank you for joining and for sharing your experience as a new member … welcome also to TrustedHousesitters we look forward to sharing in your THS journey and you’ll find lots of help and advice here.

We always advise new sitter members to start locally whenever possible, we realise that due to logistics sometimes it isn’t but it is the best way to start for so many reasons. The ability to meet the owners before the sit, as you say minimal travel costs involved and more importantly the opportunity to test drive the lifestyle to make sure it is right for you … the exotic or far away locations are appealing however it can be a long way to go to realise that perhaps it was not the right sit after all.

Welcome again, enjoy the conversations and connecting with other members from around the world.

Angela and the Team

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I have been a member of TH for almost 4 years and became a nomad over 3 years ago. I have a few things in storage and use my friend’s address to collect mail and registered for official residence. Since I don’t have my own place, and especially during the pandemic, have done several local sits. Also handy when I need to return periodically to visit friends, doctors, and take care of official and other chores. So it all depends on circumstances. In the beginning, it was hard to get sits so I applied for many nearby ones so I could build up credentials.

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Sometimes — often — you just want to help out, especially if someone seems to be having trouble finding a sitter.

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Hi @Edith welcome to our community forum, thank you for joining us. Yours is just the sentiment that makes THS such a special community. When those who have never been part of TrustedHousesitters question the why and how and whether it’s too good to be true, once they hear the why and how from our amazing members they “get it”

Thank you again for being part of our community, enjoy the conversations and connecting with members from around the world … and your own back yard!

Angela and the Team

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If that is based on what you are seeing on their profile (and not them always mentioning it explicitly), sometimes the location listed may not be where they actually live. My husband and I travel full time and don’t have a permanent residence. We often change our location so we would come up in owner searches for sitters in a specific state/country,etc that we are currently in and would like to remain. For example, we are originally from NJ, and were booking sits here from now through the end of the year so put my sister’s town as our location.

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I can think of a few reasons that someone would apply who is somewhat local. First, I live along the coast in CA. If you just go 10 miles inland, the summer temperatures can go up by as much as 30 degrees. Who wouldn’t like a trip to the beach!

Secondly, I once turned my paid Rover pet sitters into a TH. They joined, watched my pets and I gave them their first TH review. They considered that a good trade. It was a couple so one would always spend the night at my house while the other one spent the night in their home taking care of their pets.

Third, I prefer to not allow my car to be driven so it’s more economical for people who can drive to my sit rather than fly then rent a car.

Of course I love meeting people from other countries and have gone that route too, but right now travel is still iffy. You want to know that the person you choose, can get to you in a timely manner.

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I usually housesit with my husband and 2 children. As I work in a school, I am available in the school holidays, but my husband can only take a certain number of days holiday each year. If we do a fairly local housesit during the school holidays, my husband can join us and still commute to work.

We would always sleep at the sit. One of the best parts in relaxing during the evenings with a furry companion or several!

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HI [long1016] This is a great question one that many owners must think and some have asked us when we apply for many local sits in our home city Barcelona.

I am sure there there a various reasons why it may work for others. In my case we live in my partners beautiful 4 bedroom house with views. Why un earth would we want to sit and stay in another property. Answer we are a ´now4 year relationship and my partner has his possesive 84 year old mother living with him and he is an only son. This leads to a very trying convivencia especially when i gave my lovely flat next to the Sagrada Familia as what seemed to be the natural next stage for us but life can be very trying and we so appreciate our our private time and space and I also need my own time to.

Being accepted for many a THS in my own city has proved to be a life line for me and yes i do stay willing at the property and with the pets which is also something I love and its also nice to experience once own city in different neigbhourhoods. It has also been benefical to the owners especially in mid pandemia when onw couple could not get back form Morrocco for 6 weeks or others need to change there plans slightly. Being in my own city allows me to continuing working and be totally flexible :slight_smile:

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Hello!

I am currently on a sit in a city next to my own and have 2 more lined up.

I have a few reasons to apply for sits nearby:

  • I love to get to know people and animals I can keep in touch with and housesit more then once.
  • I am able to go to work a few days a week and still housesit.
  • I just love having pets in my life, and getting to know new ones.
  • My boyfriend with whom I live with has a daughter that finds it difficult that there’s another woman in his life. Doing this I give them, and myself space. They can spend time together without having me around and I can spend time alone without the tension at home.
  • At the moment I’m on a housesit but also helping out another couple in the same town. They know I’m not able to sleep there but I’m going to feed the cat, play with him and change his litterbox twice a day. It’s just nice to help others!

I sometimes eat together with my boyfriend at our home and he visits me but I always sleep at the house I sit. When I don’t ( within my next homesit it’s my boyfriend’s birthday ) I ask beforehand if they’re okay with me staying one night at my own home and also if they’re okay with my boyfriend staying with me while I’m in their home.

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On this theme I have noticed over how there may be several sits from the same town or area posted almost together. It’s as if there’s been a get together and THS has been a topic of conversation and people have thought that’s a very good idea and that creates a tsunamis of sits in that area. Anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

Not complaining, just think it’s great how word spreads.

We are nomads and don’t have our own place anymore, but still we hang around the same area quite a lot right now and have built up a network here. It also has a lot to do with Covid restrictions and everything that comes along with it. In Europe it’s extremely complex with so many different countries and regulations changing from one day to the other. We wouldn’t dream of applying for a sit in a another country right now, since we need to 100% reliable and that’s simply not possible in the current regulatory chaos.

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Hi there-
My question is for people that sit. Do you ever take local jobs? For instance- there are 70+ local sitters in my town and we are in need of a 10 day sit. If I invite local sitters…how likely am I to get a yes? Is it worth sitting in your own town? Or is that convenient so that you can pop back home if need be at any time?
Thanks!!

Hi Luckii,

I’m doing local sitting at the moment for the weekends however I would also consider longer sits if the place is close to my workplace. :slight_smile:

My first sit was local. I took that one so I could get my first review. Many sitters do this, so if you want to invite local sitters, start with rookies that might be more keen.

There are other threads about local sits that will give lots more info.

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Hi @Luckii - we’ve moved your question here onto a thread which discusses the same question you have asked. If you check through the posts, you’ll see that there are many benefits for house sitters in accepting local sits and here’s another topic you might also enjoy reading from our moderator @Snowbird

Some benefits to a sit close to home

My advice would be yes, definitely do reach out to the local sitters in your town, but do remember they may not all be looking for a sit during your dates. Making connections though is invaluable! Good luck and we hope you find your perfect “local” sitters very soon. Do let us know how you get on.
All the best

Vanessa and the forum team!

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Lots of people do local sits! Your best bet is to invite a new sitter with no or few reviews, they will likely be quite eager to get that first review.

I would happily do a local sit, for the reasons I described in another post here; renovations at my own home, change of scenery, etc. Also, I live in a very touristy area with lots of much nicer houses than my own :rofl:

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