Great advice for new member thankyou
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Here, here!! Agreed 1000 percent!
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Totally agree with this!
Now that there is a limit to how many applicants the HO can accept before pausing, it wastes their time and the sitters time to have to ask these kinds of questions.
Either there SHOULD BE A WAY to send a note WITHOUT applying like on Airbnb!! Or HO’s need to post as much info as possible and as many pertinent photos as possible
This means ALL the spaces the sitter will be using and caring for. I consider myself a HOUSE sitter as well as a pet sitter!
I am going to care for your home - so I think it is understandable that I would like to see what I will be caring for as well as whether it is within my comfort zone. I do not do well with clutter and would not be comfortable in a home with cluttered counters, tables, floors, shelves, etc.
I am always suspicious of a listing with not many photos of the interior because I do wonder if they are afraid by doing so sitters won’t apply.
And tbh, I don’t totally trust reviews because I know sitters are rarely totally truthful with any negative comments. There is a whole thread on this.
PLEASE POST PHOTOS of the all living spaces!
I find it very awkward and uncomfortable to have to ask for this. Am in that situation right now, in fact. We were approved without ANY dialogue, conversation, “interview” of any kind! But there are no photos of the bedrooms. Usually I wouldn’t even apply but the dates, location, pet, and what photos there are all seem like it COULD work, but I wanted more info and we just got approved like that!
I asked for a video chat but I do find it very awkward to say “may I see the bedrooms?” -
it just is awkward.
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Expect these comments to be moved to the Pausing Applications thread and ‘buried’ as mine were yesterday.
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@Twitcher all comments referring to Pausing Applications will be moved into this thread
https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/conclusion-of-pausing-application-test-updated-post
This is first and foremost to keep all references in one place … comments are not “buried” simply merged and can be found by any member searching the topics.
This topic is about listing image expectations …
Thank you
Yes @carpediem16 I had a HO assume I was definitely going to sit for her without a video call. I think some of them forget that they are not just interviewing us for the job. We are interviewing them too!
The photos are important to sitters. And building a rapport (or not!) through our communication and video call is vital for both parties to feel reassured that they are picking the right people.
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Yes I have ended up in a childs single bed that’s what it felt like not ideal.but the dog was lovely he made up for it in a big way.but I have camped in a mountain tent on hard ground on the top of a mountain many times, with just a mat .ok as I’m older now maybe need my comforts getting soft.I like clean homes but don’t want to feel that I’m scared to make a mess either.
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There’s one like that now in Maryland. It has 2 pictures of the dog both up close. It has virtually no discrimination of the home. I’m not even sure it has a bathroom or a kitchen from the HO’s description. Lol. I would never consider applying.
I would say, only show the photos of the rooms/area that would be accessible to the sitters lol
Question on this. My spouse and I live in a one bedroom apartment. Our sits are generally shorter than 2 weeks. We’ve done our best to declutter especially in the last couple of years. Sitters our welcome to sleep in the bedroom but we just don’t have a lot of “free” drawer space for them. The best I can manage is clearing out a little space by shoving things in an off limit closet. Would that put sitters off?
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@Marion it wouldn’t put us off, as we hardly ever really unpack. But it would be great if you can clear a small ‘top’ space, perhaps on top of a dresser, or even a collapsible luggage rack, where we can put our small open suitcase ‘to live out of’. Or have a chair in the room where we can at least drape our clothes 
Perhaps put a sentence about limited space in the listing? Personally, I wouldn’t bother using your ‘little clearance’ as it might just confuse me, I’d be scared I accidentally pack one of your things if ours is directly adjoining.
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Definitely not. Common sense prevails. A one bedroom property will always have storage issues even for the residents. Just leave out a couple of clothes hangers and the sitter will figure something out.
Hope you carry on enjoying THS and the people you meet.
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Thanks, Elsie. We had our first sitter guest and it went purrfectly!
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Marion,
I think the key is honesty and transparency. Post photos and be honest about lack of space. Those for whom this is not an issue will still apply, therefore you have a better chance of things going smoothly because expectations are realistic.
I wish all HO’s were just forthcoming to avoid unrealistic expectations creating disappointment.
Am glad your first experience went well!
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We drive to pet-sits here in Australia, so I have room in the car.
I have always taken my own bed linen, as my husband is a heavy night-sweater, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone else’s linen!
Also, sometimes his snoring is unbearable, so I might use a second bedroom.
I would never accept a sit with only a fold-out sofa bed as the only option offered, especially if there is a perfectly good proper bed going unused.
Yes, some people are squicked out at the idea of someone else using their bed, but happily go stay in a hotel.
We also do home exchanging. For our guests, we have a dedicated linen supply, including mattress protectors and pillows.
We ask that our guests put any unused linen, pillows etc into the walk-in wardrobes.
That way, I know what needs washing.
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I’ve been reading the post on minimum number of photos on a sit listing but what would also be super helpful is to have a requirement for HO to include a photo tag description; e.g sitter’s bedroom / sitter’s bathroom.
Photos without context are open to interpretation by sitters and could make the difference between us applying for a sit and scrolling past.
This could be a drop down list to speed up the process for adding photos
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The app shows the photo captions but not the web site. Is that what you mean?
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@HelloOutThere partly yes but more to make it a mandatory thing as at the moment you don’t have to add a description to uploaded photos (sitter and HO alike).
For example, on another thread someone said they would like to know if the photos of the pets on a beach was within walking distance of the property or just a nice holiday snap the HO thought would be nice to upload. A beach within walking distance would be amazing for some sitters.
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Gotcha. Good points!