I assume that the HO places an advertisement and hopes for a quick response.
If the HO does not have time to read and respond to this within a certain time frame, the HO should not place the advertisement at that moment.
I don’t think it shows mutual respect to make someone wait a very long time for an answer.
It also doesn’t give me a good feeling about an upcoming collaboration to provide the best care of per and house while the HO himself is away.
I just apply for one sit for that specific period. I than usually wait for a reaction from the houseowners for maximum three days. If they haven’t read and react by then, I assume they aren’t serious looking for someone at the moment and/ or they don’t see me as their ideal house- and petsitter. I than decline, and so doing, I give others the opportunity to react and the HO gets the opportunity to find a good match.
If I wouldn’t decline, I would do exactly the same what I don’t appreciate (see my first and second paragraph) and that’s letting the HO hanging with an applicant (me) that is not interested anymore. And I don’t think that’s fair.
But this happened to me just once now.
All the other times I did get a reply within a day or right after they read my application (whether they wanted to go on and we planned a video-call or whether they nicely turned me down).
So I am very satisfied with the way everything goes.
I tend to assume that the HO is talking to another applicant. Part of the delay may then be due to the preferred sitter looking into travel options, alternative offers, etc. It is not always that the HO is to blame.
For us, if the comms aren’t prompt, respectful and connected at the beginning of this relationship then it’s unlikely to be like that during the sit. People have to commit to finding a sitter or looking for a sit. If you’re not ready to commit to your half, then don’t post. Generally 48 hours and we withdraw our application, for the same reason as @KC1102
Hi @Silversitters
I have had confirmation that the HO does have to unpause their listing after declining applicants. As @Crookie says, it is not automatic.
The wording in the FAQ article is a little ambiguous, and the team will be editing this shortly.
You are totally right. I also think that could be the reason. And I don’t blame them for that. They have to choose the one which they have a good feeling of. I think it is good to go with your preferred choice. After all, they leave pets and house in hands of a relatively stranger. I do prefer this more than “just picking someone” without any videochat or something.
That’s why I also wrote “and/ or they don’t see me as their ideal house- and petsitter” to complete the sentence.
If they have a lot of good applicants, and they don’t know who to pick, they can also choose to send a short reply to all of the applicants and tell them this. Then you can schedule a interview and you know that it will take longer than three days. But then you have at least a reply. And aren’t hanging on and waiting anymore.
But people are different in handeling things. So it is okay that everyone has it’s one way of doing and terms.
I think that a first requirement for a good housesit is when you have HS en HO with a bit the same of doing/ terms/ rules/ thinking.
That’s why I think at least one videochat is also important, to see eachother, to tell more about the expectations of the sit, but surely also to chitchat about what they and you as a person like.
A month with no response is just insane. My suspicion is that they set up the dates and have subsequently forgotten about them and responded to no-one for any of the dates.
Personally I wouldn’t bother with the sit even if they came back to me as I don’t want to deal with people who value my time so little to ignore me for a month but that’s just me. You may be different.
I also see they have no internal picture of the house or the bedroom, bathroom etc which they should have according to THS. I don’t generally apply to sits that hide the interior of the house as my experience has shown it is for a reason although they do have a lot of reviews so it may be ok.
Carry on applying for sits as if this one doesn’t exist and if they get back to you you could re-assess if you were still interested but don’t leave your calendar free for them.
@Cuttlefish Yes you are right that it can leave a bad first impression. And in many cases, they may be perfectly lovely people who would communicate great during the sit. But I guess we will never know since we move on to different opportunities! And I agree that it is a good idea to not post a listing until you are ready to seriously start the process of choosing someone. Again, I think it comes down to HO’s and sitters being in really different head spaces about various aspects of this arrangement.
I was talking about this with my husband the other day. While we don’t expect a HO to reply to us within minutes of contacting them, even waiting a couple of days to check messages and reach out seems like a long time in this context. HOs are getting a really valuable service that can save them hundreds or even thousands of dollars–for longer trips–and you would think that as soon as people started contacting them with the offer to provide it, they would want to secure someone as quickly as possible. I know I would if I were a HO.
I guess it also depends on where the home owners live and when they will be traveling.
Here in a small town in Germany, even if it’s just 40km from Frankfurt, not too many sitters apply so you need to secure good sitters right away. I actually received most applications before Christmas last year….German Christmas markets seem to be pretty popular
