Hi all!! I am a homeowner with 3 successful sits and another one organized for later this year. However I am having a devil of a time organizing one that is meant to begin Saturday. It’s been up for awhile and I’ve had just a few applicants but people either committed to another sit and withdrew before we could connect, or changed their travel plans before we committed, or wanted to bring their pets or large family along which doesn’t work for our cat or house. I thought I had found someone today and we did a Zoom call and I got a really bad vibe so I declined.
If anyone has the bandwidth to look at my listing and let me know how it could be improved I would appreciate it!
Hi. I just looked at your listing and it looks great. I would maybe add how long your cat can be left alone. Is it 2 hours, 4 hours or…? And also, it’s hard to determine the size of the bed shown. Maybe mention if it is a full or queen? Good luck. It looks like you have one applicant already.
OP also posted in last-minute sits, so can see the listing that way (until it’s automatically removed):
@Samox24 provided instructions on adding the listing to one’s profile, which the OP said they did (Sitter with no reviews - #10 by YourfriendJP). However, since the link on the profile is still wrong——and I know the instructions/workflow can be unintuitive——I’ll flag a moderator to fix the OP’s profile link, for future proofing.
I think your listing looks great. The only thing as Harris2 mentioned is maybe adding how long your kitty can be left alone.
Your listing is showing as no sitter needed though?
Hello,
My primary question here is how long does it take you to respond to a request? Personally, as a sitter, if an owner doesn’t get back to me in two or three days, I usually withdraw because it feels kind of disrespectful. My thinking is that if someone has bothered to place an advert and I have taken the time to reply, the least they can do is respond promptly. If you are responding promptly and still having difficulty finding suitable candidates, then maybe you could place more specific requirements in your advert and engage more with this forum to expand your reach.
Good luck!
Yes, we got nervous and hired a friend who does house sitting for pay today. I don’t want to spend the next few days freaking out about this. I’ve had 2 sitters engage and then withdraw during pre-zoom call communications, a third who could only do two nights, and then a fourth who gave me a super bad vibe during our zoom.
Thanks for the question!! I generally respond pretty quickly especially on this sit because I’m desperate to get it filled. I’ve had several people apply but no good fits.
One person wanted to bring several kids - I only have one bedroom.
One person wanted to bring their pet - not ok with my cat.
One person applied and then after I asked to schedule a zoom, they said another sit had accepted them.
Another person applied, we made plans to meet when they were coming to town prior to my sit, and then they decided to spontaneously change their travel plans mid bus ride and not come to my city after all
Another person could only do two nights.
The final person gave me a weird vibe on zoom…she has more questions about my location than about my pet, me or my home. She told me has sat several times but her homeowners didn’t leave reviews. I started the call by saying “hi, how are you today?” And she said “yeah, so you have one cat?” And it just felt too weird. So I follow my gut on that one.
@YourfriendJP: Really nice post. I like how you detail what happened without breaking privacy issues. And congrats for trusting your gut even though you were desperate to find a sitter.
Overall, a cat sit in a nice home in a big city should be pretty popular, so I think you’re in good shape for the future. Remember that you can communicate with multiple applicants at once. And if you hit the 5-applicant limit, you can unpause later to be open to more applicants.
Next time you have an open listing, if you don’t get enough applicants in a week, feel free to ask here again for more advice! Seasons change.
