I’m new to THS, and I’m wondering what people do to secure valuables in their homes before inviting over a sitter they’ve never met. I don’t expect anyone to divulge their own process details, so I’ll ask it this way: In your experience with THS, what are some of the generic good practices you’ve seen people use? E.g. lockable file cabinets, one locked room, small safe or “gun safe” (not necessarily for guns; just a large safe that can’t be moved by hand).
In my case, I used to move a lot, so I migrated all my files to small plastic boxes that I can easily put in a car. I’m wondering if that’s just a no-go for using a house-sitter. Maybe I should bite the bullet and get a large, lockable file cabinet that’s not easily moveable. I mean, do others worry about identity theft if sitters get all their files, or am I just sounding paranoid?
I also wonder what people do with jewelry, valuable heirlooms, etc. And passports when you’re traveling domestically. And musical instruments that may not be valuable, but are easy to break if misused. Do people just put stuff in a closet and ask the sitter not to look in there? I know people say “trust your gut,” but I’m accustomed to trusting both my gut and rigorous background checks, and yet I still end up with, shall we say, unpleasant surprises with roommates and tenants! I’m not sure my “gut” is very trustworthy. Thanks in advance.
I applaud your forethought on this issue. THS may be reliant on the “trust” bit but there’s no value in blind trust for either host or sitter. Quite the opposite in our view.
Our valuable jewelry goes into a safe deposit box before travel and private things go into a locked closet. That includes computers and password-protected external drives containing financially sensitive information. We keep all financial records stored digitally and shred all printouts. We have had our credit records frozen for at least the last 10 years so identity theft is a non-issue and we’ve only needed to unfreeze those credit records for fewer than 2 weeks overall in 10+ years.
We take these precautions whether our home was being cared for by sitters, friends or family. Indeed, all of these precautions predate our THS use by many years.
I have sat in many homes where the master is locked. It works since I don’t have to clean the master, don’t like sleeping in the master and they feel secure.
On another note, a friend, mother of my daughter’s high school classmate, allowed one of her sons to have a party. Jewellry was in a lock box. Like a heavy safe. Someone attending the party took it. It probably had to be 2 to carry it. And no one noticed them carrying it out of the party. So having a locked master is a good idea.
Great question — and honestly, a very common one when you’re new to THS.
In our experience over many sits, most homeowners don’t do anything elaborate to secure valuables — but it’s quite normal to set aside a locked drawer, cupboard, or even a room for personal items if that gives you peace of mind. We generally don’t expect access to everything in a home, and to be quite honest a locked bedroom or office/study is one less room for us to clean
Things like passports, jewellery, or important documents are often just put away in a sensible place — sometimes locked, sometimes simply noted as private.
It’s also worth saying that your comfort level will likely evolve quite quickly after your first sit or two. What feels like a big concern at the start often becomes much less so once you’ve had a positive experience.
@DoctorB I respect your approach to planning and security concerns, but I hope I’m one of a large majority of sitters in that I avoid accessing anything or anywhere in the home whenever possible on a sit. However, I do let owners know that I will open every kitchen cupboard and drawer. There’s nothing more annoying than discovering the gadget you needed on the last day of a sit.
For newer owners, I ask them to move any valuable/sentimental items, especially that are in the main living areas, to an area I have no need to access. I have been asked on a sit to not use the wine glasses on the top shelf and I’m fine with that (they did have others).
I have been on sits with locked rooms, two of which were for very different reasons. One was a high-level government official who worked from home. Understandable and no problem.
The second was the first sit for these owners. They had asked their insurance for clearance for having sitters. They were required to move all their valuables to their primary suite and for it to have a locked door. Otherwise any claim would not be honoured. They were apologetic and uncomfortable. My response is that I’m fine with that but that, given they had an ensuite bathroom, I would not be able to do any routine checks there, or access it if there was a leak or flood in the home that originated in that area. You may therefore want to check with your insurance to make sure you will be covered with whatever setup you decide on.
Also make sure your Welcome Guide clearly lets sitters know where to find supplies. I did a recent sit where I had to open cupboards to find refills for kitty litter. Include in your guide where essential items/needs are stored. Be thorough enough to make it that the sitter doesn’t have to go looking to find things.
Assuming you have an alternate room for sitters to sleep, a locked master is fine by me. Whatever makes you comfortable. I would much prefer one room such as master or office closed off than to have many cabinets, drawers, etc marked off limits.
We don’t lock rooms as our cats like to explore and we don’t want to frustrate them by closing off a part of their territory.
We have a small safe that we keep valuable documents in. I don’t have much in the way of valuable jewelry, but the couple of items I do have (engagement ring) go in there as well.
We don’t hide our passports, they are in an unlocked drawer. We also have a file cabinet but it’s unlocked. We have a couple of musical instruments but we don’t hide them, not sure how many sitters would be interested in playing a flute or a trombone:)
I don’t think a sitter is quite the same as a roommate or tenant who may be more inclined to open drawers and cabinets vs sitters who typically only do so around the kitchen when looking for things to prepare meals…
No advice to give, but I don’t think this site will work for you. I host and sit. Most people just find sitters that they trust and don’t have issues. Background checks are only for US sitters and they aren’t “rigourous” just the standard kind that would show criminal convictions in public databases.
I know some people might have a locked room where they keep their valuables and make that room off-limits to sitters. But it sounds like your concerns go deeper, so if that doesn’t “solve” this or you don’t have such a room then:
It doesn’t sound like Rover or other paid online sites will work either. Maybe if you have safe hidden behind a locked closet in a locked room, you could use this site, but if you ask sitters to do a more thorough check or want to hold onto a passport or something, or even just seem overly suspicious, no on is going to want to sit for you.
There are too many sits that I’ve seen go wrong on the forum because someone couldn’t find the “good” spatula and blamed the sitter only to have the spatula mysteriously reappear in the drawer it fell into weeks later.
I’ve done 26 sits and it has never occurred to me that any of the HOs have seen me as a potential thief. Only one HO has ever left a room locked. I wasn’t offended; I just found it a bit odd, since she could simply have asked me not to go in there.
If “What if they steal something?” is among your foremost thoughts when planning to use a sitter for the first time, will you feel comfortable going away and leaving your home in a stranger’s care? And how might the sitter feel, knowing you’ve been fretting about the possibility they’ll half-inch your good silver or your passport.
This may be my feverish imagination, but I wonder if this question isn’t another symptom of the “new” THS - the “Free AirBnB” one. After all, I would expect an AirBnB owner to be careful not to leave anything of value in their property. But in the “old” THS community I joined six years ago, the question wouldn’t have come up.
I am a sitter and locked my office that occupied an extra bedroom when the cleaners came. What bothers me is you seem so concerned to actually post this as a question. Couldn’t you just figure out on your own where to put your valuables. You sound like “ us against them” which is off putting. Will you feel comfortable while you are traveling or constantly wondering about this. Will you make the sitter feel welcome.
I doubt that any HO will see sitters as potential thieves, but it’s incumbent on anyone to protect their valuables, at the very least it’s what insurers and police would expect. Imagine a scenario where the HO had left out an expensive watch e.g. Omega Seamaster and that went missing during the sit, I would be surprised if the insurers didn’t take issue with the owner’s negligence. It’s not about trust, it’s about being sensible.
I’ve sat for one HO who works for an agency, they have a locked room and explained why. I’ve also sat for someone with a senior position in finance in the City who works from home, again they had a locked room. I’m not all bothered by this, or their reasons.
@DoctorB, we’ve completed 60+ housesits in many countries and numerous properties have been relatively high value with ample homeowner possessions. Includes quite a few doctors.
We suspect that some sensible homeowners have placed high-price, high-portable valuables in some form of secure location. We don’t ask, not do we really care - as it’s their stuff and we have no interest in it.
Only a tiny fraction of our housesits have had an off-limits master bedroom. Indeed most hosts have encouraged us to use their master bedroom, perhaps motivated to attract a confirmed housesit or that we enjoy time looking after their pets.
Parallel tactics that you may consider are-
prioritize housesitters with greater number of positive reviews
complete significant due diligence (one or more video calls and/or in-person)
encourage housesitter to arrive at property a day or so before your departure (engage/assess)
if you’re new to THS then consider first listing for brief duration as test (for your benefit)
if you know other THS hosts then ask them for recommendations (we’ve had that multiple times)
Finally, suggest keep in mind that THS requires a fair trade - give and take. If any host introduces a ‘take’ such as above-average pet care, below-average property, difficult location, intensive process, etc then the ‘give’ should be commensurate. If listing, in total, is relatively unattractive then a low number/quality of housesitters will apply.
Keep your chin up. Numerous hosts have told us about initial housesit anxiety followed by sheer delight at the prospect of more, longer, stress-free trips.
Wow, thanks everyone for all the thoughts and ideas! For what it’s worth, I am not of the mindset of looking sideways at every sitter as a potential issue, I just want to take reasonable steps to be sensible. I posted this question so I could see what the general consensus is on what “sensible” means for the community, and I think I’ve got that. Thanks! Looking forward to meeting the first sitter for my pet soon!
For context, I don’t have a large house, it’s a small condo with only 2 bedrooms. So I’d feel kinda bad locking one whole room since it might make the place feel a little claustrophobic. But you all gave me lots of good ideas, options, and perspective that I’ll definitely make use of.
@DoctorB
Just to add — valuables aren’t limited to jewellery or high-cost items. They can also be things with sentimental value that can’t be replaced. For example, a mug that belonged to a loved one or a wooden spoon your grandmother used for baking may not be worth much financially, but they are still irreplaceable. It’s a good idea to put these items away so a sitter doesn’t accidentally use or damage them.
As long as there are still items available for the sitter to use, it’s perfectly fine to have a designated shelf or cupboard for anything you don’t want used—just make sure to clearly let the sitter know.
Also, if certain items require special care — for example, they can’t go in the dishwasher or need specific cleaning products — please make this clear. Don’t assume that every sitter will automatically know how to handle them.
All of these details can be discussed at hand over and please do include in your Welcome Guide.(No need to put these fine details in your listing )
so that’s one less problem to worry about.