@Globetrotter. You don’t do a video chat before accepting a sit?
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Thanks for asking! This is a great questions. If there aren’t sufficient pictures of the interior of the house but the sit sounds like a good one, we apply, then ask the homeowner to zoom with us and walk us around the house to show us where we would be staying. If that’s not possible, we ask them to send us pictures. In many respects the pictures should be similar to ones you would include in an airbnb / VRBO / etc. listing, as sitters want to know the kitchen is workable for fixing meals, the furniture comfortable, the bed big enough (if my husband is joining me for the sit), and the house tidy. One picture of the pet(s) is sufficient. We can explore the local area using Google, so we don’t need any pictures of the area.
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When the main picture on the listing is of the owners, it’s an immediate turn off. I couldn’t really care what they look like. I can look at the profile picture to ascertain whether they are 20’s, 40’s or 60’s+.
I’ve also seen the main picture being of the toilet? Why? I did contact someone we had sat for with a beautiful cat, to ask why their main picture was of a tree? A pretty tree, but still, a tree. She said they were hard to move around…
The house inside is useful to give an idea of clutter/cleanliness, and the local attractions, not useful.
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I won’t apply for a sit unless I feel like the photos provide me with a good feel of the home. I’m particular about a clean, uncluttered home, so if there are no interior pictures, I won’t apply. If the photos show cluttered counters, messy rooms, unmade beds, etc, I also don’t apply. Perhaps I’m too picky…but I also don’t want to be stuck in a house sit that I’m not enjoying because of those issues.
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Some profiles are limited in content so pictures certainly enhance the overall host presentation.
For me, I like to see a couple of pictures that show the pet(s) off road parking option, the sitter bedroom and bathroom facilities. general internal pictures.
The provision of an external frontage picture is useful when trying to find the place after a sitting has been agreed.
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Definitely pictures of the pets, a few of the inside of the house is nice too, to get an idea of the cleanliness of the place. But that’s it really. I don’t need to see pictures of the owners, I generally Skype or Whatsapp before, so you get to see the owners at that time.
As @Jon-JWalking said, an external frontage pic is nice to see the general look of the house.
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Really? I never thought of it that way!
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I also have never done a video chat or Skype but have always talked to the owners on the phone. Most of our sits have been local though - we’ve only done three international sits. I feel like I can get a connection with someone and really ask questions etc on the phone. Some homeowners are really quick to deciding on a sitter and others like to have video chats, etc. prior to deciding. All depends on their level of trust and how comfortable they are. I guess we’ve been lucky so far.
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@Provence After we apply, if the homeowner replies that they’re considering us, I always ask that we arrange a time to chat over zoom, facetime or another video service. That gives everyone a chance to get to know each other and gain a better understanding of the details of the sit. Most homeowners I’ve worked with will video chat with a few sitters, so, while we’ve made the short list at that point, we haven’t been selected.
If a video call isn’t possible, then we’ll talk using a regular call. At that time I’ll ask that they send us pictures of the inside of the home. I explain that part of what we consider is whether we’ll be comfortable in the home. We’re really just looking for cleanliness, etc., not decorations.
If it doesn’t look like a place where we’ll be comfortable I tell them that and wish them a good time on their travels.
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We like to see the pets - preferably up and alert and reasonably close and not curled up in a ball on a pillow. We also like to see the room we’ll be using and maybe the bathroom. We also like to see the outside of the house in order to confirm we’ve got the right place!
We always try to have a video call with the homeowner(s). There’s a lot you can find out by talking with someone face to face.
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I agree with most of what I’ve read here. I like to see pictures of the pets, and one of our room/bathroom. One of the living area/kitchen is nice too. If we’ve going to accept a sit, I will take a chance and ask for a photo of our bedroom if there isn’t one.
I usually get the address of the sit and check out the area on google street view so I may not actually need an outdoor photo. I find it’s nice to know what’s in the neighbourhood/area we’re going to be staying.
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HI @pc10328 welcome to our community forum, thank you for joining in the conversation, pet pics are so important and seeing where we will be calling home and completely agree about Skype calls, we often also get the “Royal Tour” which is always a bonus.
We’re looking forward to getting to know our members much better and the forum is the way we will be able to do that and help members like you connect with one another.
Thank you again.
Angela & The Team
Agreed with most comments here too.
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Most important photos is your “listing” image/1st photo to catch someone’s attention, but I would lead with your best pet photo, then the following photos of the house, etc.
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Use all the photo slots that THS will give you so we can see as many pet and house photographs.
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Don’t really worry about photos of the town/city, etc. the city is listed on the listing and it can be looked up to see the general location.
You have a limited amount of photo real estate to “sell” your pet sit, so you need to make it count.
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I think I agree with most people here - I’d like to see where I’m going to sleep, relax, and if there’s a good place to set up my laptop. But I’m fine with several pictures of the pets as well! I always want to see them.
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Definitely want to see the pets and several photos of the home. We won’t accept sit without first seeing photos of the interior of the home (learned this one the hard way). Photos of the main rooms bedroom, kitchen, living room, are very important as they show the level of cleanliness and clutter. Also a photo of the yard/garden to give a good idea of what exterior responsibilities there might be. A photo of each pet too, of course (one per pet is good!). As others have mentioned, I don’t need photos of the city/area, I can find that on google. I don’t need photos of the owners as we always video chat before arranging our sits.
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Hi @jenniferhafner welcome to the forum and thank you for contributing to the photo discussion. We look forward to getting to know you and share in your TrustedHousesitters journey.
Enjoy connecting with other members …
Angela & the Team
This is a really interesting topic and I agree with a lot of what others have said.
We usually housesit as a family of 4. Sometimes it isn’t easy to tell from a listing whether the house can accommodate the 4 of us. Not every listing says how many bedrooms they have. If they do, not all of them may be available to sitters. A “family friendly” listing may only be able to accommodate one child, or if their children are small, their beds may not be suitable to accommodate my tall 12 and 10 year old. So I really like to see photos of bedrooms!
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I won’t take a sit that doesn’t show some interior photos. I’m always shocked at how many housesits don’t show me where I’d be sleeping and preparing food. I’m sure that in high-demand areas, a sit will still get plenty of applications, so unless it’s in a low-demand area I don’t bother asking for more photos.
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Hi @Val welcome to our community and thank you for joining in the conversation, we have blogs to help new owners create the best possible listing and it’s something we are really working on to help them as many, especially new members, are not quite sure what images to include.
Thank you again and enjoy being part of our forum.
Angela and the Team
Welcome 
Val
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