I believe that for new forum users the profile url is not clickable. One can copy it and paste it in the browser.
Yes, the “exceptional” tenant. And I get also deterred when owners mention “high standards of tidiness”. I never quite understand how this goes together with having animals in bed.
A cat in bed is fine for me, if he lets me sleep. No TV? Great, I prefer to read anyway.
I might be ok with a tenant, although a bit iffy.
But the cleaning thing would stop me from applying. It takes away too much of my enjoyment if the owners are too fastidious about cleaning.
Most owners have been very happy with my cleaning efforts, but if cleaning becomes a huge issue with people expecting to hoover every day for example, that sit is not for me.
For me, depends on the pets I’m sitting. For instance, I recently sat cats with triple coats who shed nonstop. If I didn’t vacuum frequently, the loose fur would get into food, make my nose itch, etc. Happily, they had a robo vacuum — easy and no work.
I was bummed that those cats weren’t allowed into the bedroom, but I could see why. They had an air purifier in there as well.
Fair point. Especially with the Olympics coming up.
If that’s a potential concern, you could always offer in your listing to add a TV. Then borrow, rent or buy one. Many folks have extras, because they upgrade or have them in spare rooms or such. You can also get TVs for cheap used. We’ve previously donated or given away working TVs when we’ve upgraded.
Many folks don’t watch the Olympics or follow sports. Personally, if I hear about a good opening ceremony after the fact, I just find it on YouTube.
Can I just say that TVs really only appeal to the boomer/Gen Y generations anymore - millennials & Gen Z (usually) only watch our laptops, not TVs, and have our own Netflix & Prime etc subscriptions. We might use a TV as a screen to watch streaming services, but that’s it. The Olympics can be screened on our personal devices too… I don’t remember the last time I ever watched TV - pobably when I still lived with my parents, years ago. So I think it really depends who’s applying and what their generation is as to how important a TV is 
Funny about generational divides: I read a news piece years ago about how some parents were using TV as punishment for their kids, because they left them with only that and took away their computers, video games and phones when they misbehaved.
I’m Gen X and cut cable about 20 years ago.
Oh, just googled and found this from 2015:
Haha that’s too funny! To be honest I don’t really see how TV’s will continue to exist in another 20 - 30 years or so… More and more people use projector screens connected to their devices instead of a TV, or buy a large TV screen not for the sake of TV but just for watching streaming services… As AI & VR etc continues to develop, I really don’t think TV will survive.
@Nagy26 I thought TVs were already primarily streaming devices. I’m gen X and haven’t had cable/live TV for almost 20 years. I don’t know anyone my age who does. My mom is 80 and it’s been at least 5 years since she switched to streaming only. I’ve done sits without TVs and just used my laptop, but I do prefer to watch on a larger screen. When I look for TV as an amenity, I’m thinking for streaming.
Same! I also love when people have projectors. Thinking of getting a small portable one for myself 
I’m gen x and haven’t had a TV in 30 years.
I have regular boomer Housesitters that I absolutely adore who’d done multiple 2 week, 4 week stints at our place but when I asked them if they would like to do a 4 month sit, they both asked “Can we please bring our own TV?” 
4 months without TV was just a wee bit too long for them. So I cleared a space for them and everyone was happy. 
I live in New England.
I have 6 states frim which to choose a sit.
I had a summer sit cancel, in fact.
I continue to look for a local summer sit but I’ll tell ya…the responsibilities and restrictions in the listings are BIG deterrents, or simply, there is a date range conflict…
I feel ya. I haven’t applied to a THS listing in a while… I haven’t found any lately that (in accordance to my availability & location preferences) are reflective of a mutually beneficial exchange… So many listings recently ask for things that I am not willing to provide, like not leaving the pets for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time (so, so many say statements like this!!) or that they want the sitter to meet in advance before the sit, or just have far too many requests… I saw one recently that wanted the sitter to walk the dog for 10 - 20km (12 miles) a day. Dude. Pay me as a dog walker and I’ll think about it. 
Saw another one recently with 1. cat. Just 1 cat. That the owners did not want sitters to leave alone for more that 4hrs a day, and the responsibilities and intro went on for literally 3 pages with every single daily cleaning task and chore listed and was the craziest listing I’ve ever seen… and somehow it still had applicants 
@Nagy26 . . . I have spotted an advert where HO is looking for someone to constantly be there for their cat, along with a very detailed array of chores in relation to said cat. The advert has received no applicants.
It is in an area I would ordinarily have chosen to visit, and I think with more realistic expectations by the HO, and an appreciation of the “mutual exchange” aspect of THS, the sit would likely have received a lot of interest.
Oh boy
I swear so many times I see listings that look nice, sound nice, and then you get to the responsibilities section and read “don’t leave the pets alo–” nope, ciao
Just had this - a lovely new listing for a “very easy dog”
As it was not stated precisely how long the dog could be left alone for I enquired about this .
The answer from the puzzled owner was
“When I created my listing I ticked the box number of hours dog can be left alone = 0”
They were surprised that this tick box wasn’t visible to sitters. However they did say that if there was an emergency the dog could be left for up to 1 hour.
We withdrew our application. 
And people wonder why they have no applicants…
I saw a listing that requested the sitter be at home with the 2 cats for at least 18+ hours per day. Like that’s nearly the whole day. In this case I say the HO should hire a paid sitter as this is not a mutual exchange.
Oh man. I found one yesterday (on Nomador) that matched my dates & location exactly, and I clicked on it silently praying that it would be a normal flipping listing… Clicked on it, and read that they only wanted applicants aged over 60, and it was in a retirement village with shared communal spaces How is that even allowed. At this point, I would like to throw my laptop out the window.