I have been with Trusted HouseSitters for some four or five years now, and I have never been concerned regarding getting any HouseSits until recently, when I am finding there are hardly any getting listed, and they are not only getting few and far between, but they are only for a few days.
I am not contemplating joining another platform, which is something I do not wish to do, as I have to start all over again when all my reviews are on here. I have regulars I do HouseSits for whose pets know me well, and they love the consistency.
However, between these regular HouseSits, I find there are hardly any more situable sits being advertised. As it is I do sits between Bundberg (where I am now) to the Gold Coast and even into Northern New South Wales. It is often a five to six hour drive to my next sit. I can handle that, but I am wondering why there are hardly many HouseSits being listed any more.
I am at the point now, that I am going to have to go to another platform, which I don’t really wish to do. Any suggestions as I cannot drive further than I am already driving as it often takes me an entire day to do so.
@karenfay hi from a fellow Queenslander, Brisvegas. I totally get where you are coming from.
I have noticed quite a few in the Brisbane/Gold Coast general area recently but it depends on when you are wanting to sit. Must admit, Perth and WA in general used to be very common on this site but they also have dropped off dramatically of late.
I think you might have to look on the two other Aussie sites which have a massive amount of sits available and unfortunately if you want to continue sitting, this could be your only option. You can actually add all your reviews to these sites also so you won’t be starting from scratch trying to get new reviews.
That’s the only advice I can give in your situation, I am on the other two and could sit full-time for the rest of my life if I wanted, that’s how many there are. But I stay with THS as I get all my international sits from here.
Keep looking, they are there, just not nearly as frequently.
I have just looked on the THS site and there are currently 29 available sits between Bundaberg and Brisbane @karenfay. Maybe it’s just your dates that aren’t working for you or maybe your sit preferences aren’t a match?
Also Queensland based at the moment, I had to sign up to one of the other platforms within about a week of arriving as there aren’t enough sits that were of interest on THS in the area - I think it’s probably 35/65 THS/ the other site now. Of course at Christmas and now Easter there is lots but some of the weeks/months in between it’s pretty hard to find something that is a good fit - or anything at all. I kind of don’t blame HOs for using sites that are free for them when they can also find great sitters there and I expect some of those sites also have better brand recognition in Oz.
Absolutely correct @Bianca. Most HO’s on the other two sites advertise on both so not a lot of incentive to place an ad elsewhere. They get a lot more than five applications as well so another reason to use them. I have always stated though that in the past, THS seemed to attract a better standard of sitter but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. They are all as good as each other now, two are just far cheaper and way more available sits. Maybe THS need to do a big advertising campaign in Oz
And then one probably does not see the sits that get the five applications really fast.
Maybe that @karenfay could see more sits by creating a Saved search that gives notifications (in the web interface to get daily email alerts, in the app for push notifications).
I sit in the UK and Europe, and sometimes New York City. My choice of sits is significantly less than it was a couple of years ago. I have all but given up on ever being in London Zone 2 again.
I am frequently looking for longer sits (1-2 weeks or longer), in places where I don’t need a car (public transit or pet parent loans me a car), and either cats or dogs that do not require onerous daily walking (I work for a living). These are popular sits. They go into review within 10 minutes. Like I said, I work for a living. I can’t spend time looking for and applying for sits 24/7.
And hardly any sits for February when I complete a regular sit on the Gold Coast other than a few days here and there. I am based near Gin Gin so it is not worth me driving 6 hours each way for a couple of days. I prefer long term as loading and unloading my car is a lot of work and not worth it for short sits!
I don’t house sit to go sightseeing nor take a holiday. My first priority is always the homes and the animals, and I choose to spend my time with them as much as possible, and only leave them when I have to get supplies, or do something such as I have to get my car service on Friday, before my next 7 hour drive to my next sit. Owners sometimes encourage me to go and look at the area or go sightseeing, but I have done so much travelling in the past, that I am really not interested. I would rather have a cute kitty or puppy on my lap with a good book anyday!
Unfortunately I am unable to be online in the evenings so perhaps I am missing out on sits because of this (due to brain injury otherwise I don’t sleep all night!). I notice some new listings for Gold Coast were under review before I had even seen them. There was always lots of sit to choose from now there is hardly any. Someone told me that the guidelines changed, so perhaps there are less sits now because of this?
I do a lot of high-end HouseSits in large expensive homes as I have complete the Worldwide Criminal check, have lots of reviews and I am fully verified. Many of the home owners I do sits for only prefer Trusted HouseSitters for this reason, and they all comment on the calibre of sitters being much higher. I do sits sometimes for friends who use other platforms, and they often tell me MANY stories about the dreadful HouseSitters, and how bad they are like locking the at in their bedroom for 5 days while they were away and they got back to all the carpet along the door all scratched up. He was on the computer all day only metres away from the door so how could he not hear the cat or wonder where she was when she didn’t come for her food?! Another used the bore water to fill up the horse trough, and then sat inside reading a book while they bailed it out onto the garden, and then filled it up with the correct tank water. There is arsenic in bore water so you cannot give it to horses.
@karenfay don’t we all prefer the longer sits! I get you, I’ve been living out of my car for four years now and the loading and unloading is what gets me down the most, hence why I look for long term sits. About to start a sit for a month in Burpengary so that’s good. Plenty, absolutely plenty, of fantastic sits on the other sites, near Gin Gin. But you know what you are doing so only you can either stay specifically with THS or look at other sites. Good luck
I have also noticed a decline in quality sits since 2022-2023. We are occasional sitters who either do relatively convenient sits in desirable locations we can drive to, or sits in other areas we’d like to spend time in and thus are ok paying airfare and rental car costs to get there. While we enjoy spending time with people’s pets and ensuring they and the home we stay in are well cared for, we also have an expectation that we will have a reasonable amount of time to enjoy the area, especially if we have to fly and rent a car to do the sit.
I’ve been searching for interesting sits for a few weeks now in 2024 and so far have not applied for anything listed. They’re either in locations I don’t want to spend time in, or the HO has way too many pets for us to manage, or the HO wants chores done as well such as mowing the lawn, weeding, etc., or the home doesn’t look very tidy, or the pets have behavioral issues and/or can only be left alone for a few hours.
I would be ok with a dog that needs attention every 4-5 hours in a convenient urban location, but many of the locations are quite rural, so in order to be sure not to be away more than 4-5 hours, a sitter would have very limited time to enjoy attractions in the region. That is just too restrictive for a free sitter, at least for us.
Hoping the quality of sits will improve. I’ll keep looking!
I agree, l find it difficult to get sits even though l can be on all day as l am retired. They all seem to be Australia, USA or England. Would love to know if there is another website for Europe?
When I sit cats, I try to always keep my room and stuff locked. That way, they can’t pee on, poo on, etc., till I know the cats. Currently, the cats I’m sitting (along with a dog) are relentless in trying to find food. Knowing that my jacket pockets might have treat smells from my own dog, I even stow that away from cats. I’d expect all seasoned sitters to take such precautions. And if any pet peed on my bed, you’d better bet that I wouldn’t let them in my room a second time.
If the conditions are egregious and the hosts misled me about such, I’d report them to THS and give both notice that I’d be leaving early. That’s because it’s not right that sitters are tricked or trapped into sits that are unreasonable.
@Bookbabe88 I get quite a few notifications on THS for sits in continental Europe when I make a Saved search on the map in the web interface.
A website with more sits in France would be Nomador. I only have a free account there, it sends me notifications of new sits. But right now I cannot actually apply for those.
I have a paid Nomador account, because I wanted to check out whether I could get sits that THS has few of. It’s definitely worked. Even with low effort (all I did was tweak my THS profile and link to my THS reviews), I’ve gotten invitations to sit in such places, including in France. Like I got an unsolicited one today for two long possible cat sits crossing from July till November, in the Lake Annecy region. The hosts were flexible, because they’re going RV’ing (or caravaning, as some call it). I declined, because I have a conflicting sit and other plans, plus I want flexibility for such a longish time from now, unlike sitters who want to plan far ahead. I also don’t typically sit for more than a week or two.
On Nomador, the hosts and invites or listings seem more iffy in general. Like I chatted with a few hosts who have good locations, but posted dates and then later said their plans wouldn’t firm up till much later.
I’m probably not going to renew on Nomador, because even though the fee isn’t my concern, I don’t want to spend time on iffier searches for sits, since I can take or leave sitting in many places and just take vacations without sitting at all. YMMV, of course.
You used to be able to do a few (5 I think) applications for free on nomador but most listings were in French and an English application didn’t get a foot in (fair enough). I did spend three weeks in Milan one year because of it but I’d be reluctant to pay for a membership as that may have been a fluke.
