Every other time I have posted a sit, I’ve received at least 2 applications before a week is up. I posted for a sit for later this summer; I got one person who then pulled out immediately, and one who never got back to me. Since then…crickets. I know a lot of people go away at that time, but I don’t know why I’m just not getting the applications this time, and I’m getting a bit nervous.
could be your location, i.e. country.
@Lisfnord If you link your listing to your forum profile, we can take a look and see if we can suggest any improvements
Sorry to say but I’m guessing a lot of international sitters, like us, may be avoiding the United States until things (including immigration) get back to some form of normality. I hope that happens sooner than later.
Your question has been asked numerous times. So many different possible reasons
Looks like you are near Boston, MA. There have been SOOOO many posts similar to yours since THS changed their fee structure for Non-Premium Members (sitter and Homeowner has to pay $15US to confirm every sit regardless of length). This has upset MANY members, seemingly mostly the sitter side. Many longtime sitters are not renewing because of that. In addition, US politics have wreaked havoc on international travelers (ie. stringent immigration practices) and gas/jet fuel prices. Those are the main things.
What you can do:
- attach you profile here so forum members can suggest improvements to make it more enticing
- delete and relist your listing to make it new again (make changes first for best results)
- get a Plan going in case things don’t work out with a THS sitter
- consider looking at Sitters who Favorited your listing, invite them to apply with a personal invitation note specifying why you like their profile and would like them to consider your sit (this can be tough but worked for me the 1 time i tried it)
Good luck! We (homeowners) are in tough times!! (unless you have a super desirable beachside, big city or touristy location).
how do I do that?
I think european sitters will not visit USA at the moment, just not safe.
I think this is the case, it is at the moment just not safe to travel to the USA.
Going to give you some simple feedback after a brief look. Your “about me” section is way too long and detailed. Shorten it to no more than 5 sentences.
The actual location – near Waltham? is buried. Public transportation is checked but you only mention bike shares, not buses, trains, etc. I do see that the T does go to Waltham and it is a 22 minute ride. Buses (2 as a transfer is needed) take almost an hour. As a sitter, I would have stopped reading before I even got to the mention of the town.
I think it would be helpful for you to revise your listing in the following ways:
Shorten title. "Two Cats. Near Boston. Lovely Victorian Home.
Shorten “about you” to no more than 5 or 6 sentences, ideally ending with the type of person(s) you are looking for.
Actually I’m going to stop here because just took my own time to check my listing to see where things were and what changes might have been made to help you and I realize that Trusted Housesitters has now changed everything. And offers no opportunities at all for me edit any narrative portion of my own listing or make changes.
So I’m not sure what I will do in the future since I now have a static listing. I certainly won’t be offering anyone else help on changing theirs.
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed suggestions. I have made some edits and moved some stuff around. I’m not sure what issues you were having with editing your own listing; I had no problems editing mine. THS pulls some really weird stuff sometimes.
Thanks again.
Your sit sounds appealing for a city person and what a cool Victorian home! Here are my thoughts on improving the listing:
- the guest bed is mentioned as someones grandfathers - this infers the bed is old and uncomfy which may not be true at all, the mattress might very well be new - ish. Just remove that sentence altogether.
- the bed for sitter(s) is a double, this will not work for most couples so limits your sitter pool mainly to single sitters. If there is a second bed sitters can access, include it in your listing to appeal to more couples.
- There are a couple pics of a plaid set of couches, chairs - they are too close up and dont show the actual room. delete those and retake one showing the entire area in one pic
- You include a lot of info in the Home & Location section that either isnt needed at all, is redundant or belongs in another area. Example: i would put rules about where the ccats do/dont go under the Pet Responsibilities, i would remove info about where Doug likes to work, so much cat info in there belongs under the Pet section or in your Welcome Guide. Take another look at this section with fresh eyes and I think you will see how to tighten it up.
- The Introduction section should be a blurb about you two - take a look at my listing in my profile for an example. Its attached on my Forum profile. Also you have a bunch of cat info here, move most of it to Pet area or Welcome Guide. I agree with @marion about the last line here being about what kind of sitters you are looking for.
Looks like you have made a cuople changes suggested already and have 1 applicant so that is a start! Your kitties are gorgeous BTW. 
A “cat only” sit is super desirable for many Sitters, I think you will get what you need with a bit more profile adjustments.
Thanks for your thoughtful suggestions. I have tried to incorporate them. The room with the plaid couches needs new photos anyway, since we’ve changed it a bit, but I will try to get wider shots.
And thanks for saying they’re gorgeous. Gandalf is most definitely a beautiful cat, which is good because he doesn’t have a whole heck of a lot going on upstairs. 
@Lisfnord as others have said, no one wants to risk going to the USA with the current government, so you’ll probably only attract sitters from the USA.
No one? That’s painting with a rather broad brush.
Well it’s a combination of the recent political atmosphere around border control but also that housesitting is classed as ‘work’….so as a UK sitter with plenty of time to sit as I’m retired I’m not risking it anytime soon.
Surely though there are more than enough people in the USA who would love this sit though? It looks great and if I were living in the USA, within a reasonable travel distance I would jump at this. Are there not lots of USA sitters, who would predominantly sit in the USA?
That’s an interesting question as to what % of sitters travel out of country to sit.