What is House-Sitting and How to get Started

We just finished up our first sit with Trusted Housesitters. We’ve looked after friends places before, but never strangers so this was a whole new experience for us. Let’s break down how it went and what to expect on your first sit.

What is house-sitting?

House-sitting, or more commonly, pet sitting, is where people need someone to come in and stay in their home while they are away. Often this is to look after pets, but it may also be to make sure the house isn’t empty, look after plants or for security reasons.

House-sitting allows you to stay in places, suburbs or homes that you wouldn’t ordinarily have access to through short term rentals or hotels. It can be a great way to see a place or check out a specific suburb.

It is also a way to get free accommodation. However, remember you’re there for a reason - most likely as a sitter to provide pet care. Taking care of the pets should be your top priority.

Where do you find house-sitting opportunities?

We looked at several groups on social media platforms for house-sitting opportunities. Ultimately, we decided to use a platform as we felt this gave us more legitimacy. We knew the people on the housesitting sites had been vetted, as had we.

Setting up a Trusted Housesitters profile takes some time but it’s ultimately worth it. It allows us to check people out and see the reviews of others who have sat for them.

It also lets us set up alerts for specific sits matching our requirements. You can specify places in the world, dates, types of animals, the inclusion of a car… almost anything you know you want in your house-sitting experience.

What does house-sitting cost?

This depends. First of all there is the cost of finding the sits. Some Facebook groups and platforms offer free access, but other services, such as Trusted Housesitters, require a membership fee.

Then, some sits, especially long-term ones, will charge for power or utilities. This helps to cover the owner's cost.

Another factor to keep in mind is getting to and from the house-sit. We were travelling in Southeast Asia, so it was relatively easy to get around. But there are not as many options as somewhere like Europe or North America, so we had to travel further to align house-sits.

You will also pay for your living expenses, like food and drink. This could be more or less than normal, depending on the place you’re travelling to and whether you’ll be eating out or cooking at home.

What is the application process?

We applied for a lot of sits before we landed one. As newbies to the site, it can be hard to stand out as we didn’t have any reviews, just personal recommendations on our profile.

We ensured we were open to a house sit with all sorts of pets. After some persistence, some people showed interest and scheduled a call with us.

Having a video chat with the owners and their pets allowed everyone to get more comfortable with what we were signing up for. Did the house look like the pictures? Were they genuinely lovely people? Did they feel the same about us? Are they homeowners or just renting? Once you’ve gathered all the information you can, there’s a bit of trusting your gut.

Some people will be sitting in locations near their own homes, so they can pop over to meet the pets. Our first sit was in a whole other country so we had to just make a decision after one video chat.

*Sleepy pup was very happy at home most of the day*

Rejection as a house-sitter

We locked in our first sit months in advance. And then the worst possible thing could happen. They cancelled on us.

We had one flight and a handful of nights at a hotel booked. We had missed out on other sits as we had this opportunity booked in. As a homeowner, we’d Airbnb’d our house, so we had no home to return to.

Trusted Housesitters does offer a premium level, which includes insurance against these events and part of me wished I’d taken up that offer (we have now upgraded).

But at the time, without the insurance, we had to scramble to find another house-sit, cancel the hotel booking and book more flights. It all worked out in the end, but it was an added stress we didn’t need in the lead-up to Christmas.

The house-sit

Our first experience as house sitters couldn’t have gone better. We love dogs and cats, and the sit we ended up with was for a small Maltipoo in Hong Kong. It’s been a while since we’ve had the joy of a dog in our lives, so this made such a great change from the cats we’ve fostered and cared for.

We arrived at the apartment the day Suki’s parents left for a handover. Luckily, she was a very easygoing dog and didn’t need time to get to know us. She took to us straight away.

Mary and Rob gave us a tour of the apartment, showed us where things were and gave us great advice on what to see in Hong Kong. It was a quick handover but it was so lovely to be able to meet them.

The apartment itself was gorgeous and in a great part of town. Hong Kong wasn’t on our radar as we knew it was an expensive place to visit. Being able to stay in such a beautiful home there allowed us to visit somewhere we never would have been able to otherwise.

The owners had left pretty clear instructions about how to look after Suki. We were able to ask a lot of questions about her preferences, routine and behaviour.

Lessons from house-sitting

Now, we’re definitely not experts when it comes to house-sitting. But here are a few of the lessons in our first experiences.

Have a backup plan or be prepared to change plans. We didn’t expect our first sit to be cancelled and we quickly had to come up with a new plan. If you think that will be difficult, consider getting an insurance cover to help pay for alternative accommodation.
Your focus is on the pets, not sightseeing. We were so excited to be in a new place. Just like any trip, we had a list of places we wanted to see and things to do. But our primary responsibility was to the pet, Suki. We couldn’t be out all day, doing long days of sightseeing. Instead, we did little bits each day and tried incorporating activities where she could come with us.

Stay in contact with the owners, before and during the house-sit. After our experience with the cancellation, I’ll always ensure I’m chatting with the owners in the lead-up to the sit. They may have given us even less notice to change plans if we hadn’t been in contact. And during the sit, letting the owners know how their pet was getting on was vital. We also got some great recommendations of things to see and do near us.

There are always additional costs. We ended up being in a much more expensive city than where we live and there’s always the additional cost of travel to and from the house-sit. So while we saved money on accommodation, we didn’t save money overall.
House sitting is not for everyone. Like any travel experience, you need to be flexible and adaptable to new situations. Being a house sitter means you must follow other people’s instructions on caring for their pets.

Final Note

We’ve already got another house-sit booked, and we can’t wait. I know it will be different from our previous experience, but I’m looking forward to being in a new city and experiencing it as a local.

Let us know in the comments if you’ve ever done any house-sitting. We’d love to hear your experience and any lessons you learnt along the way.

If you’re keen to try it, look at the opportunities on Trusted Housesitters. There are so many homes and pets in need of some love.