TrustedHousesitters is a mutually beneficial arrangement that travelers and pet owners alike can use as a low-cost option to explore more of the world. It’s available in 130+ countries and the most widely used housesitting platform.
I first used it in 2018 to stay in a nice area of Tokyo, Japan during cherry blossom season. Housesitting a cute cat for two weeks for basically free sounds too good to be true, but there actually is no catch. It’s a great legitimate website.
In 2019, I wanted to explore more of South America, so I set a search alert for the region. Shortly after, one popped up in Quito, Ecuador, and I reached out right away. After a FaceTime ‘interview’ call with the couple living there, they confirmed they’d like me to housesit, and I bought my flights.
After officially getting rid of my apartment in San Francisco in fall 2020 to travel full-time, friends have been kind enough to let me stay with them occasionally, but of course: it’s important to be mindful of others’ space, and better to have your own spot for longer periods when visiting. So the last few years, I’ve also kept a search alert active for the Bay Area. Following several of these housesits, because I return to SF with semi-frequency, I’ve maintained a relationship with the pet owners to repeat caring for their pets.
I spent July 2022 in Berlin thanks to a lovely couple in Friedrichshain who chose me to housesit their two kitties for nearly the whole month.
You don’t need to be a full-time traveler to use TrustedHousesitters — you just need a desire to explore, the means to get to the housesit location and use the service (~$100-250 annually, meaning if you housesit once, it pays for itself), and to plan ahead adequately.
So before you have those 5 star reviews on the platform itself: how do you get chosen?
5 Steps To Maximize Your Chance of Being Chosen To Housesit
To learn more about the story behind TrustedHousesitters and their various memberships (I use the “basic” membership), check out those links. We’ll just focus on actually getting picked to housesit here.
Before you pay the fee to sign up, you can actually see all of the listings for free. Read below to get all of your profile information, photos, and external references ready to go (will discuss that more below). Then, once you are serious about wanting to apply, officially sign up on TrustedHousesitters (25% off in this link — and I’ll also get 2 free months added to my annual membership, so thank you!), and create your account.
How to make your new profile stand out before applying? Here we go.
1. Be thorough and let your personality shine through in your profile, in both photos and text descriptions.
This one feels a bit obvious, but: be descriptive in not only your experience and care for animals, but about you as a human. The trust factor here (on both sides, but especially for those welcoming you into their home with their beloved pets) is huge. Of course, TrustedHousesitters runs free background checks and verifies IDs, but the most important thing to remember is: they want to know you are a kind, responsible human who will keep their commitment and care lovingly for their home and pets just as they would. Period. Communicate that clearly and effectively.
The sections on the website are as follows (with prompts from TrustedHousesitters next to each to suggest what to include):
- Photos
- About (open text box)
- Why I want to housesit (open text box)
- My experience (open text box)
- Pet care experience (drop down to select various animals, such as dogs, cats, small animals, poultry, etc.)
- Preferred countries (drop down)
- Profile details (lists your age, profession, if you’re traveling on your own or with a partner)
- Place to link your social profiles: LinkedIn, Airbnb profile, etc.
- External references
If you want an example, you can check out my profile. There are photos of me both with and without animals in a variety of scenarios, including hobbies I enjoy such as hiking and biking. Be sure to include clear photos of your face.
You can see in the ‘about’ section where I speak about why housesitting is perfect for me as a remote worker, and I go into what hobbies I enjoy there as well. In the ‘my experience’ section, I detail how I’ve cared for and lived with dogs, cats, and other animals throughout my life, in addition to helping with chickens while doing Workaway in Hawaii. These sections aren’t incredibly long, but they are clear, and show who I am.
And with that said…
2. Prepare solid external references.
After you’ve communicated about who you are, you need a couple others to speak on your behalf — ideally two or more.
Linking your professional LinkedIn and Airbnb helps, especially when you have plenty of good reviews… but this still requires the home owners to leave the TrustedHousesitters website. By using the ‘external references’ section, you can give them a more immediate reference of your character.
On the main dashboard, you’ll see on the left side under “Trust & Verifications” where you can “request” external references. To learn more about how sitters are vetted, check out their trust and safety page. You’ll see “external references” are generally: “a landlord, employer or someone they have previously house or pet sat for.”
I asked the couple I’d stayed with through Workaway if they’d provide me a positive reference — I had helped them with their business as well as caring for their farm (chickens included). I also asked a close friend and previous roommate I’d housesat for on numerous occasions (dogs and cats). For both people, I asked if they’d please be specific in their reference, and then sent them the email request.
Keep in mind: this is a character reference, communicating clearly again that you are a trustworthy, reliable human.
Now let’s say you’ve found a listing that looks perfect, the dates work, and you’re ready to apply. Once you’ve of course thoroughly read their listing, let’s work on crafting your application message.
3. When applying for a housesit, be personal and detailed in your application message, and include a call to action.
Since you don’t yet have reviews directly from TrustedHousesitters members, you want to be as specific as possible in your message about why you’d like to housesit for THEM. Include a few personal, human details in your message of who you are, and why you are a good fit for taking care of their pets. Why should they choose you?
Here’s an example:
Hi! I am so happy to find your listing during [dates listed]. I lived previously in SF for years and love coming to visit (I actually used to live not too far away and also love biking through Panhandle/GG to Ocean Beach).
I work remotely from my laptop (saw that you have Google fiber, awesome), and it is so nice to have kitty company while working around the house. I’ve gotten to housesit in a few different cities now and enjoy it so much. I hear you on understanding basic animal behavior (re: calmly remove hand if biting) and wanting to find the right fit for him, as well as keeping your home neat and tidy.
I’d love to chat more with you, and take care of [pet names] if it’s a good fit. I’m available [list some times] via Zoom, WhatsApp, FaceTime, etc. most of the usual apps. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂
Thank you,
[name]
I’ll call out a few points here:
- On the sitters profile, I noticed one of their hobbies is biking. As I also absolutely love biking specifically in that area of the city, I mentioned that. If you haven’t been to that city before, I’d instead use a sentence to convey excitement about this new place you’re exploring based on something from their listing (maybe they’ve mentioned some tasty nearby restaurants).
- For example, one listing emphasized she’s working with her kitten to reduce hand biting, and called out wanting to find a sitter who understands basic animal behavior. I reiterated her point and was specific.
- I usually call out that I’m a remote worker: it’s a clear signal to pet owners that I am going to be around the house, spending quality time with their pets. Not a remote worker? Of course that’s fine — but find a way to signal that you’re going to be attentive. (Obviously this doesn’t mean you can never leave the house, you’re just acknowledging your responsibility to their pets.)
- My call to action at the end is clear, lists my availability and how to reach me, and is understanding (“if it’s a good fit”).
4. Once you have a video call interview set up with the pet owners, be open, honest, and prepared.
Of course, come prepared for your video / audio call ‘interview’ with the pet owners. Remember their pets names, timeframe, and responsibilities to acknowledge. I’d also recommend having a few questions prepared, especially if anything was unclear in the listing. For example, you could mention: I usually send daily photos updates, would that work for you for checking in? (As you can imagine, people love photos, and I love taking them anyway. Win/win.)
This is also an important time to clarify when you’d be arriving in their city — you don’t need to have your flights purchased yet, but have your research ready, and be flexible: it can often be helpful to organize around their schedule a bit, arriving at their house before they’ve actually left to do a quick home tour of responsibilities, where the food/litter is, any plant watering or other special circumstances.
Remember: people want to know you are a real, genuine human who will care responsibly for their pet(s). Both parties want to feel comfortable and at ease with each other. Be honest and open about who you are and your experience. If it’s not already clear by the end of the call, you can reiterate that you’d love to sit for them, and ask directly when you’d hear back from them after they’ve chosen who will housesit their pets.
5. Bonus: set alerts and be the first to apply to new listings in areas you’d really like to visit.
One final note is that often great listings WILL get many applicants, and you’ll certainly up your chances by applying ASAP to those.
Under “Find a housesit”, you’ll find the search bar: “Where would you like to go?” next to a number of filters: dates, duration, pets, local attractions, etc. You’ll also see “Your saved searches”, and even with the ‘basic’ membership that I have, I can save 3 (more if you pay for the premium memberships).
This is what that looks like:
As you can see, I’m going to visit San Francisco again between June 20-30, so I’ve saved that search. I’m also reaching out to the couple previous pet owners I’ve housesat for in SF in case they happen to be vacationing then and need help during that time.
Happy housesitting 🙂