5 Ways to Get Booked as a House Sitter

Here are my best tips to get booked as a house sitter if you’ve recently joined a house sitting site. They’ve helped me book 65 sits and counting!

Once you’ve decided to become a house sitter you might find it’s not as easy to get a sit as simply applying for one you like and being chosen. In this post, I’m sharing the my tops tips to get booked as a house sitter. And they work! They’ve helped me book over 60 sits, even when lots of other people have already applied.

And if you’re super new to house sitting make sure you have a read of the post How to Become a House Sitter. I talk you through getting set up as a house and/or pet sitter.

Anyway, on with my tops tips

1. Apply for less popular house sits

It’s not uncommon to see up to 50 applicants for house sit listings in London or beautiful grand properties in the countryside. That makes it hard to get booked as a house sitter. If you’re a brand new sitter you need to find a way to stand out from other applicants. That can be hard if you don’t have any reviews under your belt.

Even if you only want to be able to enjoy a house sit as a holiday a couple of times a year it’s worth doing a few more at the beginning for reviews. That way you can be in the running when a sit you really want comes along.

If you live in a less popular part of the country see if you can pick up a sit locally. If not, find some weekend sits in less exciting areas. If you’re the only applicant or one in three, say, you’re much more likely to get picked.

2. Check listings at odd times

The weekends are a popular time for sits to be listed. They’re also a popular time for sitters to apply. By the time I get to listings at the weekend, there is usually a good handful of applicants ahead of me. I often don’t even bother applying if there are too many. Lots of owners don’t trawl through further than the first 10 unless they don’t find someone suitable amongst them.

I’ve been in the first three applicants many times when I’ve had a quick look for new listings early in the morning or last thing at night. Once a homeowner lists a sit has to be reviewed by someone on the site. On the site I use there seems to be a fairly constant team of people reviewing so new listings appear all the time. 

3. Be available for last-minute house sits

Another good way of whittling down other applicants is being available for last-minute sits. Lack of flexibility can stop others from applying so be ready to jump on those last-minute listings. Again, it doesn’t need to be your ideal sit or pet, just get your foot in the door with whatever you can. Build your reviews!

4. Make your application relate to the listing

Applying for a house sit can be a bit like responding to a job advert. You want people to see why you want to sit for them in particular. Relate your message to what they’ve spoken about in the listing.

For example, one of my own cats was quite skittish and was scared of men and loud voices. When I applied for sits that mentioned they had nervous cats I talked about that experience. Obviously, you can only talk about the experience you actually have. But for me, it was enough to create a bond with the owner and for them to feel comfortable having me look after their cat.

I might also mention things like I’m familiar with the area, that I have experience with anything relevant they talked about or even just if their cat looks like one of my old pets. Building rapport is also building trust and again, so much come back to that.

5. Be polite if you’re rejected

I’m not sure if this is the case on every site, but with Trusted Housesitters it’s possible for owners to invite sitters to a sit. So don’t burn your bridges if you’re unsuccessful with a sit you applied for.

I recently applied for a sit in a stunning property. The owners were in touch a few times back and forth. In the end, they told me it had come down to me and another couple. They couldn’t decide between us so tossed a coin and the couple won.

I keep an abundance mindset and know that I didn’t get this sit because there’s another one that’s even more suitable with the dates or location that I need or whatever. But I would definitely love the opportunity to sit for these owners and likely I will in the future. So keep everything polite, even if you’re disappointed.

I often have people say they booked someone who applied before me but can they keep my details for another time. And sometimes things fall through and owners get let down so there are always second chances.

Get booked for your next house sit

So there you go. Hopefully, some of these tips will serve you well, they’ve certainly worked over and over for me. Let me know if you use any of them successfully. I’d love to hear about your house sitting adventures!

Do you have questions about becoming a house sitter? Are you desperate to become a pet sitter and borrow a dog for a weekend of walking in the country? Let me know your biggest questions about getting started as a house and/or pet sitting and I’ll be happy to help.