Why Do People Hire a House Sitter?

If housesitting is a new concept for you, you might be wondering why someone would hire a house sitter. In this post, I’m going to tell you why booking a house sitter could be the best decision for you, your home AND your pet. (If you’re not sure what a house and pet sitter actually does have a read of this post.)

Having a house sitter secures your property

If you go away on holiday, or even just for a long weekend, your home is obviously empty for a period of time. Although a house sitter won’t at home every second of the day, they will be living there. Compare that to having a neighbour pop round to pick up the post and open and close the curtains.

Even if a friend or neighbour goes in to check on things every day your house will still be empty most of the time. A house sitter is normally home overnight and then some parts of the day. In the same way you might be out at work in the day your sitter could be doing the same. Perhaps from a coffee shop as a remote worker.

If your sitter is more of a tourist then they will probably be out and about sightseeing for part of the day. But, overall, your house will have someone coming and going and the place will be and look, occupied.

Your house is safer

Similar to the above your home will be safer if someone is actually living there. Although I’ve had no real disasters, there was a gas leak in one place I was housesitting in. Being there meant I was able to notice it quickly and get on with sorting out the issue.

More than one pet owner I’ve sat for has told me how much more comfortable they were about going away this time around. They’d had some horrible experience in the past of returning home to a burst pipe or a washing machine flood. Unfortunately, things like that aren’t heard of. And some problems, left unattended for two weeks, can cause a lot of damage.

Your pets prefer a house sitter

Although safety and security of their property is important to them, it’s not really the biggest reason people choose to use a house sitter. The owners I’ve sat for always tell me it’s about their beloved pets.

I’ve never come across a pet that enjoys going to the cattery or kennels. My cats used to break my heart when I dropped them off. They meowed like never before. The guilt! Even just getting them in their cat carriers was traumatic. The whole thing was really upsetting for all concerned and wasn’t the best start to my holiday.

Using a house sitter means that your pets can stay at home in the environment that’s most familiar to them. Some pets, especially cats, can be wary of strangers in their house. But it’s less stressful for them to have someone else there than it is for everything to be different. Plus, I’ve found that animals soon come around when they realise who’s feeding them!

House sitters save you money

You can pay a pet sitter to come and feed your cat or walk your dog. When I heard of that option in the past I immediately switched. As I said above, almost any other solution would have been preferable to going to the cattery.

But hiring a pet sitter to come in has two real problems for me. One is in terms of company for your pet. Even if you get someone to go in twice a day, it’s probably only going to be about a 30-minute visit each time. That leaves 23 hours of the day when your pet is alone. That feels like a lot to me.

The second is that it can be expensive. Costs can add up quickly if you have multiple visits and/or multiple pets. Depending on the site you use to book, house sitters can be free.

I sit for free in exchange for accommodation. So really, it can save me a lot of money.

Hiring a house sitter makes life easy

It’s easier for you to have a house sitter to come to you than it is for you to traipse off to the kennels. You’ve usually got a million and one other things to do before you go on holiday. An extra trip to the cattery or kennel is probably something you could do without.

Although you might need to an in-person or virtual tour of your house, it’s pretty quick to do. Also, the site I get my bookings through provides an online guidebook for owners to create. You only need to put the time in once to write up all the instructions. After that, it’s ready to send digitally any time you need to.

Plus, I’ve done a number of repeat sits for owners. That makes it super quick and easy for them on subsequent sits. I know the house and I know the pet(s) and their routine(s). The owners trust me and know their pet will be cared for.

See why you’d hire a house sitter?

Hopefully, you’ll see now why people choose to hire a house sitter. It’s just peace of mind all round for pet owners. You know your house is safe and sound. Your fur baby is being well looked after with the pictures to prove it. Depending on the site you used to hire your sitter, you’ve got support if you should ever need it, and your sitter does too.

One of the biggest benefits of all is coming home to a pet that’s not cross with you! (Ok, I’m talking to the cat owners here!) But seriously, wouldn’t it be nice to come home to a relaxed pet than one who ignores you for days until they deign to forgive you?

If you want to know where to go now to find yourself a brilliant house sitter, check out the site that I use, TrustedHousesitters.com