How to Become a House Sitter
All you Need to Know and Expert Tips for Beginner About my Favorite Low-Cost Travel Option
Are you curious about how to become a house sitter and stay in great places for free? House sitting is my favorite way of traveling, and it may be the perfect fit for you too.
We stumbled upon house sitting about three years ago and have since completed various house sits in France and Italy. From our first experience, we were hooked on this amazing way to travel affordably, stay in awesome houses and explore new places like a local.
With my experience as a house sitter, I’m excited to share tips on applications, the best platform, and on-site experiences. How do you find house sitting jobs and prepare for them? What exactly is expected of you, and how can you make a great impression?
My goal with this article is to answer all those questions and help you to prepare thoroughly for this unique travel opportunities.
No time to deal with all the details, just want to become a house sitter?
No problem, here you can go directly to my favorite Platform
Trusted Housesitter
In my opinion, the best house sitting platform for worldwide housesits!
25% discount with the code: SHEKNOWSISLANDS
What is House Sitting?
House sitting is an affordable way to spend a vacation in a new city, a foreign country or a european island like Malta, Sicily or Mallorca. As a house sitter, you live in someone else’s home and take care of it while the owners are away.
Your responsibilities can vary widely but often include looking after pets, watering plants, and maintaining the property. Essentially, you step into the homeowner’s shoes for a while, ensuring everything runs smoothly in their absence.
I see house sitting as a win-win for both parties. Homeowners can enjoy their vacation knowing their home is in safe hands. As house or pet sitters, I get to experience living in a new environment, often with the added bonus of pet companionship.
House Sitting Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes, from short weekend stays to long-term assignments lasting several months.
What Are the Tasks of a House Sitter?
The tasks of a house sitter can vary depending on the home and the needs of the residents. Here are some common responsibilities:
- Watering plants, mowing the lawn, and maintaining the garden
- Putting out garbage cans
- Regularly emptying the mailbox and accepting parcels
- Looking after pets, including walking them, cleaning litter trays, and providing loving care
- Keeping appointments such as meter readings, chimney sweeps, and tradespeople
- Preventing burglaries by being present or opening and closing shutters and blinds
- Ventilating the apartment or house
We once even had to only watch out of several lawnmowers on a wide piece of english garden, as they used to not finding there way back “home”.
Whatever tasks the owner is looking for while away, they are usually specified directly within the listings.
My Tip: During a preliminary interview, ask again exactly what is expected of you as a house sitter. This will help you to know how much time the “work” will take and how much free time you will have. Especially when pet sitting, you should be sure that you are able and want to take on the responsibility required.
How to Become a House Sitter
House sitting isn’t an officially recognized profession, so there’s no formal training or degree required. Since the role isn’t regulated, anyone can call themselves a house sitter and offer their services.
To get started, simply register on one of the many house-sitting websites and apply for housesits. There are several platforms that connect homeowners with potential sitters, making it easy to find opportunities that match your preferences and schedule.
⇨ Use my code SHEKNOWSISLANDS to get 25% off when you sign-up with Trusted Housesitters!
What House Sitting Platforms Are There?
As house sitting gains popularity, there are many platforms to choose from. You can usually browse available house-sitting offers for free, but you’ll need to register and pay a fee to apply.
Trusted Housesitters
Trusted Housesitters is probably the largest and best-known platform, and my personal favorite. You can view the available offers for free, but you’ll need a membership to apply. They offer three membership options:
- Basic Sitter: €139.00 per year
- Standard Sitter: €199.00 per year
- Premium Sitter: €269.00 per year
⇨ While it may seem pricey, consider the value. For instance, staying in a French castle for three weeks makes the €139.00 annual fee well worth it, don’t you think?
My Tip: In my opinion, the Basic Sitter option is completely sufficient. The additional features of the Standard and Premium memberships include free telephone, chat, or video consultations with vets, as well as accident and liability insurance. However, I personally don’t find these extras necessary.
Other, larger house sitter platforms are MindMyHouse, Normador, House Carers and Housesit Match. I tried them all and still have a listing at MindMyHouse, but my favorite is Trusted Housesitters.
This platform simply has the largest international selection of houses all over the world and I do nearly always find a housesit in the area, I am looking for.
The other platforms are smaller with less opportunities and I prefer to pay a little more but be sure to find a sit where I want it to be. And so far I have only had absolutely positive experiences with listed homeowners.
How Much Do You Earn as a House Sitter?
Some people have turned house sitting into a self-employed job. If you plan to charge a fee per day for house sitting, you may need to apply for a business license, depending on your country of residence.
Personally, I view house sitting as a mutually beneficial arrangement and don’t charge any money for it. My “payment” is a vacation in an unknown, beautiful place and the company of wonderful pets.
Most popular platforms follow this principle: you receive free accommodation by living in someone’s home in exchange for taking care of daily tasks, often including pet care. While you cover your own meals and travel expenses, homeowners usually handle additional cost like the the utilities.
Tips for your application profile as a house sitter
Before you can start applying for a house sitter job, you need to create a detailed profile of yourself. This includes answering questions about yourself, why you want to become a house sitter, and any relevant experience.
- Include any house sitting experience as well as any experience with animals or gardening. If you have no previous house sitting experience, have you looked after the pets of friends or relatives, or do you have pets of your own?
- If you are the owner of a house or apartment, include this in your application. This way, you can show that you know and understand the concerns and responsibilities of property owners.
- Also mention if you speak several languages. Language skills in the country where you are applying for the house sit, are considered a plus by homeowners, as you can or could communicate with neighbors, contractors or doctors.
- Make sure you upload a smiling photo of yourself, ideally interacting with animals so that homeowners can picture you with their pets. No party pictures!
- Take a look at the profiles of the “best” house sitters or most popular posts on the respective platform. What and how did they describe themselves? Get inspiration for your own profile, but don’t copy 1 to 1!
- Most platforms are in English, and you should use that international language as well. If you are uncomfortable with it, check the text in advance with the Deeple translator. I write my texts always completely in German and then have it translated by an online tool.
- Personalize every application you send out. Do so by addressing the requirements and mention how you intend to meet them.
My Tip: If pets are involved use their names when referring to them. That shows that you have read the listing and creates directly a bond with the pet owner.
General House Sitting Tips
- Ask if you are unsure! You are taking on a lot of responsibility for a house or apartment for a certain period of time, and maybe even pets. Make sure you have all the relevant information and feel confident about carrying out your tasks.
- Be aware of your responsibility and treat the house and animals as if they were your own! The owners are leaving you their property and their beloved animals, which are often as valuable to them as their own children. Take care of everything as if it were your own. If questions arise, it is better to contact the owners too much than too little.
- When being a pet sitter, I have made it a habit to regularly send photos of the animals. If there are no pets, I may text if a letter arrives that looks urgent or here and then send a lovely picture of the home or garden, I am watching. This gives the owners another good feeling that their pets and homes are in good hands.
- Leave the apartment or house you have taken care of in the best condition. The last one, is typically the most lasting impression. Strip your bed, vacuum the rooms you have used, clean the litter box. Do whatever it takes to leave an excellent last impression.
⇨ Just have a look at Trusted Housesitters without obligation to see if you can find an interesting house sit. As long as you don’t apply, you can search for free. And if you decide to register, use my code SHEKNOWSISLANDS to get a 25% discount!
Why does house sitting exist?
The house sitting concept is becoming very popular, especially among pet owners. Many people are unable to take their pets with them when they travel.
This may be because the animal is too old or too ill, or because they simply don’t want to expose it to the stress of traveling.
In pet hotels or kennels, animals are often just one of many and are rarely looked after individually, which can lead to stress and illness. So they prefer to have their pet looked after by a responsible house sitter instead of placing it in expensive kennels.
But it’s not just their pets that owners worry about. If a house or apartment is unoccupied for several days or even weeks, the risk of burglaries and damage increases.
That’s why it’s more reassuring to have a house sitter, who will deter intruders by their mere presence and be on hand in case of emergencies.
As a house sitter, you therefore have the opportunity to give the owners a feeling of security and freedom from care by looking after their home and their animals.
Conclusion on becoming and being a house sitter
For me personally, getting to know and experiencing the house sitting concept has been one of the highlights of the past few years.
Thanks to house sitting, we got to know regions in France and Italy that I would otherwise never have visited as they were simply not on my to-do list. We also stayed in houses, or rather villas and mansions, that our travel budget would never ever have included.
Having a pet for a certain period of time was an absolute plus for me. My life is not compatible with having my own pet, as I wouldn’t have enough time for them.
Thanks to house-sitting, I can always look after other people’s wonderful animals. But, I also sitted only house and lawnmowers in the home owners huge estates.
I realize that not everyone, like me as a travel blogger, has the opportunity to work remotely. However, house sitting is also an opportunity to take “free” vacations in apartments and houses that you wouldn’t normally be able to afford.
The only important thing is, that you always keep an eye on the wishes and needs of the owners. By doing so, you will receive a good rating after your housesit and will be selected again for another, fantastic house sitting experience, somewhere else in the world!
⇨ Use my code SHEKNOWSISLANDS to get 25% off when you register on Trusted Housesitters!
