Everything You Wanted to Know About Housesitting

This week, I reached out to the personal finance Twitterverse and asked:

What questions would you most like to ask me about housesitting?

Below is the resulting Q&A, exploring the ins-and-outs of my current #housesittinglife and how to get involved in this free accommodation travel hack.

PS. By request, here are my referral codes to save you on membership fees if you’re ready to join a site.

• Trusted Housesitters – The largest global site and my favourite! Lots of sits especially for USA, Canada, Australia, UK and parts of Europe. (Note: Get 25% off membership if you use my link or referral code RAF216125).
• Aussie Housesitters, Kiwi Housesitters, Housesitters America, and Housesitters Canada – These country-specific sites are part of a network and housesitting reviews can be cross-posted across multiple sites. Get $10 off membership for each site using the promo codes below:
  • Aussie Housesitters, use my link or referral code E4FGUR
  • Kiwi Housesitters, use my link with referral code JLV4NY
  • Housesitters America, use my link or referral code 5D3RRX
  • Housesitters Canada, use my link or referral code F4GD5M

My housesitting experience

I have been housesitting regularly since February 2019, on a year’s slow travel around USA, plus for eight months of work in New Zealand. (Update: I’m now housesitting locally in Australia from June 2020 while COVID-19 limits travel.)

As at June 2020, I will have done 20 housesits for a total of 147 free accommodation nights – an estimated saving of US$5,145 @ US$35/nt (AUD$7,200 approx).

While travelling, I am a part-time housesitter and alternate with stays in Airbnbs, hostels, and apartment sublets. It helps to have flexibility in duration and location for the best options. For more tips, you may like to visit early retirees GoWithLess who helped me when starting out.

How do you find legit clients and how they can find you? – XennialBlogger

I currently source all my clients through a handful of housesitting websites, having paid an annual membership fee on each. I have profile pages on these, with a personal description, photos, available dates, and reviews.

• Trusted Housesitters – The largest global site and my favourite! Lots of sits especially for USA, Canada, Australia, UK and parts of Europe. (Note: Get 25% off membership if you use my link or referral code RAF216125).
• Aussie Housesitters, Kiwi Housesitters, Housesitters America, and Housesitters Canada – These country-specific sites are part of a network and housesitting reviews can be cross-posted across multiple sites. Get $10 off membership for each site using the promo codes below:
  • Aussie Housesitters, use my link or referral code E4FGUR
  • Kiwi Housesitters, use my link or referral code JLV4NY
  • Housesitters America, use my link or referral code 5D3RRX
  • Housesitters Canada, use my link or referral code F4GD5M

Homeowners list when they need housesitters, with details including home/pet photos, dates, location (approximate), responsibilities, and housesitter preferences.

On TrustedHousesitters, homeowners pay a membership fee to be involved, which goes some way to screening out those who aren’t “legit”.

I make sure to have a video call or meet homeowners in person before agreeing to any sits. I trust my instincts and will decline if anything seems untoward (hasn’t happened yet). Remember: These homeowners are essentially inviting strangers into their homes to look after their precious animals or property, so they are likely to be more suspicious of you, rather than the other way round!

Is housesitting always to care for a pet? Or are there housesits that don’t involve that? – The Fioneers

The vast majority of the time, housesitting will involve looking after pets. There are occasions where homeowners just need someone for garden maintenance or to be in their house for security purposes only, but these are few and far between.

Housesitting websites such as TrustedHousesitters have search filters where you can select “no pets” option. I did a search today and there were 2881 housesits available globally, of which 26 were without pets – less than 1%!

Are they typically exchanges, or do house sitters get paid? If paid, how much do they make on average per house sit? – Baby Boomer Super Saver

Most often (and indeed on the websites I’ve mentioned), arrangements are for free accommodation for the housesitter, rather than payment changing hands.

I’ve heard of some housesitters creating personal businesses where they get paid for their sits, with approximate ranges of US$25-$50 per night for living in. (Note: work visas and tax issues need to be considered if aiming to get paid internationally though!)

Dogwalking site Rover (US) does have listings for housesitters, where users are paid to live-in. On this service, pet owners make these requests to local users, so it won’t suit travellers who want to apply to housesits in advance.

What tasks do most homeowners ask you to do during a housesit? – The Dragons on FIRE

Key responsibilities are typically identified in the original homeowner listing before applying. As mentioned, this will usually involve caring for pets – feeding at regular times, walking dogs, clean cat litterboxes, giving medication if needed.

Other tasks will often include taking mail in, watering plants, receiving deliveries, or being around for service people if needed. For longer sits, there may be more garden maintenance required. Obviously, it’s important to clean up at the end and leave the house tidy as you found it.

I will usually reconfirm tasks and ask for any extra detail in interview before locking in the housesit booking.

I will also make sure to set up expectations around communication after the sit is agreed upon. Some homeowners want daily WhatsApp messages with photos to show how their pets are going; others are more hands-off and only want to be called in case of emergency. Avoid getting a negative review by having a mismatch of expectations on this!

How do you get a homeowner to trust you when you have no housesitting experience or reputation? – Money King NZ

Trusted Housesitters requires you to post three references on your profile to start, such as from landlords, roommates, previous petsitting hosts, or other character referees. These are uploaded directly to your profile page by your referees, after you send the request via the website’s system.

When I was starting out, I also used some of the space in my description to include the text of positive reviews I’d had on Airbnb and Couchsurfing websites.

I’ve opted in for additional verification badges on my profiles on these sites, which help for homeowner trust. This has involved verifying ID (similar to Airbnb) or providing background checks.

I make sure to offer to video call or meet in person (for local sits), so homeowners can get a good impression of me and my trustworthiness.

After completing your profiles in full with good references, I would suggest aspiring housesitters start by doing sits in their local areas (even if just for a weekend). This way, you can meet homeowners in advance more easily and increase your chances of booking the housesit after face-to-face contact. Getting those first reviews makes all the difference to securing more housesits later.

How long in advance do you book your gigs? – Modest Millionaires

Housesitting websites have a range of short and long-term listings, posted only days in advance to sometimes a whole year ahead! Some homeowners organise a while ahead; others don’t (or can’t) request sitters until last minute. I find that the bigger sites like Trusted Housesitters have more short-notice sit listings, with more housesitter members available to fill them.

It is a strong advantage to be one of the first applicants. Homes in popular areas may be inundated with applications, so being in the first few can help before homeowners get decision fatigue.

I set alerts for my preferred sit criteria and apply as soon as I’m notified; personalising a cover letter I keep in my phone’s note app and sending asap.

The amount of time that homeowners can get back to you varies a lot. I usually follow up my messages if I haven’t heard 3 days later, with a further offer to meet them in person or video call. In the meantime, I’ll keep looking for other listings and won’t hold my breath if that one doesn’t work out! I’d estimate I get 25% of the sits I apply to these days.

What’s your interview process like? Do you always make sure to talk on the phone/skype with the homeowner before agreeing to the gig? – Twentyfree.co

I will at least have a video call with a homeowner before a sit, if not meet in person (when I can). This gives them an opportunity to suss me out, as well as for me to work out if the housesit will suit me.

I will usually introduce myself in more detail, including what I do for a living, what brings me to that city, why I like housesitting, and what attracted me to their post (including name dropping their pet’s name if it had been listed).

I’ll aim to find out more from them, including reconfirming tasks and responsibilities, checking on feeding/medication schedules, and seeing if there’s anything specific that hadn’t been mentioned already. I find asking plenty of questions about their pet’s preferences and behaviour already shows homeowners about the care level they can expect.

I’ll also aim to get a sense of when exactly they depart and arrive, and whether they prefer to do key handover in person, to factor this into my own travel plans.

(I will post my full list of questions in an upcoming post. Stay tuned!)

Do you usually meet owners for them to hand off keys and explain tasks? – The Dragons on FIRE

It varies for each housesit whether owners want to handover keys and instructions in person. I find that if I’ve met the homeowners already for an interview and petcare run-through, they are often comfortable for me to collect keys from a safe spot after they’ve left already (or will hand them over days in advance). In fact, I find it’s good to give homeowners their space just before they go away, so they can pack and say goodbye to their pets on their own.

For one housesit in New York City, I didn’t meet or video call the homeowners at all (though the profile had plenty of reviews and photos). Quite trusting on both sides!

I usually send a message with a selfie of pet and me once I’ve successfully checked into the house, so homeowners know all is well.

TrustedHousesitters has a good ‘Welcome Guide’ for each sit that homeowners fill in with all the main information you need, including emergency contacts and the all-important wifi passwords! Other sites offer comprehensive templates for homeowners to complete, so tasks are usually clear.

It seems like a lot of housesits ask for you to watch 17 pets that can’t be left alone for more than 42 minutes and need 4 shots each throughout the day. How do you find, um, more “standard” situations? – Military Dollar

It’s true that some pet sitting arrangements may be high maintenance (well, often it’s their owners who are hard work)! This is often one of the reasons these pets are not put into kennels or catteries. That being said, there are plenty of more low-key housesits out there; in fact, all but my first sit have been pretty “standard”.

I have my own set of rules for sits I’ll apply to these days. I use search filters on these websites to narrow down by pet type – ie. cats for me recently; definitely no farm animals! I set up alerts by email (or push notifications on Trusted Housesitters app) to only get notified of relevant sits.

It is also possible to filter by home type; for example, apartments in inner-city areas will often have a low-maintenance indoor cat or two with homeowners who work during the day, so this matches me purrrrfectly.

I read listing descriptions closely to see the number of pets, plus any medication required, behavioural quirks, or feeding/walking schedules. I am upfront about the fact that I currently work a 9am-5pm job on weekdays in NZ, so needing to be home during the day for petcare won’t suit me.

Personally, I won’t do a sit when it appears it will be too stressful or too much work. Others might thrive on having a farm full of special needs animals, but not me! I would rather pay for an Airbnb or hostel to avoid that energy suck, while waiting for a more suitable sit to come along.

Do you have insurance? What happens if you accidentally break something really expensive or do you check homeowner has insurance? – Latestarterfire

Included in membership fees, TrustedHousesitters has an insurance backed guarantee to cover homeowners for accidental damage, theft, and loss from housesitters. The Housesitting Company NZ has a similar arrangement, providing Third Party Liability insurance as part of membership.

The Housesitting Company NZ points out that, “most insurance companies specify that your insurance policy is void if your home is unoccupied for a certain length of time”, so having housesitters can be of benefit to homeowners this way.

What was your favourite experience? – Mrs Money Magnet

My housesits have all been (mostly) positive experiences, but there are a few that stand out.

I enjoyed having a Brooklyn apartment in a hip neighbourhood for a week, pretending I was a local as I walked a sweet little daschund around the streets nearby.

The homeowners that provided me with a week’s worth of snacks, cheese, fruit and even limoncello was a recent highlight of a catsit in Auckland.

Of course, I always have fondness for my first housesit pup who stole my heart in Austin. (Miss you, George!)

Do you have any horror stories?! – Piki Living

Fortunately, no real horror stories! The only sit I wouldn’t do again involved having a twice-daily battle of wills to give a growly dog her eyedrops. A learning experience for one of my first sits! The little dog also had a tendency to eat the cat’s poop if I didn’t get to cleaning the kitty litter quick enough. She certainly had character…

I aim to avoid potential nightmares by never housesitting with very large dogs, livestock or a large numbers of pets. Know thy limits!

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Do you have any other questions I’ve missed? Email me or send via Twitter.