Tips for Being a Full-Time Housesitter

Posted on by exploramum

You are hoping to be a full-time housesitter, which is great! It’s a good way to travel, but the job requires you to change the way you do things, and the following tips should help you become a full-time sitter.

Tips for Being a Full-Time Housesitter

Learn to Love Pets

One way of increasing the chances of finding full-time work as a house sitter is to learn to love pets. It may even be a good idea to become a licensed groomer or anything else related to pets. You want to do this because most housesitting jobs involve taking care of a pet.

I was originally never a cat-lover, but overtime caring for cats has been a big part of housesitting and we’ve become quite fond of some we have cared for.  I never thought that would happen, but when you give animals love, they love you back, and sometimes they love you first.

We’ve looked after wallabies; kangaroos; turkeys; chickens; ducks; geese; peahens; dogs; cats; native, domesticated and wild birds; fish; turtles; lizards and geckos; sheep; goats; alpacas and more.  The wider the variety of animals you can care for, the greater the chance of scoring amazing housesits all over the world.

Anything you can do to make yourself look like the ideal petsitter can make you a more desirable candidate. You should keep in mind that you are going to be competing against other house sitters for the same job, so you want to stand out among the rest if you’ve decided to be a full-time housesitter as you travel.

Long-Term Stays

If you really want to be a full-time housesitter, then it may be a good idea to not only broaden your work radius to be exposed to more homes but to also make sure you only look for long-term stays. These types of homes usually give you a chance to book your next job in advance without scrambling to figure out what you’re going to do right after.

Try to pay attention to the reason your home sitting services may be needed by a particular homeowner. Some are quite unique and the owner needs someone who won’t let them down. For example, if the homeowner has travelled to Tijuana for a natural treatment for liver cancer, it’s likely this person needs long-term support and care of their home or pets. They will need a reliable sitter who won’t leave halfway through the sit, or bail at the last minute.

Housesitting in this situation might require a specialized form of extended property maintenance, such as arranging for annual home improvement services or finding and hiring home repair professionals on their behalf.

full-time housesitting

©Exploramum

Stay on Top of Things

Email alerts from the housesitting companies you belong to will be something you want to stay on top of. Emails or messages from potential homes are incredibly important if you want to do this full time. Email alerts can tell you when a new home is in need of a home sitter.

You can respond to this listing as soon as you can if you have the alert system set up. If you really want to get the job, then the owners have to learn to trust you, which is the reason keeping a conversation going is of the utmost importance. Responding quickly makes you seem more trustworthy. Skype the owner too so you see the home and pets and feel comfortable with the living conditions.

full-time housesitting

©Exploramum

Join a Number of Housesitting Sites

There are a lot of homeowners that need a house sitter. To increase your chances of booking a dream spot, join a few housesitting websites available online. Select the site that is country appropriate to your chosen destination.  Usually, we join 3 – 6 at any given time when travelling and housesitting full-time.

It’s important that you work on your resume, profile, and upload a picture that makes you seem nice and trustworthy. Try to tailor each profile according to what each site seems to care about. Focus on the most popular sites at the beginning, but be willing to join any up and coming sites.

There are housesits to suit every type of individual and family and not all will suit you. Some are in cities and some isolated on islands or in the country. Some require maintenance and others tending to gardens.  Find one that suits your skills and needs.

full-time housesitting

©Exploramum – rescuing a native bird during our housesit that became injured.

Get Good Reviews

When the owners return, welcome them with a nice and clean home. Tidy up everything, stock the fridge if you want, prepare a meal, make a homemade dessert of some sort, leave fresh fruit and flowers, or anything else that you can think of. There is nothing nicer than coming back to a clean and tidy home, and a warm cooked meal after a long flight.

You want these homeowners to give you good reviews to improve your chances of booking more housesitting gigs. Homeowners may have your profile and great messages from you, but the reality is that many of them are still going to use your past experiences to judge, so it is a good idea to make sure they read mostly positive reviews.

Hopefully, these tips help you be a home sitter as long as you want to be, which should give you a chance to see more of this world.

full-time housesitting

©Exploramum

Questions

Have you ever been a full-time housesitter in the past? If so can you contact the owners to provide written references?

Are you considering long-term travel?  What would help you in deciding to become a full-time housesitter?

full-time housesitting

©Exploramum – Full-time housesitting tips

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37 thoughts on “Tips for Being a Full-Time Housesitter”

  1. I had never considered house-sitting before… But now as my longing to travel full-time (or almost) is longing, it’s definitely an option I’m considering. Thanks you so much for these tips! I’ll bookmark and make sure I come back to it when I decide to take the step.

  2. Housesitting is such a GREAT way to help lower your travel costs while you see the world! My favorite house sit was 10 days in London (an incredibly expensive city) taking care of the SWEETEST dog. And the best part? It easily saved me over $1800 vs. going to London and paying for accommodations. Such a win-win situation for sitters and pet owners!

  3. Excellent tips. I can’t imagine leaving a host’s home without doing everything possible to welcome them home! On our last housesitting gig, we made a yummy soup for the family. My girls made sweet treats. We brought in fresh flowers…anything to make their transition from a bunch of flights from New Zealand to England easier.

  4. House sitting is something I’ve been attracted to for a while as a full time traveller and a person who is completely obsessed with animals! It seems to good to be true.
    I seem to always have such a busy schedule and haven’t made the dates work yet, hopefully this tips as well as signing up to a few more sites will make the dream come true for me!
    Thanks for the advice!

  5. This is great! I love house sitting because of all of the opportunities it gives me to meet and care for animals around the world.

  6. Great tips! I’m looking forward to get my first house to sit. I imagine it can be a great way to travel, get to know locals and their community, also, the love of a pet -if it’s the case- it’s always a nice thing.

  7. I’m so tempted to try this when the world gets up and running again. I’ve been scared so far as I’d be so worried to look after someone else’s animals. But, it looks like a lot of people have success with this and are perfectly fine. Should probably just chill out and stop thinking the worst. Thanks for the advice!

  9. Thanks for all the tips! I’ve heard about housesitting before, but never knew about anyone who has actually done that successfully. After this corona crisis is over, I hope to finally try it!

  10. I know someone that was a full-time house sitter in New Zealand (lucky thing) she managed to save enough money doing that and working freelance whilst abroad to be able to come home to the UK and put down a really nice sized downpayment on her own home. She’s planning on living here for 6 months of the year and then spend the other 6 travelling and housesitting around the world – fabulous life!

  11. I’ve housesat just once and it was a truly amazing experience! I am really curious though if housesitting is going to be as popular as it used to be before the lockdown.
    Thank you for the tips and for the websites, I have known only one!

  13. I’ve always wanted to housesit, and as an animal lover, I figured that it would be great to housesit and feed someone’s cats – I never even CONSIDERED that there would be such a variety of animals to look after, although of course it makes sense! Geese are my favourite animals of all time, so I’ll definitely be on the hunt for some duck and goose housesits, hahaha. Such a helpful post 🙂

  14. I love this! Actually, being a world traveler and having two fur babies myself, I hire a dog sitter for my babies, and I love it! Instead of living at a hotel, where my dogs would feel stressed, they are comfortable at home, with their smells, toys, and beds, and have all the love and attention they need. It is a lovely job from both sides – for those who do it, and for those like me, who use it. Thanks to all the wonderful housesitter out there, we love you!

  15. I love this! Hoping to do this more, good to get some good recommendations of where to sign up. Since learning to travel with kids too, I think these kind of stays are going to feature a lot more! 🙂

  17. I’d love to try house sitting. However, I’m allergic to cats and travel with dogs already, so maybe it’s not my best choice, haha. Thanks for the info!

  18. We are considering housesitting as a way to subsidise our costs when travelling fulltime. I love the idea of having a home with real kitchen facilities every now and then to break up hotel stays. Thanks for the info

  19. I’ve been interested in this for so long and investigated places in France but sadly so many of them are out in the country, far away from everything! I guess it’s not bad if you’re with other people, but when travelling alone, I’d much prefer to be in a town/city where there are shops, restaurants, etc (even if I’d have car).

  20. This is such an incredible idea to travel! I heard friend of a friend is a cat sitter and travels the world. How difficult is it to find house sitting job in places like Cinque Terre or Paris?

  21. My husband and I are full-time travelers and we’ve done some housesitting in Australia. We both love it so much! Not only do we save on accommodation (which can add up pretty fast), we get to spend some time with adorable pets. This is such a helpful post for those who are interested in housesitting.

  22. Ok. I am a long term travel expert but I still have never tried house-sitting. I need to experience this! Maybe I can try an experience in Rennes, France….I’m ready!

  23. As I am wanting to slow travel more now, I have been considering house sitting. I have met a few people on my travels who have done it and they too have had some amazing experiences. Hopefully when the world is normal again and it’s possible to travel, I will get to have a go at house sitting. Not sure about all the animals you have listed but it may certainly be an experience!!

  24. Thank you for your share. amazing blog . I love the concept of house sitting and I’m good with pets. I want to explore more on this topic. Will surely check the website you recommended.

  25. House sitting is such a great idea! I’ve never been much of a pets person, but I can see how learning to love them needs to be part of the job otherwise you can limit yourself.
    Thanks for sharing these great tips!

  27. Thanks so sharing this. Seems like such a great way to explore different places. I already love animals so I have one part ready at least.

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