How to Write a Standout Trusted Housesitters Profile
16 Nov, 2023
Eva Mitchell
Are you curious about Housesitting? Have you heard of Trusted Housesitters but are worried about your chance of securing a housesitting gig? We were in the same boat as you before we started our Trusted Housesitters journey that has swept us off our feet and taken us around the globe! We have met some incredible people, adorable pets with big personalities that we still miss😢 and explored some epic corners of the world. All because one day we were sat in our little Melbourne apartment and decided to just give it a shot. What did we have to lose? It turns out absolutely nothing!
I know how daunting it can be starting your own Trusted Housesitters journey, so I have put together this comprehensive guide on how to create a standout Trusted Housesitters profile that will have you securing house sits in no time! So here goes.
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In early 2023, Tim and I embarked on our housesitting journey in Melbourne, Australia. We were just starting to plan for a year-long global adventure and thought that housesitting would be a great way to save money on accommodation while travelling.
We set up a Trusted Housesitters profile and secured some local housesits around Melbourne to build experience, gather positive feedback on our profile and increase our chances of securing opportunities abroad.
We completed five housesits in Melbourne ranging from two days to 2.5 weeks and met six new furry pals before embarking on our overseas adventure. Our experience and positive feedback from housesitting in Melbourne and carefully crafted profile has helped us land sits in Italy, Spain, France, and all across the UK.
Our go-to housesitting app is Trusted Housesitters and this guide is based on creating an outstanding Trusted Housesitters profile. This does not mean that our guide won't be useful for other apps out there, it's just we haven't used them.
How to Create a Standout Trusted Housesitters Profile
1) Explain who you are and what you are about
When pet owners are looking for the perfect house sitter to take care of their home and pets, they are wanting to know you are trustworthy. This section is the perfect opportunity to prove you are trustworthy and relatable. Share what you do for a job, share what you do in your spare time whether that is sports, volunteering, baking, gardening, or travelling.
Try to think about the hobbies you do that would contribute to you being the best house sitter. For example, if you are an active person, make sure to express that in your profile as it would make you more appealing to a home owner with an energetic dog that needs long walks and lots of stimulation.
It is also the perfect time to let potential house sits know what your living situation is. We mention in our profile that we are travelling the world and looking for house sits along the way. Prior to travelling, we explained how we wanted to explore more of our city by housesitting in different suburbs.
2) Share your experience with pets, and any previous house sitting experience.
You do NOT need house or pet sitting experience to secure a house sit using Trusted Housesitters!
We all have to start somewhere and just because you haven’t house sat in the past, doesn’t mean you wouldn’t make a great house sitter. You may initially draw a blank on what to write about if you have never owned a pet but it is likely you have interacted with animals in a caring way many times in your life.
Think of the moments in your life when you have interacted with animals, think all the way back to your first memories up until today. Experience with animals could be anything from looking after family pets while your family is away, feeding the next door neighbour’s cat when they have been on holiday, growing up on a farm, volunteering at the local SPCA. I’m sure a few moments will spring to mind. If you have experience with certain breeds, make sure to include that too.
We have never been pet owners ourselves because we had always planned on travelling (although Tim will probably tell you he is first rate carer of a goldfish that lived in the pond at his house😂). Growing up my family always had dogs and Tim's family had cats. We leaned on these experiences and made sure to include plenty of photos with our family pets.
3) Share your experience looking after homes
Do you own your own house? Or have you rented a home in the past? Do you enjoy house plants or gardening? Are you a handyman or handywoman? What home tasks are you familiar with eg. Mowing lawns? Pool care? Have you looked after land before? Do you use Airbnb and have positive reviews?
These are all great questions to consider when writing about your experience looking after houses.
We had previously renovated parts of our homes which we shared on our profile to demonstrate our house-proud attitude. We also have a love of house plants so made sure to include a paragraph on our plants along with how we keep them looking gorgeous.
Your headline should be catchy, to the point and summarise you well. Make sure your headline demonstrates your love for animals and the fact that you are a responsible person.
5) Why you want to house sit?
You want to ensure your answer to this question is as genuine as possible. The most obvious benefit of house sitting to you is free accommodation and to the pet owners is a free reliable pal for their pet while they're away. Remember it works both ways! However, homeowners are not going to look at your application favourably if you write that you only want free accommodation. My advice would be to skip that part and focus on what else you gain from house sitting eg. spending time with cute pets, exploring new areas, meeting new people.
We would love to own a dog but because of our wanderlust lifestyle, we have not been able to yet. Meeting new furry pals while on the road has filled that hole in our lives for now.
6) Add good quality photos
It is human nature to judge someone immediately from the first photo they see. This is why it is super important that your profile picture is a clear head shot of you smiling. You should then add at least another 5 photos of you, ideally these photos will be of you with animals. If you cannot find that many photos with animals, add one or two of you doing a hobby that would be considered valuable as a house sitter. Once you have completed some housesits remember to update your photos with some of your new furry pals. We always make a point to take a family photo with all of the pets together which has often proved to be difficult but a whole lot of fun!
We have a clear, good quality and professional photograph together showing both of our lovely smiling faces as our profile pic. The remainder of our profile pics were fun photos of each of us playing with our family pets.
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7) References
When you are first creating your standout Trusted Housesitters profile, you obviously won’t have any reviews from Trusted Housesitters homeowners until after you complete your first sit. I would recommend adding at least one external reference to your profile to get you started.
Ideally you would reach out to someone you have house sat for in the past or looked after their animals in anyway, to provide you with a glowing review. If you can’t think of anyone who fits that brief, consider reaching out to someone who would be a good character reference. This could be a landlord, a fellow flatmate, someone from the animal charity you have been volunteering at or a colleague. While a standout profile is important, references are key to getting a housesit and owners will always read them.
8) EXTRA TIPS for creating a standout Trusted Housesitters profile
- Use words that resonate with pet owners to reinforce that you are responsible, caring, honest, and love pets.
- Include as much relevant information as you can as this will give pet owners more confidence you are a good fit for the sit.
- Add in some humour where appropriate, people will find you more relatable when you add tasteful humour that resonates with them.
Securing your First Housesit
You can search for house sits via the Trusted Housesitters website or download the Trusted Housesitters app to have easy access. It is possible to save searches for certain dates and locations so they are easier to look up each time you are searching for a sit.
When you find a house sit that looks like a good fit for you. Go ahead and apply ASAP. Don’t wait to apply because it is likely you will miss out. As soon as the sit receives 4 or 5 applications, the host will review the applications and during this time no one else can apply for the sit. The host can also offer the sit to someone which again means no one else can apply unless the sitter declines the sit. I have personally seen sits being advertised that have been snapped up within hours!
My Advice for Securing your First Housesit
Apply in your local area. Consider a short weekend sit, or less than ideal sit to start with. Be the first person to apply, you need to be checking the Trusted Housesitters app a couple times a day to improve your chances of being the first person.
Only apply for sits that you feel comfortable with, for example if the sit includes multiple animals, especially animals that you may not have past experience taking care of, you may be overcommitting for your first sit. I would recommend trying to secure a sit with one or two pets to start with. We always only stick within our expertise and would never apply for a housesit with certain breeds, or a horse for example.
When you click ‘apply for sit’ select the correct date you are available as sometimes hosts will have multiple upcoming dates that they require a sitter for. In many instances you may be a more favourable option if you are available for all of the dates listed.
You will now need to write an application letter. Make sure you personalise each application. Here are my top tips for writing your application:
- Format your message like a letter. Start off with Hello [name of home owners] and sign off with Warm regards, [your name].
- Include why you would be the perfect fit for their house sitting requirements. (eg. are you an active person and the house sit is for a dog who requires long walks, have you got experience with that certain breed of cat or dog?)
- Show interest in their pets, add a comment or ask a questions about them. You can use the homeowners photographs of the pets to help you.
- Take note of their advertisement and assure them you are capable of completing certain tasks (eg. water the plants, clean the pool, or carry out a perimeter check for badger and fox holes😊)
- Finish with the suggestion to set up a video call, chat or meet up if they are near your current location.
What Happens After You Apply for a Sit?
We have found that an owner will reply within a day or two if they are interested in you house sitting for them. Trusted Housesitters will email you a notification when you receive messages via the Trusted Housesitters platform.
If the owner replies and is interested in your application, try to set up a video call or chat as soon as possible to give yourself the best chance to secure the sit, as they may still be considering other sitters at this stage. The next day or two usually works well if you can find a time that both of you are free, as the saying goes often the early bird gets the worm! Video chats are a great opportunity to get to know the owners and the pets. Be sure to ask any questions you have about the sit such as any unusual behaviour the pets may have, if there are multiple animals, do they get along, if you work from home, do they have fast enough WiFi? Do you need a car to get to the sit, or to take the dogs anywhere in particular? Are there any other tasks you are expected to do around the home during your sit? What is the local area like?
Once you've have had a great conversation and the owner offers you the sit, you will receive a notification on the Trusted Housesitters app offering you the sit. All you have to do is click ‘accept’ and just like that you have secured your first housesitting gig! Congratulations 🥳
Most owners will post a Welcome Guide on the app for you to view prior to commencing the sit. The welcome guide includes instructions and information about the pets and house, local emergency contacts and some hosts even include local recommendations which is always a bonus! We always try to meet the owner at the house before they leave to get the finer details and to be introduced to the animals and shown around their home.
So what are you waiting for?! Join the community of animal lovers and wanderlust travellers by SIGNING UP to Trusted Housesitters TODAY with a special 25% discount!
Trusted Housesitters has been a major contributor to allowing us to travel for an entire year. If you plan on travelling long-term, I would highly recommend house-sitting to be able to stretch your money further, get the experience of living like a local and meet some adorable pets and amazing owners around the world. If you are currently in the planning stages of long-term travel, you might find our article on how to plan for a year of travel a useful read.
Good luck getting started on your Trusted Housesitters journey! Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions about Trusted Housesitters or want to tell us about your story!
Safe Travels 😊
About Us
Hello, Hola, Ciao! We are Tim & Eva, a couple of kiwis who have spent the last few years saving for and planning our epic year-long adventure around the world. Our goal is to inspire fellow wanderlust souls (just like you!) to Make Cents Of Travel by sharing our experiences and strategies we used to turn our dream of long-term travel into a reality.
