Anyone use housesitter apps?

[hammering]

I'm thinking of signing up to the UK housesitter page - does anyone use it as a sitter or as a homeowner?

From either POV Is it weird having someone stay in your house/staying in someone's house with all their belongings in situ? I use air bnb all the time but it's a different kettle of fish. Anything I should be aware of?

I recently looked into this, as my cat sitter has stopped doing it, and my cats are very 'clingy', so we're having 3-4 visits a day.
However, my house is very ordinary, so I didn't go any further.
Those who have done it - do you really expect a house that's better than your own?
What's the worst experience you've had?
Mine has the benefit of being 20 minutes from the coast and is close to plenty of tourist attractions/National Trust places/beaches.

We've used Trusted Housesitters and it worked well. Three very happy cats, and the house was pristine. We have enough room for them to have the spare room, a bathroom and study if they want to work. Having said that, we left it spotless ourselves, with a meal for them, some chocolates and a bottle of wine. So it's a two way street.

I tried this once.. found someone on Trusted Housesitters, a lovely responsible older lady who lived some way away. All was well till she refused to come and meet us before the sit.. would only come once we'd left the house!

Never bothered again.

Do you mind me asking how much you pay the paid ones per day?

That sounds normal on her part. She is not going to pay to travel a long way for you to check her out.

I've used Trusted Housesitters, my sitter lives in France, I am in London. When I was choosing someone I had a short list of 5, meaning to speak to them all on zoom. I spoke to the first one, she seemed perfect so I didn't speak to the rest. She's now sat for me 4 times. She is great with my cat and house, it has worked well.

...unless you meant she wouldn't come on the day / day before to meet you, be shown the pets and how the house works. That is unreasonable, I'd expect to meet in person to do all that.

Do you mind me asking how much you pay the paid ones per day?

It varies, but around £30 to £40 per night. There are people who charge less. I've used Pawshake to find paid sitters but I gather Rover is also popular.

Fraa

ohthejoys21
I tried this once.. found someone on Trusted Housesitters, a lovely responsible older lady who lived some way away. All was well till she refused to come and meet us before the sit.. would only come once we'd left the house!

Never bothered again."
"That sounds normal on her part. She is not going to pay to travel a long way for you to check her out.

I've used Trusted Housesitters, my sitter lives in France, I am in London. When I was choosing someone I had a short list of 5, meaning to speak to them all on zoom. I spoke to the first one, she seemed perfect so I didn't speak to the rest. She's now sat for me 4 times. She is great with my cat and house, it has worked well".

She refused to even get to us a little early so we could meet her. I don't think it's normal on any level to let a stranger who refuses to meet you into your home and around your animals who might hate her for all I know.

That's fair enough on your part, I absolutely would want to meet them on the day / day before I left (in addition to a phone call or preferably zoom, some weeks before).

Mindmyhouse is free for house owners but the sitters have to pay for subscription.
I have a booking with a fit retiree to look after my cats and do a bit of gardening whilst I’m away for 3 weeks.

We exchanged numbers and were able to have a face chat.

I’d recommend it

DH and I are thinking about house sitting when we retire (60), we love animals, preferably dogs, as we love walking, and wanting to travel ourselves,(not necessarily house sitting but would consider) we will be in between dogs whilst we get our travels done and thought maybe some house sits inbetween. Would also be willing to do light garden jobs, water plants, mow the lawn, sweep drive, whatever the owners would like doing and make sure the house is clean, dust, hoover and floors washed upon arrival of owners. Anyone that has used house sitters -would you consider a couple? We wouldn’t expect to paid double or anything, just going nightly rate.

On the sitter apps I've seen, nobody gets paid anything! The sitters get the benefit of staying somewhere they fancy visiting, and the owners get their house/pets cared for.

We used Trusted Housesitters whilst living in Australia, always had positive experience. It’s a bit weird living in someone else’s house but we would have been living in house shares otherwise, and you get used to it quickly! Make sure you establish what contact the owners want whilst they’re away in terms of updates,
photos etc.

I’ve never paid mine. Had two lovely experiences. Spoke to them on zoom first. They are my regulars now if I go away. Would recommend.

I’m looking into signing up as a sitter and I’d be happy with this. For me the location of the house is more important than the actual house. So if it was in an area I wanted to explore this would be great. Also if you just have cats and no dogs that might well be another selling point for you. It might be seen as an easier housesit?

@hammering thanks, would still consider if house is in great location.

Anyone that has used house sitters -would you consider a couple? We wouldn’t expect to paid double or anything, just going nightly rate.

Strictly no payments on Trusted House Sitters. Both sides pay a membership fee and thereafter it's an exchange - the sitter looks after the pets in exchange for free accommodation. Sitters are often couples, some are families.

We've done it twice, live in Australia. Older then younger couple, both really looked after the house and more importantly Ddog!
Both times couples were from the UK, worked both ways they got a 4 bedroom 'air bnb' for 'free' and we got someone to look
after d'dog in her own space.

For disclosure we haven't done THS yet, but my DSis has done lots. They normally invite the sitter/s the day before departure so they can have dinner together (on the host) and explain how everything works and where stuff is. To date, they have had no issues, because there's understanding about the gardening... mainly a lot of watering. Mostly the sitters from overseas want to see where their families originated or chase up lost relatives or do cultural stuff: one was recently bereaved and wanted to escape the Christmas memories by going elsewhere. We have had friends from overseas borrow our house and dog sit, which was fine and worked out well, and others who have just drunk the bar dry. I've yet to hear of a catastrophic failure.