Housesitting

Writing A Perfect Housesitter Profile.

Suzanne

I can’t emphasise enough the need to create an honest and appealing profile.

Make it real.   Make it yours.   Make it stand out.

As this will be one of the most critical steps in which to start your house sitting journey. This post will give you a few ideas to think about and a sense of where to start when creating your first housesitting profile online.

Some things are self-evident to include in your profile, such as photos of you with different animals and an excellent strong headline that makes people interested in your profile. But when it comes to the actual body of text that describes YOU, there are a few things to think about.

Do you have a goal? 

If so, write it down and re-evaluate it regularly.

We are fortunate to be able to house-sit full time and have stuck with one Housesitting Website.  Why?  The most important reason would be that we have successfully achieved regular housesits over the last few years.

We are now being contacted daily by homeowners whose houses we have not applied for, which is ONE sign we are on our way to becoming successful in house sitting.  The more significant signs are happy homeowners, and repeat housesits.

We try to book ahead at least as far as we can to make future travel plans much more manageable.  The time length of each housesit does vary, though we do prefer to do ones that are at least 1.5 weeks long.  However, with every rule, there is an exception.   With longer housesits, it gives us time to relax more and get a real feel for the area and the culture.

We know what works for us and have targeted that type of sit in our profiles by clearly stating what sort of sit we prefer to do.

Are you, for example, after a short-term house in a large city and prefer to only look after cats and small dogs? Or are you open to housesits in rural areas where you are happy to look after any animal, big or small? Adapt your profile accordingly and be clear about what you can do and what you are seeking.

HOUSESITTING history

What can you offer?

House sitting is a two-way street, if you are in it to get a free holiday, we can guarantee you that your house sitting career will be short. Just as the homeowners offer you their home for free, you must also consider what you can do to make the exchange satisfying for both parties. Personally, we provide professional working experience with a whole range of different animals.  Our horticultural and farming background expertise gave us confidence in dealing with farm animals and larger animals.  It allowed us to target a particular area of the house-sitting market.  We have also owned a few homes and rentals over the years, which makes us quite capable of doing minor household repairs with ease.

You do not have to have experience on a working farm to be a successful housesitter. You merely have to think about what you are good at, what animals you are confident in looking after and what skills you have that may attract homeowners to your profile.

What are your realistic expectations and abilities?

It is important to remember that you do not have to say yes to everything, and you do not have to please everyone. Your profile should represent YOU and what you have to offer realistically and straightforwardly. Do not make promises you cannot keep, and do not say yes to house sits that are beyond your ability. It is also OK to decline a house sit if you feel that the workload is too much for you to handle.  For us, we can not accept ones that require both of us to do gardening or any physical work due to the Squires’s back disability.

How much should I write?

I have always believed less is more.  This approach fits in with our minimalist lifestyle! That is what I have done with our profile.  Keeping it to the facts about what we can offer to our next housesitting position.  I do not brag or make a comment about travels that are not related to the housesit.  Most people we do housesit for are widely travelled and are more interested in what we are experienced in, such as handling larger dogs and farm animals, to name just two.

Keep things simple, state your strengths and what you are ideally seeking and finish your profile off by saying that you are happy to answer any further questions in a private message or Skype video call.

Published by Suzanne

Travel and Life Musings from New Zealand and Beyond. . . . . . .

37 thoughts on “Writing A Perfect Housesitter Profile.”

    1. Thanks Hayley. I hope you do, as I have seen a few younger families doing housesitting either fulltime or just now and again. Let me know how you go, and keep going with that creative writing. Another tip that may be of use is to do local UK ones to get you all used to the idea and some references.

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  2. This is all brilliant advice. Although I think I would just trust you with our home because it’s easy to see you really enjoy the pets company when you are staying with them. It’s why I love your Instagram so much!

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    1. Awww thanks, Josy, that lovely comment is very appreciated and we do enjoy having “hometime” with the pets we look after.

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  4. What sensible advice you offer Suz, so generous of you to share your experiences with others. You never know how many others might join you in this fabulous lifestyle, you’re such a good advocate for housesitting and obviously very well respected and good at it too. Have pinned and shared on social media.

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    1. Thanks Cherie, yes I hope it is helpful. It’s great that we all have different lifestyles. Makes for a more interesting world.

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    1. Thanks Cathy and yes most people will ask questions if they would like something clarified.

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    1. Thanks Diana. I can well imagine it would be hard with so many applying. Then having to choose one . From our side it is the waiting and we keep applying for others in the meantime.

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    1. Maybe get some experience locally always helps having reviews before heading overseas.

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  12. It’s great to see you offering such good advice from the stand-point of your own (great and growing) experience. I imagine that many might go into the notion of house-sitting with very rosy specs on and from quite a naïve perspective. Your sound knowledge and clearly convey advice should be read by anyone contemplating a part of full time career as a house sitter. I’m not one of them by the way but I do read this from the interested viewpoint of one who is considering using a house-sitting service in the not so distant future. Who knows – maybe you and the squire might be free and willing 😉

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    1. Osyth, just let us know as soon as possible as we now have 4 housesits booked for next year. Send me message on the dates? This is in France?

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      1. It would be 2020 in likelihood (next year will mark a house sale here in the US, we hope, a bit of travelling here before we return to France and finding and buying the right place). France it will be and we hope to settle in or on the edges of le massif du Vercors. I think you would love it. And I do understand the demands on you and that we might not be lucky enough to get you. But I also believe that things have a habit of working out well if one keeps and open mind. So the fact is that we would be reasonably flexible on dates if needed 🙂

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        1. Not a problem as I’m sure we will still be doing it. We have booked housesits in France and Italy for 2019. Some people like to book ahead. Which is good for us. Good luck with all that’s going on with you both!

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  13. Wonderful advice Suzanne and I am actually getting an understanding of what housesitting is. You and the Squire and fortunate to have the experience with animals and it really is a win/win lifestyle. It is great to hear that your name is preceeding you and you are getting enquiries rather than applying for the position. A wonderful lifestyle and I’m sure my readers are going to love your contribution to Over 50 & Thriving series. Have a great week!

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    1. Thanks Sue, it is a win/win situation and for us the only authentic way of getting to know an area and culture. Yes, hopefully people will enjoy my interview I wrote for you.

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  14. Great post, Suz. Every time you write these tips about house sitting and RVing, I feel like you’re beating me to it. 🙂 Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of time for blogging these days/weeks/months. Fortunately, your posts do a fantastic job of summing up what the lifestyle is about.

    Our strong point is our connection with dogs, our high level of responsibility, and preferring longer term house sits. We also mention in our profile that references are available upon request.

    As for being contacted by home owners, we’d rather read listings and pick what suits us, andnthen contact those owners, since a lot of emails from home owners to us are in areas we don’t have any interest in, or involve cats, even though our profile mentions one of us is allergic to them and we’d only consider outdoor cats.

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    1. Thanks Liesbet. We are fortunate to be able to do this lifestyle. I know you two are excellent housesitter’s and we would certainly ask you if we lived in America! Hope the finishing parts of your book (publishing) are going smoothly.

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