Are you thinking of becoming a house sitter, or have you landed your first house sitting gig? After our experience with international house sitting, we have compiled tips for achieving a 5 star house sitting rating. This will give you the best chance of securing the most desirable house sits available online.
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What Is House sitting?
Housesitting is a fast-growing ideal that’s taking over the world. You can stay in someone’s place (and take care of it while they are away), and there’s no monetary transaction. You are doing the owner a favor and they, in return, are doing you a favor.
It’s a win-win and an amazing opportunity for travelers, vacationers, and even people trying to avoid rent in their home town. Think of the money saved in accommodation!
With no money involved, there is another form of currency that keeps the system running. This is trust and reputation.
Why Your Rating Is Important
Like any service or industry. There is a supply and demand in the housesitting world.
There is a finite amount of opportunity. If you are looking to housesit in a certain city for a certain amount of time, chances are there will be a fairly limited amount of opportunities. You want to put your best foot forward to have your chance of securing the opportunity.
Without a financial bid (no way to buy your way in). You are bidding with your reputation (your rating) in order to get a housesit.
International House sitting
Likewise, if you’re not really set on dates and are looking more for location-based opportunities (say a holiday in France), there will be some house sitting opportunities that are more desirable than others. More people are likely to be attracted to a beautiful villa overlooking the beach than say a noisy apartment facing a highway (obviously will depend on the person, but you get what I mean).
While reviewing the bids on their offers from sitters (potentially from around the world), homeowners will review your ratings/reviews (by other housesitting owners) and your profile in general.
If you have a 5 star rating and some great reviews you have greater currency value to offer the homeowner and are therefore more likely to be considered. We were lucky enough to get chosen to be House Sitters in the Caribbean, in destinations like Grenada, Barbados and the US Virgin Islands.
Your Rating Is Currency, But It’s Not The Only Factor
While you may have a great rating, it’s not the only determining factor. Make sure you spend some quality time to make your profile as understanding as possible. You want the homeowner to really get a grasp of who you are and why you would make a good fit. For example, you may be the world’s best cat carer and have great reviews, but if you’re not particularly fond of dogs, you will not likely be selected for a housesit looking after a couple of dogs…etc.
What is a 5-star House Sitting Rating
Your task as a 5 Star house sitter is simple. While the home owner is away, they should feel relaxed and comfortable knowing that their place is in good hands and on their return should feel like they’d never left.
Achieving a 5 Star house sitting rating means that you have:
- Successfully managed to look after someone’s place well enough that they would want you back again
- Went the extra mile to really take care of the home and pets (so that they are happy and healthy)
- Been easy to communicate with and the owner has returned without surprises
- Both had great experiences
5 Tips For Achieving And Maintaining A 5 Star House sitting Rating
After completing several international housesits and maintaining our 5 Star rating, we’ve compiled a few simple tips to help and encourage the 5 Star experience to help both the sitter and the owner.
1. Communication is key
It’s so easy to stay in touch nowadays. You can use email, WhatsApp, phone calls, and text messaging. WhatsApp is a lot less formal than emailing or calling and with wifi prevalent almost everywhere, it’s a quick and easy way to stay connected. We haven’t met a home owner yet that didn’t like updates on how their pets or garden were doing.
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
You’re really the owner’s ears and eyes while they are away. If you notice something. Say something. It could be nothing, but it could be the start of a problem that needs immediate attention.
The good. A simple photo of the pet on an outing can really add a nice moment to the owner’s day and encourage their confidence that all is going well.
The bad. It’s as easy as writing something like “Hi, just to let you know there’s a weird noise coming from the basement. I went to look but didn’t see anything. Any ideas?”
The ugly. If you notice the pet has a patch of flaky skin on their leg, a quick photo to the owner can clear up any doubts. “Oh yes, we’ve seen that before, don’t worry about it” may be their response.
The idea is to eliminate surprises, so when the owner’s return they can walk in feeling comfortable that they know what to expect.
2. Re-arrange? Put It Back
We’ve found, especially on longer sits, that things inevitably get re-arranged. Especially in the kitchen. Utensils, pots, pans, cheese slicers somehow, they end up in different drawers than when we started.
An easy tip is to take photos of how things are arranged at the beginning. When the home owner comes back they can walk into the kitchen and reach into the top drawer and find what they were looking for.
Remember it should be like they never left.
3. Make a List Of Do’s & Don’ts
It can be overwhelming trying to remember every little detail of someone else’s home that they’ve been perfecting for years.
An easy way is to have a pen and pad with you when you and the owner discuss the in’s and out’s. You also want to have a good time and enjoy yourself and don’t want to be worried about trying to remember everything. A simple list written down that you can stick on the fridge will relieve your memory.
We’ve found it super helpful to write down pet needs. What medications, when to give them etc.
Daily, weekly, monthly
This is helpful for longer sits. But we make a list of little chores that should be done daily, weekly and monthly. If you keep this on the fridge it will also reduce your need for using up memory space.
What day does the garbage go out? – Check the list on the fridge. How many times a week do we clean out the pool filter? – check the list on the fridge etc.
If you’ve missed something, just ask. It’s not a memory quiz in home functionality.
4. A Little Knowhow
You are not a contractor or a full-time gardener. But there are some simple things you can do around the house to knock your rating up to 5 stars.
You should know the basics. At least, what a fuse box is, where to find it and how to turn on the switches if the power trips. (this one you won’t be able to look up online if there is no power/internet).
House Sitting basics
We like to make sure the place is nice and clean, especially when the owner is arriving. Don’t be afraid to get down and scrub as necessary.
We also like to do some basic gardening. Really just keeping it tidy.Got a lawn full of dead leaves piling up? Rake it and put them in the bin. Got weeds growing over the entrance walkway? Get down and pull them out.
It’s not hard and it will really help your chances to impress the owners and improve your rating. It’s also just a nice thing to do. No one wants to return from a trip to an overgrown mess of a house…what was the point of having you stay there?
You should know the basics for pet care or at least how to spot something out of the ordinary.
The dog hasn’t moved from his bed all day. That’s not normal.
Looking after a dog and don’t know much about them? Do some research. Wikihow has the answer to most things. It will be helpful in recognizing problems. Once recognized you can alert the owner.
5. Have Fun With The Pets & Share It With The Owners
Family pets are really part of the family. No one likes to think that their pooch is miserable while they are away.
We use the opportunity to give the pet a “petcation”. Don’t just feed them and leave them.
Take them to the beach. Try get them to join you on a boat ride. Obviously don’t force them into doing something they don’t want. But definitely do let them enjoy themselves.
We took one of our house sitting dogs on a little kayak trip for something different. She was a little unsure at the beginning, but we could tell she was getting into it and really enjoyed it, so we took her up the river away (she was already a keen swimmer).
Another puppy had his 1st birthday while we were sitting. We could tell the family’s kids were bummed about missing it. So, we had a little birthday party for the pup and sent some photos to the owner. The kids were so thrilled and really appreciated it.
Get creative, have fun with the pets and enjoy your own petcation.
Enjoy Yourself
People and animals can tell if you’re stressing.
While it might seem like a big responsibility to take care of someone’s home and pets (which it is) people have been doing it successfully for a very long time. It’s not a new concept. There’s a world of information on the internet with everything from “how to tell if the fridge is not working” to “how to tell if a dog’s poop is the wrong colour”.
Use the owners to bounce ideas and concerns if you have any. Use them to share your fun times and pet experiences.
Enjoy yourself and your pet time. If you do all of the above, you will likely get a great review and 5-star rating, which will make getting your next sit easier.
House sitting Do’s & Don’ts
Do’s:
- Treat the house like you would your own. Take care of it, it is someone’s life
- Be friendly to the neighbours. They may already know that you are housesitting and be watching out on the owner’s behalf.
- Offer to bring something to the home on your arrival. A bottle of wine is a nice icebreaker and a way to form a relationship with the homeowner.
- Have an interest in pets if there are pets involved. Not always, but most of the time there are pets involved that need to be cared for. If you hate pets, you’re not going to enjoy the experience, neither will the owner or the pets. It’s best to be clear upfront.
- Do replace any food items you use. Unless the homeowner says otherwise, you shouldn’t use their food. Especially don’t go through condiments and leave a scraping left in the jar when you leave. If you do use something, replace it.
- You break it, you buy it. This will depend on the item(s). But accidents do happen. You’ll have to talk with the owner about what to do. If it’s something small and replaceable, it’s best to replace it. If it’s a large house-related item, it may be covered under insurance. You will need to keep in contact with the owner to determine the course of action.
- Do leave a little something in the fridge. It is a nice touch when returning from a trip to not have to run directly to the store. If you leave some bread and milk in the fridge, the owners will surely appreciate it.
- Do lock the doors when you leave. Maybe you don’t in your own house. But this is not someone else’s house and stuff they’ve trusted you with. Do them the courtesy of keeping it as safe as you can.
Dont’s:
- Have crazy parties and trash the house. That’s obviously not going to go down well.
- Leave the house to go stay somewhere else. You are there to stay in that house. So stay there.
- Don’t take anything that’s not yours. Obviously, cause that’s illegal.
- Don’t be afraid to ask. If you’re not sure of what to do, or forget how many pills the dog needs, just ask.
- Don’t forget to have fun. Take the opportunity to explore your new surrounds with your new furry friends!
Want More Information?
For more information on how to joining the house sitting community either from a homeowner or a potential sitter, check out our “how to become a house sitter” post here. It’s a great way to eco travel around the world.
We use Trusted Housesitters as our preferred house sitting platform. They’ve got an amazing selection of active house sits around the world and all of our experiences so far have been incredible. If you want to join there is an annual fee (to then live rent-free!).
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Aaron is one of the co-founders of The Dharma Trails. His background in marine eco tourism and writing have blended together to create the eco travel platform read by users around the world.
