How to Establish Yourself as a Top House Sitter

June 10, 2018

What is house sitting?

Well, it is one of the most interesting ways through which you can travel, earn for yourself, and even get to stay in a new place in any corner of the world. Precisely, house sitting is all about staying at someone else’s residence when the owner has gone on a prolonged vacation. You can enjoy a free accommodation at the client’s place, take care of the house and explore the city. On the other hand, you can even ask for a fee for your services while staying at the client’s house.

With your own customized conditions, you can become a successful house sitter in your native country or abroad. However, it is a bit tough to earn due reputation in this genre. People can’t trust anyone so soon when it comes to leaving their house with him/her.

So, it is quite evident to establish yourself first. You should broadcast about your services in an effective way and prove it that you are authentic enough for this job.

How can you do that?

Here are some fruitful tips for you:

Let your profile speak

When it comes to house sitting, people always like to verify about the house sitter in and out. Hence, it is quite significant to curate a comprehensive profile which covers everything about you. Some of the websites even allow you to upload your picture.

Get an access to such sites and showcase your picture. Well, someone is going to trust you enough to allow you to stay at their home and sometimes take care of their pets even. So, the more familiar you become to them, the better it is.

Moreover, you should also include references and details about police check in your profile. It will thus enhance the efficacy of your profile. All in all, you should put yourself in the house owner’s shoes and provide all the information that you will like to witness in such a scenario.

Sign up for house-sitting membership sites

If you want to let yourself become famous in this profession, joining the membership sites become quite significant. They might charge you an annual fee of £50, still, they are worth it. You can earn tenfold of this money while saving on your accommodation.

There are many websites which offer worldwide opportunities and some focus on specific regions. You just have to sign up for these websites with your comprehensive profile and that’s it! You will get an access to multiple house sitting opportunities in the specific area where you would like to work.

Be specific with your services

House sitting is not only about going and staying at anyone’s place. It needs much more! Some of the house-owners might expect you to do a little bit of housekeeping, other services may include gardening, pet service, phone message service and so on. Also, based on the season, you can even do a little snow shovelling or gardening in client’s house. The more services you can offer, the more fee you can ask for. However, of course, make sure that you are comfortable enough with whatever services you are offering. Once you’ve decided which services you will like to include, make sure that you are highlighting them in your profile. It will let the house-owners know more about you and finally choose you as per their needs.

Advertise yourself

To just do house sitting is not enough! You’ve to showcase your professional house sitting service in the best possible way. For example, you can make business cards and other advertising materials. Also, it will be a great idea to create a free portfolio website on Wordpress.com or Blogger.com. Try to make the website as attractive as you can.

You can list down the reviews from your old clients, point out the services that you offer and emphasize your professional details in the website. All these will help more and more people to know about your professional house sitting service.

Display your services on community classified boards

Follow this trick as per the location where you are available for house sitting. You can post free ads on Craigslist and message boards. Also, if you are ready to pay a bit, small ads are there for you in various newspapers and online platforms. All that you need to do in return is just check the local classifieds for any house sitting requirements.

If you want to further make the entire process automated, create a Google Alert on Craigslist. Next, start looking for house sitting availabilities in your area. Just ensure that you are including the search terms like ‘house’ and ‘sitting’ as well as the local Craigslist URL.

Revert back very fast

One of the significant reasons why you should always keep an eye on the notifications is because you need to reply to your clients instantly. It is one of the smartest tricks to get noticed by the house-owners. Always keep in mind that there are many other house sitters out there like you. So, people can very easily find out hundreds of your competitors shortly after posting a list. To dramatically enhance your chances of getting selected, you should reply to the house-owners quickly.

Keep in touch with travel agents

If you connect with travel agents, you can ask them to refer your professional house sitting arrangement to their clients. For sure, they are going to often come across such people who travel frequently. If they keep on handing over your business cards to them, you might receive a call from them very soon. Also, a strong connection with real estate agents and property management companies could be profitable for you.

That’s it! This is how you can land an absolutely perfect house-sitting gig.

Isn’t it very easy?

All that you need to do is just act a bit smarter and act in an organized way. Thus, you’ll obviously end up becoming one of the best house sitters in the town.