How to Become a House Sitter?

How to become a house sitter

After signing up to HouseSit Match as either a Standard or Premium level house sitter member, we’ll ask you for more information. We’ll ask you to verify your identity and we strongly advise you to take a police and background check so that you build a strong profile. Homeowners like it when you have an up to date police check that shows you have a good public profile and no police record. A good profile as a house sitter will help you stand out when owners are selecting for a house- or pet-sitting role.

How to become a house sitter

Housesitting through Housesitmatch is offered as an exchange of services. As a housesitter and petsitter we ask that you join our members network and offer your services for free. In exchange you will benefit from free accommodation. What is more it means that depending on where you want to housesit you can travel anywhere.

What is housesitting?

As a homeowner and pet owner if you offer your home through a petsitting assignment you benefit from free pet and home care. On Housesitmatch.com no money should change hands at all during housesitting other than for expenses.

All in all this makes for very affordable travel, home and pet care all round. And we find that people make friends all over the world by taking part in this exciting activity.

How to become a house sitter on Housesit Match

Here at HouseSit Match, we have worked hard to create a safe and trusted space for housesitting. We foster and encourage a collaborative environment between house sitters and home and pet owners across the world. It has been our philosophy since we first launched in 2014.

From the outset, we have helped thousands of sitters, home owners and especially pet owners! to find their housesit match.  We offer information and guidance to help you achieve a successful sitting placement every time.

Through regular contact by email, webinars, member experience stories and blogs we demonstrate best practice in how to become a house sitter.

Housesitting best practice in action

Many of our house sitters are happy to share their reasons and best practice housesitting methods with us on video interviews. Watch our interview with Bev and John American retirees who simply love housesitting. In their talk they describe how as retirees they learned how to become a house sitter.

We also share best practice stories by home and pet owners to show newbies how it is done successfully through our network. Watch this UK case study written and presented by one of our longest standing home and pet owners Peter.

 

Prove you are a trusted housesitter with a background check

Verification and Background checks – Support your house sitter profile

The important thing to note about learning how to become a house sitter on HouseSit Match is that we value collaboration. In this vein we ask that before you start looking for house sitting jobs you do an ID Check.

A selfie, plus passport and one other form of ID

We ask every registrant to complete an online ID Verification form. It is pretty standard and there should be no surprises. As part of this process we ask you to provide basic evidence necessary to prove your identity (we ask for two identity documents  – one can be a passport – plus one other piece of evidence, in order to do this). Please understand this simple process helps to keep the site safe, and helps you become a house sitter for free.

If you don’t have a passport but you have a national citizens ID card contact us and we’ll verify you manually. Then we’ll show you how to become a house sitter with us.

Our Free ID verification

This important step is free to registered paying members and builds trust in our website and database. You need to have two identity documents to hand e.g., Passport scan of photo id page, Photo driving licence Facebook logins, any other social media logins.

Please take time to go through this simple process. It will show your willingness to collaborate and work within our guidelines. This all goes some way to showing us what a trusted housesitter you will become.

The importance of our recommended police check

We also recommend that for house sitters/pet sitters to have an up-to-date Verifile police and background check.

To make it easy we provide the system on line for you to do this no matter where you are in the world. If you have police clearance in advance from your home country, this will save time during the application process. Let us know using the contact us page.

If you looking to learn how to become a professional house sitter you will need to find another website. Unlike Housesitmatch.com sites like Rover.com or Tailster.com do accept money and housesitters and petsitters listed on those sites charge professional fees.

No money changes hands on Housesitmatch.com.

 

Petsitting is a large part of housesitting

You may find as you go to Find a House-sit on this site that many involve pets. This is not unusual so a love of pets and animals and experience in their care can be very important.

The most popular petsitting that is asked of a house sitter in a housesit are dogs and cats and birds. However, there are usually a good selection of other pets to choose from, It is important that you can show the homeowner to whom you are applying that you have the relevant experience.

Types of petsitting

1. Dogsit – Dogsitting duties are the most popular as people prefer for dogs to stay at home and to be kept company and stimulated daily by a live in dog sitter.
2. Catsit – Catsitting duties are also very common, with many petowners having more than one feline at home. Often they can be part of a bigger menagerie. To learn more read our Vet’s Blog – Relax cat it’s only a cat-sitter
3. Rabbit sitting – As many of us learn how to become a house sitter we also learn that some pets are easy care. Rabbits for example are fairly easy to look after. And to learn more about this read our Vet’s Blog – Tips for rabbit sitters on Rabbit care.
4. Start by caring for pets of friends and family – One valuable lesson in how to become a house sitter is that even if you had pets for years when you were young, prepare by spending time with the pets of friends and family first. Learning how to be around pets again will pay off in spades if you feel comfortable then the animals will too.
5. Exotic pet siting – While you may be keen to please a pet owner and might accept any pet care responsibilities with the owner’s advice, think before you accept. One valuable lesson in how to become a house sitter is to learn to say now if you are uncomfortable with what is being asked of you. Feeding live or frozen mice to pet snakes may be your boundary. Be honest, it is best for you, for the pet owner and of course for the pet snake!

Starting as a house sitter

How to manage your first housesit

Best practice success tips

1. Start local – One sure way to have a gentle start when you want to become a house sitter is to start local. Find a short house sitting or pet sitting opportunity that is fairly local to you. It is one way to learn the routines, and find a way to meet the homeowners requirements.
2. Commit to few pets to start with – Start with one or two pets only. Make sure you are comfortable with your responsibilities. You need to feel comfortable with the task in hand.
3. Manage house hold chores from the beginning of the housesit – Make sure you are not overwhelmed by the responsibilities on the property. Give yourself daily chores to break the tasks down.
4. Keep in touch with your homeowners – When we describe how to become a house sitter to newbies we always advise that you plan good conversations with the homeowners before you commit, and during the housesit. And before they leave for their trip make sure you know what they need you to do in detail.
5. Respect the homeowners’ wishes – Some homeowners are happy to simply hand the keys with a guideline document. Other homeowners want several conversations before you actually meet and like regular updates from you about their pets. As you learn to become a house sitter you will learn to moderate both your support and expectations according to different owners and their habits and requirements.

Learn how to become a house sitter abroad

As one of our regular housesitters has advised “it is harder getting on the road than actually being on the road” Bev Belury.

So if you want to learn how to become a house sitter abroad read on to learn our top tips for housesitting abroad, out of your home country.

Best practice success tips

1. Check your passport is in date – Passport and Visa rules change all the time and every country is different. Check your home country rules and your destination country rules. We cannot stress this enough.
2. Do you have the correct visa for your destination – Once again please please check your travel paperwork. This is a fundamental requirement of international travel.
3. Accepted for a housesit abroad – Now it gets exciting! A valuable lesson we all learn in how to become a house sitter is don’t be afraid to ask the homeowner for travel suggestions to get to them. They will likely know the inside track on affordable and timely travel routes to their home.
4. Research things to do in the local area – Whether you prefer to do your site seeing before and after your housesit or you like to combine the two opportunities, prepare for your trip with a little desk research. Once again the homeowners will be willing to share some of the fun things to do and see locally.
5. Living like a local – Seasoned housesitters tell us that one of the real advantages to be savoured in housesitting abroad is the opportunity to sample living like a local somewhere completely new. As you learn how to become a house sitter this can grow in its appeal, taking you further and further away from home to discover new cultures.  Some sitters will ask us how to become a long term house sitter as they yearn to travel long distance for an extended period.

Sign up for our newsletter to hear our housesitter stories about long term housesitting.

For more information about becoming a house sitter, take a look at our registration page. This page gives a breakdown of the membership options for you on how to become a house sitter: https://www.housesitmatch.com/register/

 

House sitter profile and reviews

Make sure that even if you start out with a local house sit or pet sit to get started you secure a review. It is even better if you can post that review to an online platform like a petsitting or house sitting website such as Housesitmatch.com. House sitter reviews are rapidly becoming a serious currency in trusted house sitting assignments.

Build a profile in social media

Some homeowners like to check your profile in social media. As a trusted housesitter this shouldn’t worry you. While we at Housesitmatch.com always check the identity of all our members before we let them loose on the site the homeowners may just want to satisfy their curiosity before they invite you to their homes.

Facebook is one idea

So build a Facebook profile. And keep it honest and wholesome. If you are posting regularly you might want to use a Facebook post template to make sure your content appears as well as it possibly can.

To find out more about House Sitting and Pet Sitting with HouseSit Match, visit our ‘About Us’ webpage.

Or you can begin the registration process straightaway here.

Further reading about housesitting and housesitters

At Housesitmatch.com we like to share useful blogs and practical advice about housesitters, housesitting and pet sitting. We hope you find this small selection of our blogs on house sitters useful.

Housesitters keep pets safe at home and save money

What a housesitter does – Top 10 responsibilities

Preparing a home for a house or pet sitter

House Sitting Abroad

House Sitting Australia

House Sitting Canada

House Sitting Europe

House Sitting USA