Sorting through house sitting website reviews can be confusing when you first research how to become a house sitter. As a twelve year (as of 2022!) housesitting veteran, I get readers writing in all the time to ask “Which is the best house sitting website?”
Pandemic update: Yes, house sitting is happening in the pandemic. I’ve house sat three seven times since the first lockdown!
The Secret About the Best Site?
The best house sitting website
is the one that has the house sitting job you want!
However, if you’re waffling between one house sitting website and another, maybe my thoughts on the best (and worst!) house sitting websites will help.
(Related: get free flights to your house sitting region.)
House sitting vacancies can be hard to find. Check out How to Become a House Sitter for tips on how to stand out among the crowd of long term house sitting seekers. photo: stephen di donato
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International House Sitting Website Reviews
HouseCarers Review
While the interface won’t wow you, it’s my favorite international house sitting website!
$50 per year ($45 with discount)
The Good: House Carers is an industry veteran launched when the internet was still just a baby. They’re honest, fair, and have a large, established history. Their membership price is fair, they have the second best sorting function and ad previews (after House Sitters America), and are friendly to homeowners (so more house sits!). While their interface could be more intuitive, it’s fully serviceable. I’ve always found at least one house sitting job that suited my location and schedule on their platform, and have booked more house sits with them than any other international house sitting website.
The Ugly: Upgrading a user interface that’s seen nearly every design iteration of the online era isn’t easy. At times I’ve had to click around a bit to find what I wanted, but I guess that could be user error. Aside from that, my House Carers review is all positive!.
Nomador Review
This international website offers an exciting free “discovery” option.
FREE for limited use, otherwise $42 per quarter, $99 per year.
The Good: You can’t beat free! Nomador is also the only site catering to those who aren’t house-sitting full-time and don’t need a full year membership. The interface is excellent, and the search functionality is as good as House Sitters America. I was able to click straight through to the listings after signing up. Nomador is the only house sitting website I’ve ever seen that gives an idea of house and property size in the ad preview. They don’t charge homeowners to list their sit. They fend off scammers by requiring ID checks of homeowners who don’t want to list a sit but want to browse and contact house sitters. They’re also the only platform that has a two-way, blind review system – like AirBnb. Oh, and they’re the only platform building a “stopover” community. These are homeowners who will host you when you’re between house sits and maybe ask you to sit in the future. Nomador is run by a small team of people with values I admire. Many people booking their first sit via the “discovery option” go on to purchase a full membership, which I think demonstrates house sitter satisfaction.
The Ugly: They are still growing, so they may not have active sits in your desired region. When you do a search, you have to remember to hide sits that are “no longer available.” To me, the opposite should be the default. Umm… I wish I had more cons to balance things out, but every time I think from a new angle, I just come up with another Nomador pro. Bottom line: you can’t pass up having a look at a free site!.
Mind My House Review
This international website doesn’t have quite as many listings, but the price makes it worth a look!
$20 per year
The Good: While not quite as established as House Carers, they’ve been around longer than Trusted Housesitters. Mind my House has great pricing, and a modern, user friendly interface. They’re home-owner friendly, which improves their listing ratio.
The Ugly: They are still growing, and I’ve read mixed Mind My House reviews. Some say the site has been great for them, others complain homeowner listings weren’t up-to-date, appearing available when they aren’t. Bottom line: If the site has a sit you’re interested in, $20 isn’t too steep a gamble to make in attempt to connect with your ideal house sitting job!
Trusted Housesitters Review
This international site is sometimes called the market leader, but it’s not my favorite.
$100 per year, $75 for 3 months
These guys are now charging $119 a year.
Up again: $129 a year.
Up AGAIN: $129-$259 a year.
The Good: Their strong arm tactics have helped them dominate the market and grow brand recognition (e.g. they’ve forced and purchased their way into first click positions). Their site design is prettier than more established, older sites. That’s about the extent of the good things I have to say in my Trusted Housesitters review.
The Ugly: To me, these guys are the gangsters of the house sitting websites. Double to triple the average industry price?! For an email harassment program and nickel-and-diming price structure that doesn’t serve the community?! Why are there so many gushing Trusted Housesitters reviews? Because they have a great business model – giving a cut of their insane membership fee to people who get you to sign up. I’d make tons of money if I lied through my teeth and claimed my Trusted Housesitters experience has been amazing (it’s been adequate but annoying), totally worth the ridiculous membership fee (not), and you should totally sign up! (only in one case – see below)
Update 2022 – long term sitters on the site are threatening to decamp in droves, beginning March 16th. According to a site user (see comments) to hopefully increase the number of homeowners to match the over abundance of sitters, Trusted Housesitters is beginning Evident ID background checks on sitters (who previously were already providing their drivers licenses.) Users say Evident ID requires a social security number and “appears to outsource their IT to a third party in Poland,” which has sitters extremely concerned about identity theft. No substitute to social security numbers is possible. Not even passports, TSA Pre-check, Global Entry, FBI criminal history, nor professional licenses that required a criminal background check to be issued will be accepted. Heated discussion here: https://forum.trustedhousesitters.com/t/new-background-check-rules/10551
But wait. There’s more! Trusted Housesitters also artificially inflates the number of available housesits by allowing homeowners to make “I’ll need a housesitter someday” profiles. Their ad previews are unhelpful and waste lots of time. Their results sorting (or lack thereof) leads me to assume 1perhaps incorrectly they’re using an algorithm somehow designed to maximize their profit at the expense of users. Their read-receipts in their messaging system create awkward situations or require extra back-and-forth. Finally, I think Trusted Housesitters is digging their own grave by charging homeowners to list their sits. Lucky for us, I suspect home owners will continue turning to more community-minded platforms (essentially every other house sitting website).
All that said, I stand by the maxim in the intro: like all house sitting websites, it’s only worth it if it lists a housesitting job you want. If this is you, feel free to help fund honest reviews by using this Trusted Housesitters sign-up link – it costs you nothing extra and together we can stick it to the gangsters!
Most house sitting jobs involve giving love to furred, finned, or feathered creatures. photo Eddy Van 3000
Other International Sites:
Luxury Housesitting – international, reviews generally lackluster. $25 a year.
Caretaker Gazette – international, requires patience for outmoded and inefficient distribution system. $30 a year. Contributing your own words to the publication is $.65/word
Working Couples – international, more like jobs that include accommodation, $24 quarter or $10 a month.
Sabbatical Homes – international, home owners pay to advertise their homes available for rent. If you don’t have an academic affiliation, the cost is $20 to list yourself as a possible tenant, $50 if you match, plus the cost of renting the home.
Location-Specific House Sitting Websites
Reviews
House Sitters America Review
Hands-down my favorite USA house sitting website.
$49 a year.
The Good: Fair membership price, best search function, best sorting function, best ad previews, no strong-arming, friendly to homeowners (so more house sits!). Yeah, House Sitters America!
The Ugly: Update 2021: a personal friend of mine has been regularly using this platform for over a year now, and loves it! Their number of house sitting jobs is is still rising as more people discover this awesome platform. The silver lining, for house sitters, is lower competition than on house sitting services like Trusted Housesitters.
Aussie House Sitters Review
A wildly popular site in Australia. Had fantastic experiences.
$64 USD ($84 AUD) a year
The Good: This site is a gold mine of opportunities for a very fair price. Every time I looked for a sit, dozens of opportunities that suited my location and schedule presented themselves. Designed by the team behind House Sitters America, so the site has the same awesome search function, great sorting function, time-saving ad previews, fair approach, and homeowner friendliness (so more house sitting jobs!).
The Ugly: In the comments you’ll see one reader who is disappointed that the price for this site is now on-par with other major house sitting websites. While I still recommend this site to anyone wanting a house sitting job in Australia, I understand the disappointment one might feel about it being “the most expensive.” Bottom line – any platform that has the sit you want… is a great platform and the one for you!
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Rover Review
A USA site (that has added sites for Canada and some of Europe as of 2021) with a focus on pet care that sometimes includes house sitting.
Cost is 20% of the fees you charge pet owners.
The Good: Who doesn’t love the idea of getting paid for house sitting?! If you haven’t read How to Become a House Sitter, maybe you don’t know that most house sitting jobs are done on a trade basis. Their space, heat, internet, car, garbage service, gas, and electricity in exchange for the time it takes you to live their life for them.
The Ugly: Unlike proper house sitting websites, Rover.com doesn’t allow you to search opportunities. You need to wait for pet/home owners to come to you. You sort of need to be based in a single city to utilize this quasi house sitting website.
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MadPaws Review
An Australian site with a focus on pet care that sometimes includes house sitting.
Cost is 20% of the fees you charge pet owners.
The Good: Who doesn’t love the idea of getting paid for house sitting?! If you haven’t read How to Become a House Sitter, maybe you don’t know that most house sitting jobs are done on a trade basis. Their space, heat, internet, car, garbage service, gas, and electricity in exchange for the time it takes you to live their life for them.
The Ugly: Unlike proper house sitting websites, MadPaws doesn’t allow you to search opportunities. You need to wait for pet/home owners to come to you. You sort of need to be based in a single Australian city to utilize this quasi house sitting website.
Similar Australian sites: PetCloud and Pawshake.
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HouseSit Match Review
A small, mostly European site based in the UK.
$50 USD a year.
Update 2021: $93 USD standard, $120 USD premium 2£69 and £89, respectively
The Good: Their site is prettier than some of their competitors. They’ve got the same silver lining as any newer site – less competition from other house sitters. That’s about all for HouseSit Match review positives.
The Ugly: Their search functionality isn’t awesome. They’re charging homeowners now. And one can’t ignore the big price tag. But as I’ve said before, your ideal house sitting job could be on any platform. It’s worth signing up if you see a house sitting job you want on here. Update 2021: I find their new pricing structure annoying. It seems to be a way to generate more revenue while still providing the same service… like airlines suddenly charging for carry-ons. #progress?
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Other location-specific house sitting websites:
Don’t forget to check out the local version of Craigslist wherever you go. Here are more sites for countries where house sitting is a long standing tradition:
United Kingdom:
House Sitters UK – run by the awesome folks behind House Sitters America. $39/£29 a year.
Australia:
Mind a Home – $59 AUD a year
Happy House Sitters – $59 AUD a year, $55 4 mo.
Homeowners can check out: Aussie House Swap
New Zealand:
Kiwi House Sitters – run by the awesome folks behind House Sitters America. $84 NZD a year.
Town & Country Home Sit – more job, less house sitting. Like Rover, charges homeowners, assuming they pay you a portion of the fee.
Canada:
House Sitters Canada – run by the wonderful House Sitters America people, albeit with a different look. $59/year
I hope these house sitting website reviews help you find the house sitting job of your dreams – no matter which website you choose.
More House Sitting info:
How to Become a House Sitter
House Sitting Podcast Interview Shownotes
Money on the road:
24 Jobs to Do While Traveling the World
How I Afford Years of Non-Stop Travel
How to Get Free Flights
How to Sleep For Free When You Travel
Strategies on the road:
Do You Make These 8 Travel Mistakes?
The Real Cost of a Round-the-World Ticket
Which Travel Insurance to Avoid
And if you’re new to the lifestyle, you’ll relate to:
Why a Hard-Working Perfectionist… Doesn’t Want a Job
Hi Jema, I subscribed just now after reading your best/worst housesitting site article. Wish I had known BEFORE joining Trusted Housesitters. I agree 100%, however, just landed a very nice housesit in London UK, and will not rejoin TH when the time comes. LOVED Housesitters Canada and Homecarers. Will definitely rejoin both.
London will be my first overseas stay, and I am wondering if border guards will be suspicious and accuse me of working for money. I have a Canadian passport. TH provides a standard border letter, and I will provide a letter from my London hosts as well, but I’m wondering how else I could prepare. Have you ever been turned away? (Disaster! )Thanks very much, Helen
I’ve only had good experiences with THS as an owner and sitter – until this week when the psycho sitter from hell turned up at my place in Reykjavik. Nothing to do with THS – she had good references from past sits with them. THS intervened immediately and cancelled her membership when I sent documentation. She was in my apartment for two nights – too many.
I was very unhappy with the ID confirmation policy but decided to comply in order to keep using the service.
Agreed with the complaints re: Trusted House Sitters.
I signed up as a home owner and am furious. They are almost impossible to reach and do not provide the services they claim they do. (e.g. there was some damage that the house sitter caused to my house. I’m both not allowed to edit my review to reflect this and – oh, as it turns out – their supposed insurance covers nothing. Which…makes me wonder what in the heck I spent money on?)
Hearing more stories about fradulent sit adds being sent, being a pain about refunding money, etc. makes me confident that I will NEVER use them again.
FABULOUS article, thank you so much! THS has gotten even worse! They now have a 5 applicant policy and then the sites are paused for review, so you can not apply YET they sill list them i their search engine, this is SUPER frustrating, I wrote them to ask them to change this, they won’t so although it looks like they have a ton of listings, they don’t.
I am writing to update you on the situation with Trusted Housesitters. They have instituted a new background check policy. US sitters are now required to submit their Social Security numbers to an outfit called Evident ID based in Atlanta with an IT department in Poland. Any US sitter, regardless of how long they have been with the company, how many sits they have completed or how many excellent reviews they have, will be barred from booking any more sits through the site if they have failed to submit their Social Security numbers by March 16, 2022. THS will not accept the following ID documents in lieu of a Social Security number: State criminal history background check, FBI criminal history, professional licenses that required a criminal background check to be issued, TSA-Pre-check, Global Entry permit or passport, all of which have been proposed as alternatives. Member’s driver’s licenses are already on file. Many US sitters will be soon be leaving THS rather than expose themselves to the risk of identity fraud. We are told similar sensitive ID information will also be required of its sitters in the UK, Canada, Australia and beyond. BEWARE Please spread the word to THS’ competitors that Improving their platforms will result in greatly increased membership since we are looking for alternatives, and their are many of us.
I am also a THS sitter and upset about this new development. Are there really only criminals in the US? How do we take our reviews with us to a new site? I’ve used other sites and never cared for them. We are also on Nomador now but do not care for it for a few reasons and will not be renewing.
I now need to find a new sit site and don’t know how I can take all my 5 star reviews with me. Plus our membership is until October and I don’t want to lose money.
This is frustrating!
Agreed! I cancelled my membership. I have 8 years experience and only great references. So much for “TRUSTED” House sitters!
Agreed! I cancelled my membership. I have 8 years experience and only great references. Evident ID is not accredited by the BBB (Better Business Bureau) in the US. Under a previous name (they were recently sold) they also have bad reviews. And … seems to be pretty discriminatory for only the US house sitters to be required to do this!
I have done 3 housesitting gigs, and now wish to go ‘on the road’.. May I suggest to everyone that FB has several groups to join (though I do not appreciate FB censorship), Craigslist (I’ve had good luck here, but I know when to delete weird interested parties), colorful flyers up at the markets, (flyer: I also mention childcare/teaching, as some couples may want a no child getaway or date weekend)…and other businesses. Make a card and run up to 50. You’ll want that if you get into a conversation and they may know someone who knows someone..yada, yada.. Best of luck and good fortune…Connie
Hi Jema
Great article, transparent and honest. I appreciate that. I’ve been on TH and MMH. Now sitting in Australia so keeping to Aussie sites for now. Do you know if there are any luxury house sitting sites here? I only see the US based one which has 2 listings in Australia so not much choice.
Many thanks again for the great article.
Cheers Glenne
Hi Glenne – I wish I could point you to a luxury properties site for OZ, but haven’t come across one. Good luck to you!
Hi,
I read your post blog twice, and it appeared to be one of the most helpful for me when I was searching information about housecarers. You post also helped me reach the co-founder of housecarers to talk more about his site and experience. I was partially inspired by you to write. Thanks!
Hello
I can see that you do reviews of the house sitting websites so I would like to add a bad review of Trustedhousesitters.com which is very serious.
Their annual renewel cancellation is entirely misleading.
They publicise on both computer and phone that there are steps you can use to cancel the automatic renewel but they are a totally false. The options they advise does not exist.
And they dont allow you take off your banking details nor even cancel your membership.
You must wait for their help desk to do the honours and this is extreme unsafe for customers.
I hope this message to you can be added to your reviews
You can contact me for any further info about this case
Naveena Yates
Hi Naveena – I’m sorry to hear your bad experience with trusted house sitters. (Isn’t it telling that if you google “trusted house sitters reviews” the very next suggested search term is “trusted house sitters bad experience”?)
What you explained happening is exactly the reason I don’t like this company. They are corporate bullies. Yes, it is possible to have (I HAVE HAD!) a no-problems experience with the company. I’ve never had anything awful happen with them (yet!), but even their sales-funnel interfaces and algorithms show what corporate bullies they are, which deeply offends my sense of justice.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
I agree with the poor customer service. Mostly the replies regarding the discriminatory requirement of background checks for only US house sitters. The company doing the checks has been described as “sketchy” and receives a lot of bad reviews online. Pretty careless to subject the identities of sitters to this less than stellar company.They seem not to care based on their “glossy” responses to their customers … (i.e. the sitters providing the services!)
Wow, I can’t believe all the complaints about THS. Have you really tried the other sites? I was just on Luxury Housesitting and what a joke. There was maybe 1 – ONE – listing that you could apply for. All the other listings are not real, they are prior listings. A complete waste of time.
When I have used Normador every one of the sits were canceled by the homeowners – one of which they didn’t even bother to tell us. It is only when I contacted them two weeks before we were supposed to be there. Then they told us they were canceling when they knew a month before. This sit was in France (I live in the US) so glad we had other options – that we found on THS.
We have been housesitting continuously for four years with THS. From our experience, we could never have done this using any other site.
There will always by the sit that didn’t work out but by far the vast majority do. And yes if you are using THS and not paying the people that sit for you, you should never complain.
We also use THS and have done so for the past three years. We think it’s one of the best out there. I think it’s sad they got a bad rap here. It’s hard to understand why anyone would think such a great service should be free.
To be fair to Trusted Housesitters (THS), we’ve used them four times to date. We like the concept of offering our homes to someone in exchange of caring for our pets. The first three were fantastic (absolutely no complaints at all) but the latest sit was appalling from the start.
To be honest, we should’ve seen it coming. Earlier this year (in 2019), we saw a random post where certain house owners (via THS) complained that two THS pet sitters had killed their pets, ransacked their house before doing a runner with their things. Like a Bonnie and Clyde incident. Surreal but this should’ve set alarm bells to us.
But since we had paid for our membership until Dec 2019 and had three positive experiences previously, we decided to go ahead with THS Pet Sitters. After all, they advertise that they are ‘an insured service’ as per their website.
Or so you think. Whilst our pets haven’t been killed (Thanks God) or items haven’t been stolen, we did come to a house where our ceramic hob was chipped and damaged (leaving a very sharp edge that our young child could easily reach up and harm herself). The cost to replace this is £268.99. For a young family, this is a big cost.
So we approached THS who then asked us to mediate with the sitter directly as they are apparently an introductions service (of sorts). We approached our sitter who was very apologetic for this accident. But she confirmed she couldn’t pay for this. So the sitter then asked us to approach THS and use their insurance service to claim for any damage caused.
Right, so we approach THS customer service where started sending us links to the T&C’s of their insurance scheme rather than answering our questions. On going through the terms tooth and nail, we learnt that the insurance is a £1000 min payout with an excess of £250 (payable by the house owner of course). Meaning you can’t claim for any damages upto £1000.00 i.e. so we are NOT insured then for damages under and up to £1000. Also very importantly, they will only be able to make any claim on your behalf, if you have house insurance to cover this item/s that you are claiming for. You first make a claim thru your house contents insurance and if they decline, THS’ insurance will be approached.
We didn’t have contents insurance to be honest so we can’t claim so THS now suggest that we go back to the sitter. This is/ was not made clear in their insurance link posted above.
So, out of choice, we have now decided to take the sitter to the courts of law in order to get compensation for the damaged item. But we need the house sitters details right? Therefore we approach THS again.
THS customer service replies ‘Just to manage your expectations, we do not have any addresses on record for the sitter so would not be able to provide that to you in any circumstance. I would suggest that you contact the sitter directly for the necessary details you need’
What this means is, in case of any damage/ theft done to your property, pets or items, THS don’t carry any personal details of the sitters they so smugly advertise! You are completely at the mercy of the sitters and your own house contents insurance. Beware of this fraudulent bunch.
This also explains why the sitters earlier in this post managed to do a runner after murdering this poor old couple’s pet. I tried to look for this story and couldn’t find any links to this. Hmmm.
So in summary, for the membership of £89 that we paid, we are looking at a loss of £268.99 for damage caused in our kitchen and in hindsight we could’ve paid this money (a bit more perhaps) to a completely insured and vetted pet sitter for the time that we were away.
Stay clear from THS. Not blaming the sitters here btw. Accidents happen and this is life but THS’s customer service and insurance coverage is really misleading leading you to a false sense of security. Use at your own risk.
You’re going to take someone to court who doesn’t have a place to live, and you know it, over 200 you can afford to pay or simply patch over since it’s sharp? I think you need something to do with your time. You got free house cleaning and the person who stayed there was no different than an indentured servant for the length of their stay. They didn’t get the compensation or time to level this stay up to a better place in life. Why not just cut your losses and keep taking advantage of a system that puts most of the fatality-risk and cost in the sitter’s hands or opt to pay for a real* pet sitter company to take care of your animals while you vacay? Sorry for the 200 loss, but I don’t think you’re being fair and aware of your advantages in this situation.
Well said Tina. I’d add that have to say that owners who don’t read the T&C’s for any insurance really shouldn’t complain.
Isn’t it interesting that THS makes loads of money – while providing neither the product (a house/pet) or the service (sitters)? Yet they won’t pay a claim as small as yours. That’s very poor ethics.
Hi Jema
Thank you for sharing information on all of these house sitting site options. I’m registered with Trusted Housesitters, House Sit Mexico {a good add for the “other location” sites} & Mind My House. I’m fairly new to house/pet sitting, only a year so far. I have had good experiences with Trusted Housesitters and it sounds like their platform has changed a bit since the initial review. Homeowner profiles are not view-able to house sitters unless they have a current house sitting assignment listed, I agree it’s a waste of time for house sitters to peruse through profiles that aren’t actively looking for a house sitter. You mention there are ethical problems with Trusted Housesitters, what exactly are you referring to? Why do you consider THS to be “To me, these guys are the gangsters of the house sitting websites” I haven’t heard anything like this about them before so I’m curious what issues have arisen with THS?
I haven’t done a sit through House Sit Mexico yet but I really like what I’ve seen in the listings thus far.
I’ve been spammed through Mind My House. I know some people really like Mind My House but I was really turned off by the spamming and the house sitting listings that are really looking for unpaid labor at their boutique hotel {or farm, etc…} in __________ {Sri Lanka, Fiji, etc…}
You mentioned that Nomador requires home owners to upload ID info to cut down on spamming, more sites should require ID to avoid spam/scams.
Cathy, one of the other posters, mentioned arriving to a rat infested house! I wonder what the sitter reviews were for that home owner? I have been pretty discerning in choosing sitting assignments, I read every home owner review!
I’ve heard from other house sitters that these nightmare sits can happen to anyone on any site, a dishonest home owner that lies about the true nature of their home &/or pets can end up listing anywhere. Do you have any advice how to spot &/or avoid dishonest home owners/listings? Anything to look out for?
Do you have any info about – http://www.luxuryhousesitting.com?
I would recommend to any house sitter to check out House Sitting Magazine, full of a lot of helpful info – https://housesittingmagazine.com/ and they have a Facebook group too!
Thank you!!!!
Hi Susanna! Thanks for all the perspective! The ethics of Trusted House Sitters that I find disappointing are an enormous price discrepancy for a product that isn’t superior and sales funnel tactics that are common in the online industry (that I refuse to use).
I hope your House Sit Mexico experience is awesome! My only experience with luxury housesitting is that listings tended to be thin each time I’ve looked in the past. To be honest, many of my house sits have been on luxury properties. I no longer accept sits under three weeks, and I discovered by accident that many people who can afford three week vacations have luxury properties.
The House Sitting Magazine IS amazing!
Happy sitting and happy travels!
Really enjoyed your genuine insights. We’ve been wanting to give other sitting sites a try for a while now, and it’s great to know you’ve had success with House Carers & Nomador. We actually got started house sitting full-time about a year ago with Trusted Housesitters and have never had any issues finding a sit through them and have had a really positive experience, so we haven’t been too motivated to look elsewhere. It’s actually given me peace of mind to know the homeowner pays too with THS, since that makes me feel like they are serious about finding a sitter. However, we’re curious about how other platforms work and want to try them out just to see – so, this was really helpful!
Hi Jema,
Great post and very informative. We are with both Trusted Housesitters and Mind my House with over 3 years of experience as for house ists for us as well as others.
Our feedback:
Trusted house sitters is a bit pricey, hard to navigate to make changes to your listing, slow upload of photos, email message system is cumbersome. They should have a forward and reverse button to go back and forth in messages.
We do get most of our applicants from THS.
Mind My House is better to navigate, better price, but hard to work with the messages platform. Easy to edit your listing but approval takes almost 24 hours.
Cheers,
John and Susan
Medellin, Colombia
Thanks for sharing your experience, John!
My wife and I belong to Mind My House, Trusted House Sitters and Rover. I just can’t understand why Trusted House Sitters’ yearly fee would present a problem for anyone. Over the last 17 months we have gotten multiple sits from THS all of them good and amounting to six or seven months worth of sits. One of them was a six week sit in Hawaii for two cats that included a car. Seems to me our membership to THS paid for itself the first day of the first sit. So far no real horror stories (lots of “interesting†stories though) but we are pretty careful to vet the sits we take.
I also don’t have too much of a problem with their format. It’s easy to establish direct communication after the initial contact to simplify communications. They also notify us of upcoming sits for the dates and locations we are looking for.
YMMV of course, have fun!
Hey Mike! Glad to hear your Trusted House Sitters review is a good one! I myself have used THS in the past and will use them again in the future if they platform has the sit I want. There are just a lot of things about their morals and ethics that rub me the wrong way, making it my last choice… if I get one. But I advocate signing up for whatever platform has the sit you want, including Trusted House Sitters. Sounds like that’s your tack as well?
Happy house sitting!
Are you still pleased with this service in 2021?
Thanks,
Day
Trusted Housesitters lies about getting a refund in your first two weeks. If you apply to housesit, there goes your refund. Not very well explained either. If you don’t mind being in the middle of no where taking care of other people’s animals, then this is for you. Especially, if you don’t mind renting a car to get to your destination which eats up the savings drastically. Then there’s the airfare that you have to purchase right away in case you’ve won the lottery and get picked. That purchase can cost you a pretty penny. If you think you’ll be in the city center, think again. You’ll need to compete with 15-20 other applicants and just hope they pick you. They seem to choose people on superficial reasons. It can take up to two years before someone will finally choose you if they live in a popular city. Why? Too many applicants to constantly compete with. Stick with Airbnb and at least you don’t have to revolve your schedule around someone else’s or fleas getting into your luggage.
Hi Rod – I’m not surprised to hear about you having an eyebrow-raising, disappointing experience with Trusted Housesitters. I’m sorry that happened to you! House sitting certainly has its pitfalls and requires lots of intentionality and awareness to enjoy.
For anyone reading the comments, be sure to check out How to Become a House Sitter for tips that will help you have positive house sitting experiences.
Good luck to you in your travels, Rod!
I also wrote an article geared toward millennials, but really… helpful to any new house sitter!
https://www.nomador.com/blog/news/how-to-get-house-sitting-jobs-for-millenials-and-gen-zs
Hi Rod, we’ve recently and very happily completed five housesits, back to back, across regional England with THS. On one occasion an owner was very difficult to contact in the week before the sit was due to begin and THS were really helpful and finally found the owner on a Saturday afternoon. We have seven more sits confirmed in England, Scotland, Belgium and even one in a lovely apartment in West Hollywood for Christmas.
Aussie House Sitters is AUD84 or USD60 at today’s rate. You probably get $0 for writing such a great review, but their affiliate program rewards 15% commission on all paid registrations. It’s one of the most expensive website for Australia.
Thanks Sushinori – I’ve updated the info. I don’t do much house sitting in Australia at the moment, but all the house sitters I know who do have remarked that there are dozens and dozens of new platforms. I think the bright side of new platforms for sitters is that they are affordable and sometimes not as competitive. The downside is they don’t have as many sits. I stick with the maxim that the best site is whichever one has the house sitting job you want. When it’s an expensive site, I sort of reluctantly part with my cash, trying to remember the accommodation savings and the fact that real people are spending the bulk of their time creating these platforms and also need to pay the rent.
Happy sitting! Hope you find the right platform for you!
Re: some listings on THS-Although I have taken care of homes and pets for very appreciative and reasonable owners, (and, happily and to be fair, I’ve received great reviews and some have given me an honorarium for longer sits) I see listings on THS that are, in fact, difficult full-time jobs! Ex: taking care of dog shelters, farms, BNB’s and/or vast menageries or pets with extreme separation anxiety or health issues..for NO pay. This is unreasonable and I would suggest exploitative (and possibly illegal). Of course, prospective sitters should use their best judgment and common sense, but I do believe there are some people who are either gullible, vulnerable or desperate and reliant on pet sits to simply keep a roof over their heads. This kind of vile ‘nickel and diming’ helps no one but the unscrupulous. I’m now trying harder to find sits that are NOT on ‘Trusted’ House Sitters. They really need to introduce some better ‘rules’ for homeowners to protect the community as a whole. Thanks!
Yeah, there is definitely a huge range of house sitting jobs. I have been unwilling to do any that are more of my time than I would spend on accommodation if I were to trade my time for money instead. I’m glad to hear you know your boundaries! Most of the horror stories I hear come from people not knowing or respecting their own boundaries, hey. It’s one of my top pieces of advice for newbies – don’t forget you’re interviewing *them,* too! 🙂 Cheers, Melanie!
I just re-read this to remind myself of all the THS alternatives (and how they are not as supportive of house sitters-recommending they do things like buying gifts and making a meal for the homeowners etc. A nice gesture, but…). Thanks! You’ve probably recently seen the newer search engine for many of the house-sitting sites: housesitsearch.com
It’s so much better at sorting (except for into regions or cities!) than THS and cuts down on searching time. So far, I think their listings are as current as those on the actual individual house-sitting sites.
I’ll have to check out housesitsearch! I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it in any of my house sitting groups. Do you know who is behind the site?
Hi Melanie
Thanks for reminding me about the housesitsearch.com – I found them by accident a couple of years ago (2019) when house sitting in Europe. Whilst you can’t view some of them I agree, it’s a great time saver. Thanks again.
Glenne
Thanks for sharing your assessment of the various sites is spot-on in my view. I’m a professional sitter going on 3 years in the US only and now using HSA exclusively. Trial and error got me this far but reading reviews is helpful.
Glad to hear you’re also a fan of House Sitter’s America! They’re my fave! 🙂
Thank you so much for your informative article! Though I’ve taken care of houses and pets for friends and acquaintances on a semi-professional basis, I’d now like to turn pro! I really appreciate your ratings and recommendations, as it gives me facts to stand on and opens up the attractive world of travel. Thanks again Jema.
You’re welcome! Good luck on your adventures, Erica. House sitting has given me some really incredible travel memories and life-long friends all over the world!
Trusted Housesitters are now charging $130 per year
No! That’s terribly! Ugh. I’ll update the page. Thanks for letting us know, Valerie!
Just checked it out… it’s still showing $119 on my screen, but if I switch to AUD it’s $130. Glad to see they haven’t put their exorbitant prices any higher!
Oh, my bad — it was showing CAD and I didn’t realize it, lol!
Which housesitting platforms offer free + especially easy/simple registration to homeowners? I’m trying to convince my folks to sign up and at least see what’s out there instead of pleading with me to come sit their dog every time they go away.
The only house sitting website I’ve seen so far that charges home owners is Trusted House Sitters! All the others let home owners list for free. For a homeowner who wants an easy interface, I like House Sitters America and House Carers. The bonus of those platforms are that there are plenty of house sits. Nomador requires homeowners who don’t make a profile to go through a security verification process to protect house sitters from spam. Sounds like it might be a barrier for your parents?
Good luck!
It is this very type of speculation that we, sitters, don’t like, Valerie.
I signed up for TrustedHousesitters as a homeowner, and was so happy with it that I decided to put up a housesitter profile myself. I found their interface a little confusing, but soldiered on and even applied for the “enhanced verification” background check. And I waited…for a month…and when I finally asked about it, they sent me the report. I’d been failed for “enhanced verification” because a 2012 traffic ticket caused a “consider” designation on my report. I find TH’s policy of treating a traffic violation the same as a conviction for breaking-and-entering very annoying (and as a homeowner, it makes the fact someone doesn’t have one nearly useless to me in choosing a housesitter — do they not have it because they didn’t want to pay for it, or because they got a speeding ticket, or because they have a conviction for animal torture?) and am considering jumping ship. Do you happen to know what the other companies’ policies are surrounding this? I’ve asked House Carers America this question, but it occurred to me that perhaps you’d already done that research? Thanks so much!
Thanks for letting us know, Valerie! Some people have no problem with Trusted House Sitters, but there are plenty of us with frustrations. As the most expensive platform out there, I think they should have the lowest complaint rate… not the highest!
I haven’t researched other platform’s methodologies. Honestly, I’m not a ‘background check’ kind of person. Maybe I’ll regret that someday, but so far, so good 🙂 Sorry I couldn’t help on that house sitting front. Good luck!
Yeah, it’s not the end of the world. I actually put into my profile that I have a background check I can share, and I have just been offered three housesits from someone on HouseCarers who asked to see it.
I can not support Trusted Housesitters for any potential house sitter! I did stellar care for dozens of happy homeowners in Mexico, US, Canada and Costa Rica. I sent many dozens of people to the site and got them ALLOT of business. Many people signed up with them on my recommendations. For two years. Then I had the house-sit from hell. It was complicated, but basically, a rat-infested home, owners that lied and manipulated, and then abused my services. WARNING TO ALL HOUSE-SITTERS: THEY WILL SIDE WITH THE HOMEOWNER NO MATTER WHAT. PERIOD. Despite volumes of proof from my end, photos, emails, etc, TH after years of my service, cut me off. Very poor support staff who can not think for themselves. They do NOT support the house-sitter!!! A total nightmare. I DO NOT RECOMMEND TRUSTED HOUSE SITTERS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Go elsewhere.
Sorry that happened to you, Cathy. 🙁 Thanks for sharing your story and helping people make informed choices!
Cathy, This is completely my experience with THS also. Almost three years, lots of sits, stellar reviews … and then came the homeowner and house-sit from hell. After I left the sit (and the house spotlessly clean), THS blocked me without notice (violating their own T&C) and I spent 48 hours trying to get support to find out what happened. Their 24/7 support is BS. Finally on Monday, they sent ‘the email’ they claimed they had sent earlier (with Monday’s date – lol)… and despite my preparing a rebuttal, and despite my record with them, they sided with the brand-new member, a vindictive homeowner who lied and put me in a very difficult and unpleasant situation for a long sit. It was hellish. And at the same time, cancelled all my future bookings. Their so-called resolution process is grossly one-sided, especially since I was on-record with THS (chat and transcripts) trying to resolve it while I was still at the sit. If you contact them as a sitter, with real issues, their only advice is to ‘talk to the owner’, while it is fairly clear they walk the homeowner through the complaint process. And all of this soon after my renewal date, so I’m out the fee also. And over time, I’ve seen more demands made on sitters also – in some cases, people really need to pay for pet care – it is far from an equitable trade. I’m with Cathy here. I do NOT recommend THS to anyone, under any circumstances. Buyer beware.
I’m so sorry this happened to you, Kate!
Thanks, Jenna. I appreciate your information here and am following up with other sit sites. All the best to you! 🙂
Also another question… can you comment on the competition with other seeking housesitters to land an actual housesit on each site? I’ve just browsed TrustedHousesitters and am seeing a TON of my “dream housesits”, yet I imagine the competition with other vying housesitters would be really high and the chances of landing such housesit would be low (especially when new to site and don’t have reviews/credibility built up yet). Could you please comment on chances of actually landing your ideal housesit on sites on different sites? Thanks! 🙂
Hey again! There is definitely competition on every house sitting platform. There’s lots of free (and paid!) information from around the internet to get a clear picture of how to be successful in applying. You could also join For Sitters, By Sitters. I think it’s $5.99 a month, so you could join for a month and ask all your questions of experienced fellow house sitters.
I would say the competition doesn’t really vary by site, except where (as I think I mentioned in at least one of the reviews above?) the platform is new. When there aren’t many houses, not as many sitters are willing to pay to get on a platform. You can get a big leg up on the competition just by following my advice in “How to Become a Housesitter – 12 HouseSitting Tips” Section.
Hope that helps, Michelle! Happy Housesitting!
My experience was exactly as you describe. I had two reviews from two different housesitting assignments and my reviews were stellar. But there was SO much competition from “professional” house sitters that do this full time, that I didn’t have a chance and wasted my money. There was also glitches about the timing of contacting and responses that basically cost me a potential sit. The site you mention is expensive and not worth the money. I wasted a years membership and never got a sit.
Yep and yep, I totally agree with your comments. I joined and did 2 short local sits and met the owners first just to get a couple of reviews. But then I applied for overseas sits- waited weeks for replies, so I tried being the first cab off the rank- no go either. You wait ages for a reply- and would have to resort to replying to stacks of places at the same time if you are serious about getting a sit. Also, plenty of owners want to meet you before which makes getting something o/s tricky, yes, admittedly some don’t need to meet first, I am sure. I think there are just too many sitters now. Waste of good money.
Hi Michelle
I’ve been doing house and pet sits with TrustedHousesitters for about six years now. One tip I have is to be quick off the mark in replying to any house sits that appeal. This means being at your computer, if possible, waiting for the next batch to be emailed, which they do twice a day. I’ve been amazed by how quickly some assignments are filled. It’s also worth spending time on your profile, and on your reply, so that house owners can get an idea of what you are like.
Good luck.
Fantastic article, Jemma. As a nomad who is abroad half the year but has a home base in Canada, I’ve been wanting to get into housesitting gigs for a while. I actually looked into it further just yesterday and the main one I was drawn too/thought it was the only one was TrustedHousesitter. The membership fee indeed seeem quite steep so am glad to know there are other options. I’m going to look further into some of these other sites you listed (thank you!), but I was wondering if you have any recommendations specifically for Europe? I’m heading there in less than a month and would love to be able to arrange a something ASAP if possible. Thanks again! 🙂
Hi Michelle! Excited for you and your adventures! Unfortunately, I don’t have any Europe specific recommendations beyond what’s listed here. I would say to prepare for possible push-back coming from abroad… homeowners love it when they can meet someone first and especially when that person is local. However, that said I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone in person first. Skype interviews abound! And it can be helpful to find a gentle way to remind them that local people have their own lives and therefore aren’t often available for house sitting, whereas people like you – willing to give up your home base – are easier to find.
The discount code for trusted house sitters does not seem to work? I got a funny error message and customer service said the code is not valid….
Ah! Mia! I’m so sorry this happened to you, and this makes me me feel even more negative about the company. I’ll try and test it. I’ll take the code down if I can’t get it to work. Thankyousorry!
Yeah, I just tried it myself and got a weird error:
[“T”,”h”,”e”,” “,”p”,”r”,”o”,”m”,”o”,”t”,”i”,”o”,”n”,”a”,”l”,” “,”c”,”o”,”d”,”e”,” “,”y”,”o”,”u”,” “,”e”,”n”,”t”,”e”,”r”,”e”,”d”,” “,”h”,”a”,”s”,” “,”e”,”i”,”t”,”h”,”e”,”r”,” “,”e”,”x”,”p”,”i”,”r”,”e”,”d”,”,”,” “,”i”,”s”,” “,”i”,”n”,”c”,”o”,”r”,”r”,”e”,”c”,”t”,” “,”o”,”r”,” “,”d”,”o”,”e”,”s”,” “,”n”,”o”,”t”,” “,”a”,”p”,”p”,”l”,”y”,” “,”t”,”o”,” “,”t”,”h”,”e”,” “,”p”,”l”,”a”,”n”,” “,”y”,”o”,”u”,”‘”,”v”,”e”,” “,”c”,”h”,”o”,”s”,”e”,”n”]
Freaking Trusted Housesitters! Grrr. 🙁
Hey Jema,
Great review! I’m a British expat in Australia and discovered house sitting when I first moved here in 2015 and travelled from Perth to Brisbane. Someone was asking me which site to use in the UK yesterday, so I’ll direct them here. I can also add a bit more insight for anyone wanting to house sit in Australia, as I’ve had over 50 house sits here and now get paid for it!
I managed to get sits fairly easily in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney through Aussie House Sitters during my road trip. I then joined Happy House Sitters too when I moved to Sydney as I wanted to house sit full time; I actually got loads more sits through them even though their website isn’t nearly as good as Aussie House Sitters. They both have the annoyance of “expired” ads being left up though, as Julie has mentioned in another comment. I used to sort the ads by date added and didn’t apply to ones older than two days to avoid wasting time. But I managed to do it full time for a year using the two sites.
I then discovered a site called MadPaws, which is aimed at local sitters rather than travellers, but it’s free for sitters to join and you also charge home owners a nightly fee and set your own rates, as well as offering dog walking/cat visiting/doggy day care services if you want (most sitters have their own home – I’m in the minority being a nomad). The website takes a cut and provides insurance. It took a while to get going before I built up reviews, particularly as the owners contact you directly rather than advertising. But I’m now fully booked with paid sits for the next year! I also earned an extra $1,000 over Christmas feeding cats in the local area while owners were away!
There’s also Pet Cloud and Paw Shake which are similar. Hope that helps anyone wanting to house sit in Australia!
Lisa
Lisa! Wow – thanks from both me and other readers for all the info. MadPaws sounds like Rover in the U.S. In fact, their site is so strikingly similar, I think it must be the same company with different branding? How much is the cut they take? Rover’s is 15%. I couldn’t find MadPaws on their website.
I’ve updated the article with your resources – cheers!
Hello, could you recommend a safe and good website to use for house sitting in the UK. I see you’ve mentioned 2, just wondered if you could go into more detail please 🙂
Hi Eleanor, are you asking as a homeowner or as a house sitter?
Are you familiar with HouseSitter.com? I didn’t see it on your site. I received a request that made me very skeptical.
“From: Premal Patel
Booking a Hardworking House Sitting Provider in Columbus, Ohio who willing to do adult entertainment.”
I reported it to the website. I also asked what the person meant by adult entertainment. In case there was a communication problem with Premal.
Didn’t hear back.
Think I’ll go back to Trusted Housesitters. I’ve been with them from the beginning when they were free.
Thanks, Rita
Hi Rita. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend them. I’ve heard good things about the founder, but the positive review ends there. Other house sitters I know who are on the site are saying the same thing about spam. I’m sorry that’s happening to you! Nomador is really great for just this reason… they require ID checks of (people claiming to be) homeowners if they don’t post an ad. That keeps the spam down. Good luck in your search!
Do you know of a trusted service in Tokyo, Japan?
Hi Mary – are you looking for a trusted service to hire a house sitter or to be a house sitter? Re: the former, any of the reputable sites will do. I have a soft spot for HouseCarers and Nomador – both platforms run by really upright individuals. I’m not a fan of Trusted Housesitters, but I can’t say they’re unprofessional. I just don’t like their ethics.
If you’re looking to be a house sitter… I haven’t heard of any Japan specific services. Your question, given what I know about Japanese culture, made me curious! I found a recent article that confirmed my suspicion… house sitting is a strange concept just catching on for native Japanese, but there can be house sits in the homes of expats.
Good luck!
I am curious what you don’t like about Trusted Housesitters, I kow people dont like hteir new ID check policy. I am new to this and want to post where there are the most opportuniities to get sits. Canada, USA, Europe and maybe elsewhere. I was curious as well about houseitters.com, I woudl hate to book a flight and then have nowhere to stay.
I do not agree about the aussie housesitters , I was a member and found them frustrating as many of the house sits were already taken and yet the ad was left on constantly. Julie Gray
Hi Julie! I hate when that happens. It’s been my experience on several platforms. It’s a bummer that there are plenty of flaky homeowners out there who don’t take their ads down when they no longer need someone. I experience this kind of thing on Craigslist/Gumtree, too. And I’ve been thinking about it for a new website I’m helping make right now… how do you force participants to be honorable in their dealings with other humans? I’d love to hear any ideas you have about how to get posters/homeowners/sellers to behave!
Jema, I think you have to give them a rating for communications that isn’t based on what sitters say but what the site says — if they’ve got an ad up and don’t log in once a day/don’t respond to messages when they log in, the site shows that, and their “communications” score says something like, “Usually responds in 48+ hours” or something. Sitters should get the same type of score so that when I go to their profile, it tells me how long it’s been since they logged in, and gives them a communications score that reflects their login/response habits. I’ve got a message out to a homeowner who I suspect has flaked on me — I’ve found her ad on multiple platforms, and my message to her on TrustedHousesitters is still marked unread.
I’ve thought this for a long time! Scores should go both ways! Nomador does a good job of that. Good luck to you in your travels and house sits, Valerie!
Yes, scores should go both ways, but it shouldn’t require that the -sitter- rate the homeowner on their response time, as they’d likely not be honest unless they know for sure they wouldn’t sit for that person again. The -site- needs to keep track of response times.
Great article. I’ve traveled all my life, usually for work (journalism). And I’ve always had cats. We’ve spent much, much time looking and looking via friends for house sitters in New England while living there, never realizing that there were these awesome websites to access. I finally stumbled on HousesittersAmerica last September when we were trying to figure out who would sit our New York City apartment — we’ve lived there for the past two years — and our two cats, while we were gone on vacation in Tuscany for 3 weeks in November. Right off the bat – maybe 3 days after I posted our ad – we made an agreement with a couple who stayed in our house for 3 weeks, and who will be returning in the spring for another 3. We’re going out of town for Christmas and within two days of posting our ad we had 5 responses. Two fell through. But another instantly materialized and we’re just about to conclude the agreement with her. I wanted to write a review of HousesittersAmerica for Yelp but it looks like you’ve done the job far better than I could dream of doing.
Glad you found the house sitting website world, Ellen! It’s pretty hard to find house sitters visa personal networking, hey? I’m glad you liked Housesitters America – they’re my favorite for the U.S.! You do get the same experience with any online platform – house sitting or otherwise – I’ve found. The full range of humans definitely requires due diligence and patience, hey? But worth it – at least for me! Happy Travels 🙂
Any information on housesitter.com?
Hey Red – I’ll add them to my list to review. Off the cuff, I’d say their basic membership (in tiny, tiny, tiny print way down below the not-free options when you initially sign up) at least allows you to look around and get a feel for their site and its applicability to your needs before committing $. I did some research on the founder, and he seems like a solid, upstanding guy with good values.
From my brief glancing through profiles, it appears to have the same issue as trustedhousesitters.com – they allow people to make “general” listings. By that I mean, people can create a listing for needing a housesitter “sometimes.” That’s annoying for housesitters looking for their next gig, as it wastes tons of time looking at profiles that aren’t actually opportunities. Another huge downside I see is that – at least with the basic version – there are no date-sorting features. For a professional or nomadic housesitter, this is a huge pain. For someone who just wants to house sit locally and maintains their own local domicile, not as big of deal (although still annoying from the planning point of view).
I can’t find an FAQ on the site to talk about whether or not the house sitting jobs are paid or not. Nowhere on the listings I can see from the basic profile does it mention payment for services. This isn’t unusual for housesitting jobs, but it is unusual for a site that seems to cater to the local marketplace (i.e. expecting to serve people looking for house sitters who already live locally and are just generally available whenever a home owner might need them… [but for free?!?!?]).
I’ve put a more in-depth review on my infinite to-do list! Hope that helps a bit in the meantime. Cheers!
Great article. Could you let me know if the information is still current. Meaning, when did you write it and has anything changed for you as far as ranking, likes/dislikes, etc. Thank you for your candid reviews, I can’t wait to embark on my housesit journeys. Cheers!
Hi Aimee – Yes – the article is current. I just updated it a few weeks ago, actually. Good luck with your house sitting – it’s a blast!
Cheers,
Jema