What Makes A Good House Sitter?

People are often stunned when you explain the concept of housesitting.

You can see the disbelief on their face as the cold hard facts trickle in.  People are willing to leave, what for most is their most valuable financial asset ...... along with their treasured pets, in the hands of a total stranger.

Often the homes that owners are turning over to house sitters are
prime pieces of real estate - you don't want to leave it with just
anyone - selecting the right person is very important!
Photo taken at Roberts Creek, Sunshine Coast, BC Canada

Indeed it is a big responsibility to hand over to someone you find on the internet and yes, its a big responsibility to take on.

Somewhere in this crazy situation housesitting works.

I believe the successful sits are created ever before the sitter steps over your threshold.

So often I see house sitters promising to treat your home like their own.  Actually that’s the last thing you want.

You want a house sitter to treat your house like YOU want them to treat it.

So what qualities should a house owner be looking for in a potential house sitter?

In the adds people are always asking for “reliable”, “trustworthy”, “helpful”, “quiet” and even the tell all “sober” house sitters.  These are all admirable traits, but I believe the very best trait you can pray the gods of housesitting send you is someone who is a good listener.

A housesitter who has listened intently to your instructions, without thinking “I could do that better” or “I could do that a different way”, will always be able to deliver the things that are important for you.

It seems a little obvious that everyone could listen, but not everyone can.  I’m a coach so I’ve been trained to listen for the non verbal queues.  Those often tell you more than the person is actually saying.

When you are bombarded with an inbox full of replies, the sort of non verbal clue you are looking for is "has this person actually read our proposal right the way through?"

Check they have answered all the points you have made in your listing.

This is a very small detail, but if the prospective sitter haven’t gone to the trouble of writing a response that is tailored to your listing, do you think they are going to care about that precious exotic plant you absolutely adore that must be kept with 2cm of water in the bottom of the container?

The Devil is in the Detail

I put jobs out to virtual contractors who work all over the world and near the end of each brief I ask them to tell me the colour of their eyes.  Its a quick way to rat out the people who don’t bother to read the whole brief.  I am still stunned that around 50% of them don’t tell me their eye colour.  This doesn't bode well for them reading all the instructions I send them for the job.  They have wasted both my time and their own time, simply because they weren’t listening to everything I had mentioned.

So like anything, first appearances tell you a lot.  If your person shows a willingness to listen at the very start of the "housesitting courtship" and do things in the exact way you like them done, then you will be streets ahead of the person who wants to look after YOUR house THEIR way.