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If you’ve recently signed up with a house sitting website, the first thing you need to do is set up an amazing house sitting profile.
We’ll go through the steps to build your profile from scratch, explain how to get references (even if you’ve never been a house sitter before) and share what you need to include in your profile to land the most desirable house sits out there.
In this article, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about creating the perfect house sitting profile that will attract homeowners and help you land the house sits you want.
We’ve been house sitting all over the world since 2019 through the website Trusted Housesitters. So far, we’ve done house sits in 10 different countries on four continents which have added up to over 30 months of free rent.
We’re not saying this to brag, but to let you know that traveling the world (or closer to home) while house sitting is possible, and you can do it too.
We use Trusted Housesitters to find house sits, but these tips can be applied to any of the other house sitting websites out there as well.
1. Picture Time!
The first thing you’re going to want to do with your profile is to start adding pictures. But not just any pictures.
Your profile photos are a chance to add personality to your profile so homeowners can get to know you better. You want to show the homeowner that you are a trustworthy house sitter who loves animals and will take great care of their house.
Which Pictures Your House Sitting Profile Needs
The first/main profile picture should include everyone who will be present at the house sit. If you are house sitting with a partner or your family, make sure to include everyone in the main picture. And make sure your entire face is visible, no sunglasses!
This photo is your immediate first impression with the homeowner, so make sure to pick the best picture you have.
Next, include three to six pictures of you doing activities you enjoy or in places you love. Show off your personality. You want the homeowner to get a feel for who you are as a person through these photos.
Some examples could be pictures of you traveling, in nature, playing a sport, or anything else that shows off who you are.
Make sure to include three to six photos of you with pets and animals. A vast majority of house sits are with cats and dogs. Make sure to include pictures of you with cats and/or dogs as well as any other animals you have cared for or spent time with.
In total, your profile should have six to twelve pictures that showcase your personality and your ability to take care of animals. These pictures are your first impression to show the homeowners who you are, so take your time in choosing the right ones.
Photo tips:
Choose photos with you:
- Interacting with pets or animals
- Smiling with your face visible
- Out in nature or at home where the pets are comfortable
Avoid photos with:
- Filters or poor-quality
- Anyone who will not be housesitting with you
- You too far away from the camera
2. About You
It’s a pretty big deal to invite a stranger from the internet to stay in your home and take care of your beloved pets. That means the About You section is extremely important to help the homeowner feel more comfortable by getting to know you better.
In this part of your profile, talk about your passions, your travel experience, your hobbies, and whatever else you want to share to help the homeowner get to know you better.
Don’t overthink it. Just share the things you think are important for the homeowner to know about you and anyone else who will be house sitting with you.
You want to spell out what makes you the perfect house sitter for them. Instead of listing out all of the reasons why you’re great, use this section to show the house sitters why they should pick you to be their house sitter.
3. Why You Want to House Sit
There are many different reasons why someone would want to house sit. For us, we like pets but can’t have them because we are digital nomads. House sitting lets us have the experience of temporarily having pets while we travel.
Another reason we love to house sit is to have the experience of living in a new environment or part of the world. Homeowners usually love to travel too, so this is something we can easily connect on.
Whatever house sitting means to you, add that here!
On Trusted Housesitters, “why you want to house sit” gets its own section on your profile. However, this question might or might not be a separate part of your profile depending on which house sitting platform you are using.
If there isn’t a section marked specifically for “why you want to house sit”, then make sure to list the reasons why you want to house sit in your About Me section.
4. Your Experience
This part of your house sitting profile is where you’re going to highlight any experience you have taking care of pets, whether your own or other people’s. You can also share anything else you can do that might be relevant to help homeowners choose you, things like gardening, taking care of indoor plants, and other household maintenance.
This section is also a good time to show off how you are going to make the homeowners’ lives easier. Highlight that you want the homeowner to have peace of mind while they’re away. Mention that you’re happy to send pet and home updates as often as the homeowner wants.
Some homeowners want regular, almost daily, updates while others want to enjoy their trip knowing you’re taking care of everything. It differs from homeowner to homeowner.
Another important thing to mention in this section is how comfortable you are taking care of pets that require extra specialized care, like administering medication or taking them to the vet. Only include things in your profile that you are actually comfortable doing!
We also share in our profile that we work from home and can give their pets lots of love and attention because we’ll be there for the majority of the day. Homeowners want to know that you’re going to be there to spend time with their pets. That is why they want to have a house sitter instead of boarding their animal!
5. References and Reviews (when you’re new)
The next things you want to have in your house sitting profile are references and reviews. If you are just beginning your house sitting journey, you won’t have any reviews because you haven’t done any house sits. And you can’t do any house sits because you don’t have any reviews! Oh no!
Never fear! Instead of reviews, you can gather external references. These are more or less the same thing as a review, but instead of getting them from the folks you have done a house sit for, you get them from friends and family.
You can ask your friends and family to write a short review of you to highlight your character and your experience taking care of animals. It’s even better if they’ve seen you interact and take care of animals and can talk about that in their reference.
The references do not need to be that long, a paragraph of four to five sentences that speaks to your character and ability to take care of animals and homes is all you need.
We think it’s best to have at least three to five references before you start applying for house sits. In our case, we had four references and that was enough to start landing house sits and getting reviews.
How do I Collect House Sitting Reviews?
If you’re using Trusted Housesitters, which we do and highly recommend (here’s why!), it is very easy to get these character references.
First, reach out to your friends and family and let them know you are trying to collect character references for your house sitting profile. Ask them to say nice (and true) things about you. Once your friends and family say yes, you can send them a link directly from your Trusted Housesitters profile and their reference will be automatically added to your profile.
Other house sitting platforms may operate their reviews and references sections differently, but the same basic idea still applies: ask your friends and family for references and add them to your profile.
If the platform you’re using does not have a review or reference section, you can add them to your About Me section. That way homeowners can see what other people have to say about you.
6. Getting Reviews After a House Sit
Once you start house sitting, you must get reviews from the homeowners after the sit. Good reviews are worth their weight in gold and will help you land more and more house sits.
Trusted Housesitters does a good job of prompting homeowners to leave a review. Most homeowners will leave a review on their own within a week or so. But if they don’t, you may want to follow up and ask them to do it.
Currently, Trusted Housesitters has a double-blind review system, so you can’t see the review the homeowner left for you and vice versa until both parties have written their reviews. Or after 14 days, whichever comes first.
If the platform you’re using doesn’t have this option, you should still ask the homeowners for a review so you can add it to your profile. You should also ask them if they would like you to write a review for them as well.
House Sitting Profile Necessities
So, to recap, here’s what you need to make a great profile that will land you amazing house sits:
- Photos of you and anyone who will be house sitting with you living your life and hanging out with animals.
- An About You section that illustrates why the homeowner should pick you as their house sitter.
- Why you want to house sit: (your love of animals, travel, new experiences, connecting with new people and pets, etc.)
- Your experience taking care of animals, plants, and homes.
- External references from friends and family.
- Once you get and complete house sits, reviews from homeowners.
If you’re new to house sitting, we recommend finding house sits through Trusted Housesitters. They’re the biggest house sitting platform in the game and have thousands of house sits available all over the world.
And that’s it! Once you’ve completed your profile, you can start searching and applying for house sits. If you want more help with the application process, check out this article about applying for house sits.
If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or reach out to us on our Instagram.
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