House Sitting Websites
Wherein a house-owner when goes away for some time leaves someone (house sitter) to take care of the house and/or some pets.
The sitter by a mutual agreement lives there rent-free in exchange for taking care of the house, pets, plants or garden, performing general maintenance, etc.As a house sitter you get a house to stay at and the owner gets a keeper for free, it’s mutually beneficial.
House sitting is a great way to find free accommodation in most parts of the world. All you need to do in exchange is take care of a house and some pet animals like cats, dogs, fish or birds. It’s pretty common that owners leave pets in your care.
Benefits of House Sitting
House sitting is no doubt a win-win deal:
- The work is easy and usually there’s not too much to do, just the general maintenance.
- Free accommodation for a couple of weeks/months in a foreign country will save you a lot of money. Maybe enough to fund your next few flights.
- You may find yourself a cute little finny, feathery or furry companion to spend time with. If you ask me, I’m fed up human company and won’t mind having a few cats around me for a change.
- Think of all the photos you can click with the cute pets. Your Instagram is gonna get a lot more adorable. Instagram is crazy about cute animal pictures, just saying in case you’re living under a rock.
Plenty of house sitting websites are available on the web, but which one is the best? The answer is— best website is the one that lists the house sitting job you want. Simple.
Here goes the list of good online resource that help you find decent house sitting jobs and free accommodation—
In less than 7 years, THS has become the market leader in house sitting portals all over the web. Probably the most popular and most trusted platform out there to find house sitting opportunities. An excellent site to find you the best job that suits your travel plans.
THS lists thousands of house and pet sitting jobs from all around the world. Jobs range from as short as few days to as long as a few months. Popular house sitting countries listed on the website are:
- UK
- USA
- Canada
- France
- Australia
- New Zealand
You’re most likely to find maximum jobs in these countries.
Pet & House Sitting
If you’re comfortable with keeping a few cute little fluffy/furry/feathered creatures, the site offers plenty of pet sitting jobs (along with house sitting, of course). Use search filter to narrow down the search results to specific pets, like cats only or fish only or no animal at all.
Membership
To contact house owners you first need to purchase its (expensive) Annual Membership plan. However, you might be able to get some discount. Search online for THS membership coupon codes. I’m sure you’ll find some 10-15% discount code after scanning a few sites. Also, keep visiting the THS every few weeks just to make sure you don’t miss out on any membership sale. The discount offered is often 20-30%.
However, the search feature is open to everyone with or without an account. You can always search for house sitting jobs that go well with your travel plans and buy membership only if you feeling like applying to one.
Affiliate Program
Just in case you’d like to earn some extra bucks, Trusted House Sitters offers an affiliate program with commission rates up to 20% per sale! Additional incentives for driving leads and other kinds of sales too.
My Suggestion
Trusted House Sitters membership is costlier than most other websites. If you’re new to house sitting, don’t buy the plan unless you’re certain that you found the right job you’re looking for. For those who have been sitting houses for quite some time and definite about scoring decent jobs, go for THS!
Charges: $119 (USD) annual membership.
Mind my House relatively has fewer jobs listed. But is definitely worth a look. Website’s simple interface is pretty well laid out and easy to use.
The site costs just $20 to house sitters looking for decent house sitting opportunities. If you’re new to house sitting and don’t wanna spend a lot of money in the beginning, Mind my House is a good choice for you.
The website is not as popular as others and has kind of mixed reviews, neither too bad nor too good. If you find a job that catches your fancy, $20 dollars isn’t too high a price to give it a try.
Charges: $20 annual membership.
The website primarily lists house sitting (or pet sitting) jobs from USA and Australia. If you’re traveling to these regions and looking for free accommodation, the website is definitely worth a visit.
You can sign-up as free account to get notified about relevant house sitting jobs. However, to apply you need paid membership. Membership charges are also not as high as Trusted House Sitters or Nomador.
Charges: $50 annual membership.
Are you new to house sitting and looking for free accommodation in France? If yes, then Nomador has got you covered!
Nomador is an international house sitting community of more than 100k members! The site has gained popularity in European countries (mainly France) and is now getting popular globally. What I mean is that most jobs listed belong to France and other European countries.
The site is technically much better than several other similar sites. Nomador recently updated its website interface and search feature to provide better user-experience. Search feature to find house-sits is open for everyone to use, with or without an account. Also, you can filter the search results primarily on the basis of destination (city/region/country) and dates (date/period/season).
What makes Nomador a great site for beginners is its free “Discovery” option. Discovery allows users to apply for 3 house sitting jobs absolutely FREE!
Paid membership is termed- “Confidence”. Paid members get the benefit of applying to as many jobs as they like. They also get search priority whenever a home-owner searches for house-sitters. I obviously suggest applying to 1 or 2 jobs for free and see yourself whether the site membership is actually worth paying for.
Charges: $89 for annual subscription or $35 for 3 months.
Other popular websites:
- Luxury House Sitting
- Sabbatical Homes
- House Sitters America [America]
- Aussie House Sitters [Australia]
- Happy House Sitters [Australia]
- Kiwi House Sitters [New Zealand]
Note: Make sure you clearly discuss with house owner the details of job and what they expected you to do. And don’t forget to discuss the utility expenses like electricity, water-supply, Internet services, etc. before making the commitment.
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Well, there you go! That’s all I had to share. Don’t forget to drop a comment down below if this post helped you in some way or if you’d like me to write about something or maybe just to say hi!