Penthouse Puppies
My wife and I were looking forward to an overseas holiday but were having great difficulty deciding the best thing to do for our pets while away. We discussed our dilemma with friends and learned of their satisfaction with live-in house and pet sitters. We harbored reservations, but preferred the idea of our dear little dogs remaining in their home, over sending them to a ‘pet resort’.
Our search of house sitting websites revealed pages upon pages of companies offering a meeting point for home owners and house sitters. We had no idea which site to select, and were concerned some could be scammers masquerading as house sitting sites to get our address details.
On searching “which house sitting site is best” we discovered Compare House Sitting, an “Australian owned and operated” site that recommended only 1reputable house sitting websites. Our confidence improved, and on registering with one of their featured sites, were relieved to discover how easy it was to connect with house sitters.
It’s no small thing for a home owner to open their home to a ‘stranger’. To know rigorous research of house sitting sites has been done by people in the know, and that a ‘watching brief’ is being maintained, absolutely gives one an added comfort level. In the end we found our perfect house sitter, and all was well on both the home and travel fronts. Susan and I enjoyed our badly needed holiday and on return home, found our apartment sparkling clean and penthouse puppies happy and healthy.
Phillip, Little Bay, NSW – Nov 2014
Sleepy Cat
Recently I found myself needing to find a house sitter at short notice for just one week. I had used house sitting websites previously, but over recent years found it not necessary to advertise as a past house sitter was happy to return to care for my home and cat as it gave her the opportunity to be closer to her place of work. However on this occasion she was away on holiday herself.
I settled down to search for a house sitter and to my dismay, found myself confronted with a myriad of websites – many more than when I first searched house sitting websites a few years ago! Rather than being useful, I found so many sites overwhelming. It was not clear where some sites were based. And I did not want to waste time trawling overseas sites only to find they did not have many house sitters registered who lived near me who I could meet in person.
Because so many house sitting platforms are now competing for attention online, an independent site that compares house sitting websites will make it much easier for home owners to self-select the site best for their needs.
Beach baby
We write as home owners who have relied on the services of house sitters while away on holiday. In recent years we have noticed more and more house sitting websites showing up online
It has been our experience that so many sites is making the choice of selecting which house sitting site is best for us, both time consuming and confusing. We can see that an independent site that reviews features of house sitting websites would be a great resource, particularly for first time users of house and pet sitting services
Home Owners always have concerns about leaving their home and pets to strangers, and no doubt those wishing to become a house sitter also seek answers to questions about their responsibilities. Third party advice and insights from both sides of the house sitting fence would be enormously helpful.
