MindMyHouse News

Dear Mindmyhousies and greetings from the Antipodes.

In these changing times, traveling a long distance may not always be an option. Therefore, we thought it would be a good idea to remind you about local house sitting. As it says in our title, “Go Local!”.

Read on to have all of the following questions answered: What is the Local Sitter Search?; What kind of house sitter will I find using your Local Sitter Search?; How do I get started?; Should I create my own sitter wanted listing?

What is the Local Sitter Search?

The ‘Local Sitter Search’ shows home owners looking for local house sitters where they live (on a map, to the nearest suburb in your town/city or area). Once home owners have put their postcode (zipcode) into the search field, they will get a search return very different from the current clickable list that is returned in our original search. Instead they will see a lovely map of their area with markers pinpointing the nearest local house sitters down to the nearest suburb.

Home owners can still search our database of sitter available listings in the usual way too (with a search return based on where house sitters have said they would be interested in house sitting). But if you want to choose from a pool of house sitters who live close to you then please try this way of searching our database.

What kind of house sitter will I find using your Local Sitter Search?

To appear in our Local Sitter Search, house sitters must opt-in to the Local Sitter Search database. They also must have created their own sitter available listings. You can be assured that every house sitter that is returned in a search using our Local Sitter Search not only lives near you but has said they are interested in house sitting locally.

How do I get started?

To get started on a Local Sitter Search, simply type in your postcode (zipcode) and the name of the city the code belongs to on the Local Sitter Search page. You should then see a map with lots of markers representing house sitters who live nearest to the area you are searching for. These icons contain links to the long versions of house sitters’ listings. It’s just as easy to add potential candidates to your Shortlist from here as it is with results from our standard search. Note that you will need to login to your account area to access this feature. Please note that not all countries are supported and you will be searching from a smaller pool of available house sitters .

Should I create my own sitter wanted listing?

Don’t forget that the best way to find that perfect person in time for your departure is still to create your own sitter wanted listing. Once you have published your listing live to our site, an email alert is sent out to interested house sitters directing them to your listing. That’s a lot of enthusiastic potential candidates!

What should I do if my house sitter can’t travel due to travel restrictions?

In the first instance, you should discuss the situation with the house sitter. They should check with their local government website to find out what type of travel restrictions are in place. If they are traveling overseas, they will need to also check with your (destination) country government websites AND transport companies, as they may also have travel restrictions in place. Also, you should both have contingency plans in case a) you can’t leave your property, or they can’t arrive at your property or b) the government changes their travel restrictions, or c) flights or transport are no longer available. Hopefully this situation won’t last too long! Last updated 18 march 2020.

Want if I can’t travel (due to travel restrictions)?

If you don’t want to travel and wish to cancel your house sitting assignment, please contact the house sitter immediately. Please also let them know why you have decided against traveling. Hopefully the house sitter will be reasonable and confirm cancellation, however if there are any issues, please contact our help desk support. Last updated 18 march 2020.

Happy travels and best of luck with your sitters!