Home > Blog > How to Get House Sits Without Prior Experience
Quick Facts
| Biggest misconception | That you need reviews to get your first sit |
| What homeowners actually care about | Trust, reliability, and genuine care for their pets |
| Most important profile element | Real photos of you with animals |
| Fastest trust signal | References from people who know you |
| Where to start | Local, shorter sits with one or two cats |
| Our first sit | Bochum, Germany. Zero reviews, zero experience, five stars |
The classic house sitting catch-22 goes like this: you cannot get a sit without reviews, and you cannot get reviews without a sit. When Caro and I signed up to TrustedHouseSitters in 2023, our profile had no reviews, no track record, and no prior house sitting experience. We wrote the profile by hand, with my mother reading it through and editing it before we published it. Then we applied for a sit in Bochum, Germany, a city most people have never heard of, five minutes from Caro's family home.
We got it. The homeowner had two cats. The membership cost us ā¬96. We stayed, looked after them well, and left with a five-star review.
Here is exactly how to get there.
Build a Profile That Does the Work For You
Your application message gets a homeowner to click on your profile. The profile is what actually convinces them to choose you. With no reviews, the profile carries more weight than usual, so it needs to work harder.
The about section is where most new sitters undersell themselves. Write it as if you are explaining to a friend why they should trust you with their home. Talk about who you are, what your daily life looks like, and why house sitting appeals to you. Describe any experience you have with animals in as much detail as is true. Grew up with dogs? Include it. Looked after a neighbour's cats while they were away? Include that too. Helped a friend with their dog for a week? All of it counts. There is no formal threshold for experience. What matters is evidence that animals are comfortable around you and you around them.
Also mention the practical things: that you are tidy, that you respect other people's spaces, that you are happy to do basic upkeep like watering plants or taking in post. These are small signals of reliability that homeowners notice. Offering to mow the lawn or sweep leaves sounds minor but it tells a homeowner something about how you approach responsibility.
Our profile was written by hand, with myĀ mum reading it through and editing it before we published it. We did not use AI to generate it. That extra care shows in the result, and it is the same care we recommend putting into yours. Our guide to writing a house sitting profile covers the specifics of what to include and how to structure it.
Photos: Real Ones, Not Polished Ones
Photos are the first thing a homeowner looks at, and with no review history they carry significant weight. The instinct is to use your best, most presentable photo. The better instinct is to use the photo where you are on the floor with a dog and clearly happy about it.
What builds trust is authenticity. A photo of you cuddling a cat on a sofa, or laughing while walking a dog, or sitting in a garden with a pet in your lap, tells a homeowner far more than a clean portrait taken from a good angle. It shows comfort, ease, and a real relationship with animals. Post several photos. Show yourself in different settings and with different animals if you have them. If you do not have recent photos with animals, borrow a friend's dog for an afternoon and take some.
Our guide to AI-enhanced house sitting profile photos covers how to improve the quality of photos you already have without making them look staged.
References: Borrowed Trust Is Still Trust
No reviews yet means references matter more than they will later. Every major platform allows you to request character references from people outside the platform, and they appear on your profile in a way that homeowners can see before deciding whether to respond to your application.
Ask anyone who can speak to your reliability and character: a former landlord, a current employer, a friend who knows you well, a neighbour, a parent. Ask them to write two or three sentences about who you are as a person and why they would trust you in their home. It does not need to be formal. It needs to be specific enough to be credible.
We helped friends get started on TrustedHouseSitters by writing them a reference, and they landed their first sit on the strength of it. The reference from someone real and named is worth significantly more than a blank reference section, even when the sitter has zero reviewed sits.
A police background check, available on someĀ platforms and only in the USA, is worth doing early. It is a small practical step that signals seriousness in a way that is immediately visible on your profile. A homeowner considering two similar applicants with no reviews will often choose the one with a verified background check simply because it removes a layer of uncertainty.
The Application Message: Make It About Them
Your application message is your actual first impression. A homeowner might receive ten or twenty applications for a popular sit. The ones that stand out are not the ones with the longest review histories. They are the ones that show the applicant actually read the listing.
Read the listing carefully before writing anything. Note the pets' names, the homeowner's specific concerns, any details about the property or location. Then write a message that addresses those things directly. Open with something specific to their situation, not a general statement about how much you love animals. Mention the pets by name. If the listing mentions that their dog is anxious around strangers, address that. If they have a garden they care about, mention it.
What you are demonstrating is that you paid attention, that you are thinking about their needs rather than your accommodation, and that you would bring the same attentiveness to the sit itself. This matters more than a review count. Our AI house sitting application guide covers how to structure a template you can adapt quickly without it ever reading like a template.
Start Local, Start Low-Risk
Your goal for the first sit is not the most beautiful location or the most exciting destination. Your goal is to find out whether house sitting is right for you, and to get that first five-star review. Local sits are the right starting point, but not because they are less competitive. If you live in New York or London, local sits can be just as competitive as anywhere else.
The real reason to start locally is risk management.
If a sit close to home does not work out, you can get back to your own bed the same night. If the listing turned out to be misleading, or the pets are more demanding than described, or the house is not what the photos suggested, you can handle that without cancelled flights, wasted travel costs, or being stranded somewhere unfamiliar. It does not happen often, but it does happen, and starting locally means the consequences are manageable.
That said, being local does give you one genuine competitive edge even in high-demand cities: you can offer an in-person meet-and-greet tomorrow. An international applicant can only offer a video call. Use that. Mention it in your application message. Homeowners in busy cities are often more willing to take a chance on a newer sitter who can come and meet them and the pets in person before confirming, because it removes the uncertainty that a profile alone cannot.
Starting locally also means you can apply broadly. Put in five applications across your area simultaneously, see which homeowners respond well, do the video calls, and choose the sit that feels like the best fit. That is a much stronger position than having built a trip around a single sit that then falls through.
| The "dream" sit (hard to get first) | The "gateway" sit (apply for these) | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | London, Paris, New York | Your local suburb or a quiet town |
| Duration | 2+ months | 3ā7 days |
| Animals | 3 dogs, some with medications | 1ā2 independent cats |
| Risk if cancelled | Flights, hotels, lost holiday | A short drive home |
You do not have to start locally. If you are already travelling somewhere and want to add a house sit to reduce accommodation costs, that makes sense. You are going anyway, so a cancelled sit means finding a hotel rather than losing a holiday. What we would not recommend is building an entire trip around a sit you have not done before, with flights booked around it, when you have no reviews and no track record yet. There is too much to lose if it does not come together.
There is also a question worth considering honestly before you go further: do you actually want to house sit? Looking after someone else's pets during what might otherwise be a carefree holiday is a genuine responsibility. Some people try it and realise it is not how they want to travel. Others find it completely transforms what travel looks like. Short, local sits are the lowest-stakes way to find out.
Before we started house sitting, Caro and I would only considerĀ taking the usual two holidays a year and spending most of our savings on accommodation each time. In three years of house sitting we have been to 17 locations across 11 countries, with a six-month sit in Portugal starting this year. The holidays did not shrink. They multiplied, and accommodation across all of them cost nothing. The savings are real, the pets are real, and the experiences are ones we would not have had any other way. It started with two cats in Bochum.
Being flexible with dates helps too. Many homeowners have rough travel plans rather than fixed ones. If you can shift by a day or two, say so in your application. It removes a barrier that might otherwise push a homeowner toward a sitter with a longer review history.
Speed and Responsiveness Signal Character
When a homeowner messages you back, respond as quickly as you can. Not because the speed of your reply wins the sit by itself, but because it demonstrates something about how you operate. Someone who responds to a message within an hour is more likely to respond quickly to a 2am situation during the sit itself. Homeowners understand this instinctively.
If a homeowner suggests a video call, agree to it and propose a time within the next day or two. A video call is where most of the actual trust is built. It gives the homeowner a face, a voice, and a sense of your personality in a way that no profile or message can. Show up prepared: know the listing well, have a couple of questions ready about the pets and the property, and be yourself. Our video call guide covers what to prepare and what homeowners are typically looking for.
After Your First Sit: The Momentum Effect
The first sit is the hardest one to get. After that, each review makes the next sit easier to land, and the sits you can realistically apply for expand. Within three or four sits you will have a profile that holds its own against sitters with years of experience, simply because the reviews are recent, specific, and credible.
Ask for a review after every sit. A direct, friendly message to the homeowner a day or two after you leave, while the experience is still fresh for them, is usually all it takes. Most homeowners are happy to leave one. They simply need a gentle reminder.
Treat every sit as if the review depends on it, because it does. The practical advice in our dog sitting guide and cat sitting guide covers what excellent animal care actually looks like in practice.
Conclusion
The catch-22 is real but it is not as rigid as it feels at the start. Homeowners take chances on new sitters every day, because the right profile and the right message do a great deal of the work that reviews would otherwise do. Start with a profile that shows who you are, a message that shows you read their listing, and a sit that is realistic for where you are in your review history. The first one is the hard one. Everything after that is momentum.
Even while you are building your first reviews, it is worth remembering what you are actually providing. Professional dog sitting runs from $50 to $150 per night in most markets. Starting small is not just about earning a review. It is about proving you can handle a responsibility that has real monetary value, and doing that well enough that the homeowner tells someone else about you.
We started in Bochum with two cats, an empty profile, and no idea how far this would take us. If you have questions about getting your first sit or improving your profile, DM us @housesittersguide on Instagram. We answer everyone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need any animal experience to start house sitting?
No formal experience is required, but genuine comfort around animals is essential.Ā Most homeowners are not looking for a certified pet carer. They are looking for someone who is clearly at ease with animals and will treat them with care and attention. Any real experience you have, including pets you grew up with, friends' animals you have looked after, or dog walking you have done, is worth including in your profile in specific terms.
How do I get references if I have never house sat before?
Ask anyone who knows you personally and can speak to your reliability.Ā A former landlord, an employer, a neighbour, a friend who would trust you with their home. Ask them to write two or three specific sentences rather than a generic character statement. Platforms likeĀ TrustedHouseSittersĀ allow you to request references directly through the platform, which then appear on your public profile for homeowners to see.
Should I apply for the most desirable sits first?
No. Start with sits that are realistic for where your profile currently is.Ā Less competitive sits (shorter durations, independent cats, less popular locations) give your application a better chance of standing out and give you the first review that unlocks everything else. The dream sits are still there in six months, and you will have a much stronger profile by then.
How important is the video call?
Very. It is where most of the trust is built.Ā A profile and a message create interest. A video call creates confidence. Most homeowners want to see and hear the person who will be living in their home before they confirm. Be prepared, be yourself, and treat it as a two-way conversation rather than an interview. OurĀ video call guideĀ covers what to prepare.
Is it worth getting a background check before my first sit?
Yes, and it is worth doing it early.Ā A verified background check appears on your profile and signals seriousness in a way that is immediately visible to homeowners comparing applicants. When two profiles are otherwise similar, the one with a background check often wins simply because it removes uncertainty. Most major platforms offer this through their settings.
How quickly should I expect to get my first sit?
It varies, but sitters who apply consistently and strategically typically land their first sit within a few weeks to a couple of months.Ā The key variables are how complete your profile is, how well-targeted your applications are, and whether you are applying for sits that are realistic for a new sitter. Applying for one sit and waiting is not a strategy. Applying consistently for well-matched sits, following up promptly, and refining your message based on what gets responses is.
