Home > Blog > House Sitting for Young People
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | 21 on TrustedHouseSitters, 18 on most other platforms |
| Caro's age at our first sit | 23 |
| Is age a barrier? | Rarely. A strong first message and a genuine profile matter far more. |
| What it costs to start | As little as $29 per year on MindMyHouse. We recommend THS Standard at $169 (use the 25% discount) for the 24/7 vet line. |
| Biggest advantage for young people | Maximum travel for minimum cost, at the time in your life when you have the most freedom |
| What it builds | Responsibility, communication skills, independence, and a life perspective that no classroom provides |
Caro was 23 when we did our first house sit together in Bochum. She had no house sitting experience, no reviews, and no track record on any platform. She was in her early twenties applying to look after someone else's home and pets for the first time. We got the sit. We got a five-star review. And three years, 20 sits, and 12 countries later, her age has never once been the thing that stopped us from getting a sit.
This article is for anyone in their twenties who is considering house sitting and wondering whether they are too young, whether homeowners will take them seriously, or whether it is a realistic option at their stage of life. The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that your twenties might be the single best time to start, for reasons that go beyond free accommodation.
If you are not yet on TrustedHouseSitters, a 25% discount on membership is available here.
Does Age Actually Matter to Homeowners?
The honest answer: almost never.
Caro and I have an age gap. I was in my mid-thirties when we started, she was 23. When we applied for the Bochum sit, we were the best option with the strongest profile and the most convincing first message. We got selected straight away. Our age was never mentioned.
Since then, we have recommended TrustedHouseSitters to several friends in their mid-to-late twenties. None of them have reported age being an issue when applying for sits. The homeowners who are selecting candidates are looking at the first message, the profile photos, the references, the reviews, and the overall impression of responsibility and trustworthiness. A 24-year-old with a well-written message, clear photos, and a genuine tone will get selected over a 50-year-old with a generic copy-paste application every time.
There may be individual homeowners who prefer older sitters, just as there may be homeowners who prefer younger, fitter sitters for high-energy dogs. These are always going to be outliers. The vast majority of homeowners are looking for someone who comes across as responsible, communicates well, and genuinely cares about their pets. Our what homeowners wish sitters knew article covers exactly what homeowners are actually assessing, and age is not on the list.
The Age Advantage Nobody Talks About
There is actually a practical advantage to being younger that older sitters cannot replicate: physical fitness.
A 25-year-old is, in most cases, more physically capable of handling energetic dogs, long walks, and the general physical demands of daily pet care than someone significantly older. A young, healthy sitter looking after two active Labradors or a high-energy shepherd dog brings genuine physical capability to the sit that matters for the animal's wellbeing.
The reverse is also true. A smaller young person should not apply for a sit with an 80kg dog that will drag them around, just as an older person with mobility issues should not apply for the same sit. The principle is not about age but about matching your physical capability to the pet's needs. Our walking a dog safely in an unfamiliar area article covers the practical side of managing dogs on walks, and physical capability is a real factor.
The point is: being young is not a disadvantage in house sitting. In many cases, it is an advantage that you should lean into rather than hide. If you are fit, active, and comfortable with energetic animals, say so in your profile and your application messages.
Why Your Twenties Are the Best Time to Start
Coming out of school, out of university, or out of living with your parents for most of your life, your twenties are the period when you grow the most as a person. You are developing your own values, your own rules, and your own sense of how you want to live. House sitting accelerates that development in ways that most other travel styles cannot match.
When you house sit, you are responsible for everything that happens in someone else's home. You are responsible for living animals that depend on you. You are responsible for maintaining someone else's property to a standard that earns a five-star review. That level of responsibility, taken on voluntarily and delivered consistently, builds something that is genuinely hard to develop any other way at that age.
I tell all my younger friends to do a gap year. Travel. Experience the world before settling into a course or a career that will take years to complete. Those first few years after school are when you will grow the most, because you are no longer in the nest of your family. You are making decisions on your own terms.
Out of all the different travel options available, volunteering, couch surfing, backpacking, working holidays, I stand strongly behind house sitting as both the safest and the most comfortable. You are sleeping in a real home, not a hostel dorm. You are in a vetted arrangement through a platform with ID verification, not relying on the goodwill of a stranger on a free platform. And the financial barrier to entry is a platform membership, after which every single night of accommodation is free.
The Financial Case for Young Sitters
Most 20-year-olds do not have large budgets. That is the reality. House sitting changes the financial equation of travel more dramatically for a young person than for almost anyone else.
Caro and I are currently living in Portugal for six months. Before that, we lived in France, Spain, Greece, and Italy. We have experienced more in three years than most people experience in a lifetime. The expense for all of that accommodation was the THS membership fee and the cost of getting between sits in the T4. We have saved over $26,500 in accommodation costs across 20 sits in 12 countries.
For a young person on a gap year budget, that kind of saving is transformative. A backpacker spending $30 to $50 per night on hostels for a year spends $10,000 to $18,000 on accommodation alone. A house sitter doing the same year spends as little as $29 on a MindMyHouse membership, or $169 on a THS Standard membership which includes the 24/7 vet advice line. We would recommend the Standard tier for younger sitters specifically because the vet line provides genuine peace of mind during a pet emergency. For a little extra per year, it removes a significant source of stress when something goes wrong and you are not sure what to do. With the 25% discount, Standard comes down to around $127.
The difference between hostel costs and house sitting costs is not marginal. It is the difference between three months of travel before the money runs out and twelve months of travel with money left over for food, transport, and the things that actually make travel worthwhile.
Our house sitting costs guide breaks down the real numbers, and the is house sitting worth it article covers the full financial case including the costs beyond the membership fee.
A Warning for Young Sitters
There is one thing I would specifically warn younger sitters about, and it is not about safety in the traditional sense, although that matters too.
Some homeowners may put more and more responsibility onto a young house sitter because they sense that a younger person is more eager to please, more willing to go above and beyond, and less likely to push back. As a young sitter, you might be inclined to say yes to everything, to impress, to prove that you are mature and capable. Extra walks, extra cleaning, extra tasks that were not in the listing or the welcome guide.
Understand your value before you go into a sit. You are providing genuine value to the homeowner: trustworthy, attentive care for their pets and property while they are away. That is a significant contribution. The exchange is equal. Do not let eagerness to impress turn an equal exchange into free labour.
If extra responsibilities are added after the sit begins that were not agreed to beforehand, it is completely appropriate to discuss them with the homeowner. Our what house sitters can and can't change article covers the boundaries, and the when not to apologise article covers situations where saying no is the right response.
Why Some Young Sitters Do Not Get Selected
It is worth being honest about the assumptions that exist, because understanding them is the first step to overcoming them.
Some homeowners will assume that a younger applicant is less responsible, less dependable, less punctual, and less reliable than an older one. This is not always fair, but it is real. From my own experience, I know this assumption exists in the house sitting community, and it is not unique to house sitting. It is a bias that young people encounter in job applications, rental agreements, and almost every context where trust is being assessed by someone who does not know them yet.
Here is the thing: if you already have those skills, responsibility, dependability, reliability, they will come across in everything you produce. They show in the profile you write. They show in the first message you send. They show in how you conduct yourself on the video call. A homeowner who reads a thoughtful, specific, well-written message from a 22-year-old is not thinking about age. They are thinking "this person read my listing, cares about my pet, and communicates well."
The young sitters who do not get selected are not being rejected because they are young. They are being rejected because their application reads like it was written in 30 seconds, their profile is vague and generic, or their tone suggests they see the sit as free accommodation rather than an equal exchange of genuine value.
If you approach house sitting as though you are doing the homeowner a favour by gracing them with your presence, you will not get selected at any age. If you approach it with humility, with genuine interest in the pets and the home, and with the understanding that you are one half of an equal arrangement, age disappears as a factor.
The house sitting community values the same things regardless of who you are: good communication, respect for someone else's home, attentive pet care, and a clean checkout. Deliver those consistently and your age becomes irrelevant after the first review. Fail to deliver them and no amount of experience or maturity will save you.
Humble yourself. Allow yourself to be wrong. Allow yourself to learn. And treat homeowners the way you would want to be treated if someone were looking after your home and your pets. That is the attitude that gets you selected, at 22 or at 62.
Getting Your First Sit as a Young Person
The process is the same as for anyone else. There is no separate pathway for younger sitters. Our getting started guide covers the full step-by-step process in detail. Here is the summary with young-sitter-specific notes.
Sign up to TrustedHouseSitters using the 25% discount. The minimum age on THS is 21. If you are 18 to 20, platforms like MindMyHouse at $29 per year, Aussie House Sitters, House Sitters America, House Sitters UK, Kiwi House Sitters, and House Sitters Canada all accept sitters from 18. For THS, we recommend the Standard membership at $169 per year rather than Basic, because the 24/7 vet advice line is included and is worth the extra cost for the security it provides during your first few sits. With the 25% discount, Standard comes to around $127. Complete the ID verification.
Build your profile. Be genuine. If you are 22 and this is your first sit, say so honestly and explain why you are excited about it. Homeowners respond to authenticity, not a performance of maturity. If you have looked after family pets, worked with animals, or have any relevant experience, mention it specifically. Upload clear, bright photos showing you with animals that are comfortable around you.
Write exceptional first messages for every application. Read the listing. Name the pet. Explain why you are suited to this specific sit. This is where sits are won or lost, and a well-written message from a 22-year-old will outperform a generic message from a 55-year-old every time. Our AI application guide covers how to personalise messages efficiently.
Start with less competitive sits. Rural locations, cat sits, longer sits, and sits in less popular regions attract fewer applications. Getting your first review is the hardest part. Once you have one, the second is easier. By the time you have five or ten, the system starts working for you rather than against you.
Do not be discouraged by early rejections. Every sitter with 20 reviews started with zero. Caro started with zero at 23 and has five stars on every sit since.
What to Apply For First
If you are a young person starting out, here is what to target and what to avoid.
| Apply for | Avoid for now | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cat sits | High-energy large dogs as a solo sitter | Cats are lower maintenance, less physically demanding, and competition is often lower |
| Rural or semi-rural sits | Central London, Paris, Los Angeles | Less competition in rural areas, more homeowners willing to give new sitters a chance |
| Sits of two weeks or longer | Weekend sits in popular locations | Longer sits attract fewer applicants and give you more time to settle and earn a strong review |
| Local or nearby sits | International sits requiring expensive flights | Minimise your costs and your risk for the first one or two sits |
| Sits where the homeowner seems warm and communicative | Listings with minimal information or no welcome guide | A good homeowner makes a first sit significantly easier |
House Sitting as Career Development
This is the question young people ask most often: does house sitting help or hurt my career?
The answer depends on how you frame it and what you do with the time.
House sitting itself is not a career line on a CV. But the skills it builds, communication, responsibility, adaptability, problem-solving across different cultures and environments, are exactly the skills that employers and clients value. After three years of communicating with homeowners across 12 countries, handling emergencies, managing unexpected situations, and navigating different cultures, you develop a communication ability that is immediately visible when you start applying for jobs or working with clients.
More importantly, the time that house sitting gives you, the unstructured, low-cost, responsibility-balanced time, is the perfect environment for building something of your own. Caro built carosclass.com during our travels. I built housesittersguide.com. Both started as ideas that became real projects because we had the time and the low financial pressure to work on them consistently.
For a young person with a startup idea, a creative project, or a skill they want to develop, a long-term house sit is one of the best environments imaginable. Free accommodation, a quiet workspace, reliable wifi in most cases, a second screen if you bring one, and enough daily structure from the pet care to keep you grounded without consuming your whole day. Work on your project every single day. Within a couple of months or a couple of years, it could be a business that sustains your lifestyle indefinitely.
Everything can be online these days. You can work from anywhere. You can handle your mail and banking without a fixed address. The question is not whether it is possible but whether you have the environment that makes it sustainable. House sitting provides that environment at a cost that a young person can actually afford.
House Sitting Is Safer Than Most Alternatives
For parents reading this, or for young people who are weighing house sitting against other travel options, the safety comparison is worth making explicitly.
House sitting through a platform like TrustedHouseSitters involves ID verification for all sitters, a video call with the homeowner before any sit is confirmed, a review system that holds both parties accountable, and a support team available if anything goes wrong.
Compare that to couch surfing (staying in a stranger's home with no formal vetting), backpacking hostels (shared rooms with whoever books), or hitchhiking (no context at all). House sitting is the most structured, most vetted, and most comfortable form of travel accommodation available to a young person. You are sleeping in a private home, often alone or with your travel partner, with the homeowner's identity and history verified by a platform.
That does not mean there are no risks. Our red flags in homeowner language article covers what to watch for during the application and video call process. Our homeowner misrepresented the listing article covers what to do if the sit is not what was described. And our how to cancel a sit guide covers the process if something genuinely does not feel right.
Conclusion
Your twenties are not too young for house sitting. They might be the best time for it. The combination of low financial overhead, maximum personal freedom, and the responsibility of caring for someone else's home and pets creates an environment for growth that is genuinely hard to replicate any other way.
Caro was 23 when we started. She is now in her mid-twenties with 20 five-star sits across 12 countries, a website she built during our travels, and more real-world experience in communication, adaptability, and responsibility than most people accumulate in a decade of office work. House sitting gave her the platform to develop all of that, and it can do the same for anyone willing to start.
The minimum age on TrustedHouseSitters is 21. If you are 18 to 20, start with MindMyHouse at $29 per year, Aussie House Sitters, House Sitters America, or House Sitters UK. If you are 21 or older, THS with the 25% discount on Standard membership gives you the largest platform with the 24/7 vet line included. Build a genuine profile, write one excellent first message, and apply for a sit today. The worst that happens is you look after a cat for two weeks and gain a story. The best that happens is it changes the trajectory of your entire life. For Caro and me, it was the latter.
Caro and I have completed 20 house sits across 12 countries, driven 19,000km across Europe in our 1998 VW T4, and saved over $26,500 in accommodation costs over three years of house sitting. If you are a young person considering house sitting and have questions, send us a message on Instagram, we read every DM.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 20 too young to start house sitting?
Not at all, but the platform you use depends on your exact age. TrustedHouseSitters requires sitters to be at least 21. If you are 18 to 20, platforms like MindMyHouse, Aussie House Sitters, House Sitters America, and House Sitters UK all accept sitters from 18. Caro was 23 when we started and her age has never been a barrier. A strong first message, a genuine profile, and clear photos matter far more than age.
Do homeowners prefer older sitters?
Some might, just as some might prefer younger, fitter sitters for active dogs. These are outliers. The vast majority of homeowners select based on the quality of the application message, the profile, the reviews, and the video call. A well-presented 22-year-old will get selected over a generic 50-year-old application.
Why do some young sitters struggle to get selected?
Not because of their age, but because of their approach. Generic messages, vague profiles, and an attitude that treats the sit as free accommodation rather than an equal exchange will get rejected at any age. Young sitters who write specific, thoughtful messages, present genuine profiles, and approach the arrangement with humility and respect get selected consistently.
Is house sitting safe for young solo travellers?
House sitting through a vetted platform is one of the safest forms of travel accommodation available. All sitters are ID verified, a video call happens before every sit, both parties leave reviews, and platform support is available if needed. It is significantly more structured and safer than hostels, couch surfing, or unvetted accommodation sharing.
Can house sitting help my career?
Yes, if you use the time well. The communication skills, adaptability, and responsibility you develop are valuable in any career. More importantly, the low-cost, flexible time that house sitting provides is ideal for building a project, starting a business, developing a skill, or working remotely. Caro built carosclass.com and I built housesittersguide.com during our house sitting travels.
How much does it cost for a young person to start house sitting?
You can start for as little as $29 per year with MindMyHouse. On TrustedHouseSitters, we recommend the Standard membership at $169 per year rather than Basic, because it includes the 24/7 vet advice line which provides genuine peace of mind during pet emergencies. With the 25% discount, Standard comes down to around $127. After the membership, every night of accommodation is free.
What kind of sits should a young person apply for first?
Start with cat sits, rural locations, and longer durations. These attract fewer applications and give you the best chance of getting your first review. Avoid major cities like London and Los Angeles where competition is highest. Once you have a few reviews, competitive markets open up.
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