House sitting Membership Question and Answers
Responding to 24 Years of Member Feedback

Great news about your Housesit!

We distilled 24 years of Member feedback to refine our two-way verified Review system. Housecarers launched the World's first Housesitting Membership site in October 2000.

Please log in, then select the Review Button at the top of your Members Dashboard to leave a review/endorsement for your House Sitter/Homeowner.

When Housecarers approves the endorsement/review it will appear on the Member's profile below their text ad. You will be identified by your chosen Username (Nickname) to shield your identity. For homeowners, the review will appear below your ad the next time your post a housesit.

The reviewed Member, in return, is encouraged to leave feedback/ add a review.

Homeowners may also send a reference to your Housesitter. Sitters can upload references to their private reference library. Logged-on homeowners can only view references who have communicated with the sitter via our secure message system to protect privacy.

For verification, you may want to include your email address rather than your phone number for your privacy—some future homeowners like to verify references.

Let people know if you would engage your sitter again and why. What in particular were you happy about with their services as a house and pet sitter?

Also, if you want to share an exciting story, We can blog it with a link to your profile and their profile (let me know their username).

Great news about your House Sit / Pet Sit!

Housecarers has a two-way verified Review system, distilled from 20 years of experience, and member feedback securely matching Homeowners with Housesitters. Housecarers launched the World's first Housesitting Membership site in October 2000.

Please login then select the Review Button at the top of your Members Dashboard, to leave a review/ endorsement of your Housesit. Providing this feedback will help future house sitters.

Once approved by Housecarers, the endorsement / review will appear on the Homeowners next posting. below their text ad. To shield your personal identity you will be identified by your chosen Username (Nickname).

Homeowners in return, are encouraged to leave a review, add feedback on your house sitting. This will appear, below your House sitter profile / posting.

Also if you want to share an interesting story, We can blog it with a link to your profile and their profile (let me know their username).

We don't allow sitters or homeowners to post public disparaging remarks about other members.

It works both ways. There are on rare occasions very unreasonable homeowners and sitters who don't fulfill their side of the agreement. Members must not be negligent, or mislead. We expect Courtesy, Respect and Fairness in all interactions.

We ask that complaints be sent to us that are factual objective and unemotional. We hear both sides and take appropriate action from there - including banning a homeowner or housesitter or both from the site.

Members can view how long other members have been with us without complaint. The "Member Since:" date is displayed beneath the profile photo for all members who have been with us for more than 1 year.

Please send your objective complaint in point form, with evidence, and we will get the other side of the story / response from the other Member. Please include the username of the other member.

We take all complaints seriously and members are required to take their agreed responsiblities seriously. We recommend both sides sign the supplied House sitting Agreement - so everything is clear and misunderstandings are avoided. The Housesitting Agreement can be downloaded by selecting the Help/ support menu at the left following login

Here are the steps for trouble free contacting of homeowner where the housesit has been notified to you be E-mail.

  • You must be a paid member to make contact.
  • Login
  • Select Apply for housesit button

If the homeowner has sent you a message.
Select the Messages Button at the top of your dashboard, following login to read and reply to their message.

You may also experience problems with old Browser versions. If you still have problems please tell us the name of your Browser and your computer / device.

A housesit notifications is not a message from a homeowner.
We are letting you know a house sitter required ad has been posted, and if interested you may apply for it. Sometimes links in emails dont work - so open your internet browser then type housecarers.com into your browser address window. Then select Login top right. Then select the Notifications Button if you are interested in this housesit.

When you receive a message from a homeowner we send you an email alert.

All the best with your application.

You certainly can Answer or Send messages while your ad is paused. Simply login then select the Message button.
Homeowners: If you need to re-post / display your ad again, select the Post Housesit button.
Sitters and Homeowers: Profiles and notifications can be turned on/off via the settings menu.

Select the Profile Edit button at the top of your dashboard, then select Areas Available to add additional countries.

Following login Select Profile Edit, Areas Available to select multiple states.

To add multiple cities/areas edit the city or area fields to add multiple cities or areas separated by a comma.

e.g. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Los Altos, Boston, London, Chicago

After login Select messages then the Sent link.

If the message is in the Sent Folder it has been placed in the inbox of the recipient.

The receipient is sent an E-mail notification.

The HouseCarers.com matching service is free for homeowners, and we do not charge any placement fee. We charge an annual subscription for House sitter full membership (currently US$50.00 /year). This revenue helps in the running of the site and promotion.

Homeowners may Upgrade to a Premium Membership

The standard Housesit is Rent Free Accommodation in exchange for house sitting/ pet care. This is the spirit of our site, and our guideline.

We are a Community for House Sitters to advertise and match up with homeowners. Most House Sitters will Housesit for no charge - just rent free accommodation. They include travelers, retirees, and people looking to save a deposit for a home. This is a great benefit especially for long term Housesits.

Some countries have more Professional Sitters (especially UK). Unfortunately when Sitters start charging all sorts of laws kick-in. It is no longer just fellow citizens helping each other, with the sitter as a guest in the home. This is the main spirit of our site and We don't want to turn it into a job site.

Once we charge for House Sitting we are now a business, and need to have all our bases covered for operating a business in that location.

Many Sitters Housesit Internationally to save on travel costs. They are often prohibited by immigration laws to charge for House Sitting on a tourist visa. They are a guests in the foreign home. Some countries will even view House Sitting as non-paid work. That is why many sitter state on immigration forms, that they are visiting friends - which may be true as they have established a friendship before they leave. House sitters must research immigration regulations in the country they are visiting. We are unable to give legal advise. Housecarers issues a warning that some housesitters have been refused entry when border security have discovered they are housesitting. Housecarers.com is not responsible for housesit cancellations due to international housesitters having their plans cancelled due to immigration problems. Please read the full warning with articles at the page below:
Caution when Housesitting in a Foreign Country

Travel expenses are normally covered by the sitter as the Homeowner can always choose a local.

For more information please select Guide at our home page.

Also bear in mind: If you are House Sitting in another country, on a tourist visa your are prohibited to accept money. You must declare you are a guest in the home when visiting the country - not house sitting.

For a full analysis on responsibilites, payment, and expectations please visit our page House Sitting Jobs and Assignments

We are a Community for House Sitters to advertise and match up with homeowners. Most House Sitters will Housesit for no charge - just rent free accommodation. They include travelers, retirees, and people looking to save a deposit for a home. This is a great benefit especially for long term Housesits.

Some countries have more Professional Sitters (especially UK). Unfortunately when Sitters start charging all sorts of laws kick-in. It is no longer just fellow citizens helping each other, with the sitter as a guest in the home. This is the main spirit of our site and We don't want to turn it into a job site.

Once we charge for House Sitting we are now a business, and need to have all our bases covered for operating a business in that location.

Many Sitters Housesit Internationally to save on travel costs. They are often prohibited by immigration laws to charge for House Sitting on a tourist visa. They are a guests in the foreign home. Some countries will even view House Sitting as non-paid work. That is why many sitter state on immigration forms, that they are visiting friends - which may be true as they have established a friendship before they leave. House sitters must research immigration regulations in the country they are visiting. We are unable to give legal advise. Housecarers issues a warning that some housesitters have been refused entry when border security have discovered they are housesitting. Housecarers.com is not responsible for housesit cancellations due to international housesitters having their plans cancelled due to immigration problems. Please read the full warning with articles at the page below:
Caution when Housesitting in a Foreign Country

Travel expenses are normally covered by the sitter as the Homeowner can always choose a local.

For more information please select Guide at our home page.

Also bear in mind: If you are House Sitting in another country, on a tourist visa your are prohibited to accept money. You must declare you are a guest in the home when visiting the country - not house sitting.

For a full analysis on responsibilites, payment, and expectations please visit our page House Sitting Jobs and Assignments

As part of your use of the Site, you are responsible for maintaining and updating, your membership Registration Data with current, accurate and complete information.

You may view, update and/or edit the membership Data you have provided to HouseCarers.com by logging in to your account and selecting Profile Edit. Also be sure to complete your Preferences - under the P Menu.

Please login to your account and select the Settings menu then select Suspend. This will remove you from search results and stop mailings.

Suspending your profile does not extend your Membership expiry date.

We select Profile date edit in the left menu to put your availability date into the future. You will only receive housesits matching your availability date. At the same time we recommend you update your Calendar - via the Tool left menu and Preferences. As many homeowners look well ahead of time we recommend you leave your ad displayed - they can see when you are available.

Also through settings you can turn off housesit notifications. However if you change your availability date you will only get housesits matching this date.

Please login then select the Pause / Take down Ad button at the top of your dashboard.

After Take Down you can still use the Message system to communicate with Housesitters

AFter you have selected a House Sitter please use the Reply All function in Messages to thank, and inform other candidates you have filled your housesit.

Following completion of your housesit please login and select Review to leave a review of your House sitter.

Housecarers provides a House sitting agreement template that can be modified to suit. We recommend both sides sign the agreement so everthing is clear, and misunderstandings do not arise.

Please select the Help/ Support menu after login to obtain the agreement

We use the secure payment processors Paypal, Pinpay and Clickbank to take payments securely on our behalf.

We am sorry you are having problems with the secure payment processor. There are various reasons why a payment can fail and it is not always clear what has caused this. If the payment completes you are sent a receipt and so are we.

The Payment Processor's secure payment system has various safety check in place that may reject a perfectly good credit card. (e.g. If a card is being used a long way from its place of issue).

You may transfer money into your Paypal account from your bank account, and pay using your balance instead of your credit or debit card.

We cannot accept wire or bank transfer from outside Australia due to the high bank fees. Also we cannot accept checks or cheques.

Please Contact us for further assistance.

After payment at the payment processor there is a link, or button displayed to return to us, and instantly update you to paid status. We are sorry if this was not clear to you, or did not work due to internet network issues. After payment completion you are sent an email receipt, and so are we. Please forward this receipt to us and we will make sure your membership is updated to paid.

It is also possible you did not selected the final confirmation button at the payment processor.

We use International Secure Payment processors to take payments on our behalf - Clickbank, Pinpayments.com or Paypal.com

This is what clickbank have to say about their credit card processing system.

Shopping with ClickBank is completely safe. You never have to worry about credit-card safety when you are shopping at our site.

Why is ClickBank so safe?

We do not store credit card numbers:

When you shop at ClickBank, you can rest assured that we will not let your credit card number get into the wrong hands. Unlike most transaction services, ClickBank does not store your credit card number and it cannot be stolen from our web site.

SSL Technology:
ClickBank uses state-of-the-art technology to protect your data from unauthorized third parties. Currently ClickBank uses Secure Socket Layer (SSL) software to protect your data and secure your transactions. SSL encrypts all your personal information, including your credit card number, name and address as it is transmitted over the Internet so it cannot be stolen in transit. Our server is further protected by a firewall to prevent unauthorized access to any information that we store.

We Do Not do auto renewals - your Full Paid membership will simply expire, and you will revert to The limited Guest membership

Please select the account menu item after login to view your Paid Membership expiry date.

Renewal invitations, and special loyalty offers, are emailed one month prior to expiry. The offer will also appear on your Members Dashboard

If you want to turn off email notifications and/or display of your ad please login and select the option under the Settings Menu

Your profile may go into the archives, if you dont login in a 3 month period (we will email a warning).

To activate down-the-track, simply login and Update your availability. No need to rejoin - it is better to breathe life into your old profile when you are ready. You will retain priority based on your original join date. Your profile, and uploads is securely stored for when you want to take a break, have a change of scenery, or experience another part of the world with free accommodation.

In accordance with our Privacy policy please and Contact us if you would like your account/profile and related uploads deleted.

Please refer to our FAQ help on Verification for how we verify Photo Id and Cell / Mobile numbers

We also recommend sitters upload Police Clearances, References and other docmentation. They can only be viewed by logged on Homeowner Members who communicate with House sitters via our secure Internal Message system.

We recommend you verify references, and ask for them if they are not loaded to the sitters profile.

Some sitters will also have verified Reviews of Previous House sits linked on their profile. Not all sitters will have reviews as our 2-way verified review system was introduced in 2019.

Please refer to our FAQ help on our Referral Rewards Program For information on how you can earn Rewards and Points, Conditions and Tracking

You can use the ad below as ads/flyers to post on free notice boards in your area. Just print them out for posting at Libraries, Community notice boards, workplaces, schools, canteens, pet stores, pet grooming shops, gardening stores, supermarkets, shopping malls,  and other places that take free notices. Or you can letter box drop in the areas you are interested in.

Also please select the Functions then Promote My Profile from your Members Dashboard for tips on online sharing.

Housecarers Brochure PDF

OR you can approach your local newspaper or magazine (who are always looking for stories) and ask if they could use this article "Mounting Responsibilities have many Homeowner's Afraid to Leave Home" - which has been well received.

Leave Your Home in Safe Hands Responsibilities of home ownership keeping you from a much-needed vacation?

Visit www.housecarers.com, and screen thousands of registered house sitters by age, location, occupation, and other criteria. Leave your worries with a house sitter.

Benefits may include
  • pet care
  • lawn and garden maintenance
  • mail forwarded
  • bills paid.
  • Exchange peace of mind for free accommodations.
  • Short and long term sitters.
  • You'll find a match you can trust.
  • Homeowners register for free.
Peace of mind when you're away: www.housecarers.com

More articles

Retirees Fulfill Travel Dreams through House Sitting

Your Pets can Stay and Play While Your'e Away..

... and there are no costly boarding fees to consider.

House Sitting Enables Modern Day Nomads to Travel.
Their love of pets and animals allows them to housesit at locations they once only dreamed about... Read on through the link below

House Sitting Enables Modern Day Nomads to Travel

Please go to our login page

There you will see seperate links for - Lost Username and Reset Password. Select Lost Username and you will be asked for your E-mail address. We will then E-mail your UserName.

You will also see a link to Reset your password. Passwords are stored in a secure hashed format (not plain text) and they can only be reset - not sent to you.

Also always remember to logoff. If you stay logged on this can cause problems latter. If you close all your browser sessions and reboot your computer this will clear out these problems.

Public Usernames must not resemble your real name or email address.

Please first check that your desired username is available by doing a search by username

Usernames must be a least six characters long, and a maximum of 20 characters. Usernames must only contain alpha and numeric characters and may contain the underscore _ character. Spaces are not permitted.

Example Usernames HappyHousesitter46 ExploreCostaRica BornToHousesit_34 PetLover43

We have to run a special process to do this. Please do not do it lightly. Existing messages and uploads will be retained on your new username. Please Contact us and advise your current username and desired username.

Our automated notification system sends out notifications in your nominated states/provinces (or country where there are no states or provinces).

It is very hard for an automated notification system to determine if Location X is in or near your desired location, and we don't want your to miss out. Please ignore the ones that don't suit.

It is still important to define your favoured cities/towns city areas and for large cities suburbs so you will appear in Search Results for House Sitters by homeowners. Homeowners are only interested in their own location and will often search and contact directly and input their city, rather than posting a sitter required ad.

Please make sure you don‘t have multiple housecarers pages (sessions) open.

It is always best to get the latest browser upgrade as fraudsters target old browsers. They have security holes and they are no longer updated. A browser is used to view content on the internet - eg Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari. Chrome appears to be the least troublesome so we recommend you download free and use it. You can experience problems with old browser versions. Microsoft has ceased support for Internet Explorer and it may cause problems.

Also if you do not logout of housecarers and return this can cause problems. Please remember to logout. If this happens please reboot your computer and that will solve all session problems.

I select a link but nothing happens - the same page displays?
Some links open a page in a new browser page/window. Many browsers now block this (pop-up blockers are built in). Please hold down the CTRL key (command Key on Apple) then select the new page will open - e.g. view senders profile at the read message page.

I get page not available. (eg when tried to answer a message in my in box but the link would not go through?
Our dedicated server has a very high uptime 99.9%. However sometimes there is an internet network problem between your location and our server, which can cause this problem. Please clear your browser cache -get rid of old pages on your computer - from browser internet options selet delete files, and then login again and try again. If it still does not work please leave for an hour or so, and the internet network problem between you and our server may have resolved.

Please Contact us and advise:

  • What function are you performing?
  • What is preventing you?
  • What message are you receiving?
  • What is your computer / device, operating system, and browser. e.g. PC, Windows 10, Latest Chrome; Samsung S20, Android 12, Firefox; Ipad, IOS 15.4.1, Safari

We test on all recent browsers - and appreciate any feedback.

After login select Messages then the sent link. If your application message is in your sent folder it is in the IN Mailbox of the Homeowner, and they have been sent an email alert. If the username of the homeowner in your Sent Folder is RED, your message has been READ by the homeowner.

We recommend you try some different approaches to increase your response. It is important to identify with the needs of the homeowner and show them how to help. Initially don't talk too much about your own requirements and overload them with questions - that can come latter. And don't just say see my profile I'm interested.

We ask homeowners to respond to ALL applications and send weekly reminders asking them to do this. However sometimes they are pressed for time and only reply to the outstanding applications - so it is important to make your applications stand out.

The Homeowner will have a link to your profile when they READ your message. So please make sure your profile is complete and you have photos loaded. After login the system will alert you if your profile is not complete.

It is important to include all your favoured cities towns and city areas on your profile as many homeowners search directly. Loading up pictures, police clearances, certificates references, documents, and updating your calendar and Preferences also helps- the more information accessible by the homeowner the better.

All the references, police clearances, and documents are placed in your private reference library that can only be accessed by homeowners or homeowners you apply to.

Make sure you select all the keywords that apply to you - Select Profile / Update keywords.

You may receive a message "homeownerX has chosen not to list" or "HomeownerX has suspended their profile" - even shortly after you have received a housesit notification by email. Homeowners can remove their post at any time due to filled or changed circumstances. This is the choice of the poster/homeowner and outside our control.

Sometimes homeowners remove their ads as they receive enough applications. They are emailed when each application arrives and login and suspend their ad so they can digest the applications. All housesits go out at the same time to all members. They go out just after midnight Eastern USA time. The notifications are for all the previous days postings. So they can be anywhere from 1 minute old to max of 24 hours old.

So all housesits you received were posted the previous day by the homeowner Some homeowners are well prepared and look well ahead - others unfortunately leave it to the last moment

Housesits are posted hourly to twitter - so you can get them earlier here http://twitter.com/housecarers

You can also view the Sortable list of Current housesits at this link at any time.

Housesits are removed as follows:

  1. 1. Auto by the system when the date required goes into the past.
  2. 2. By the homeowner suspending their ad when they find a Housesitter.
  3. 3. By us if the homeowner informs us the housesit is filled.

We send weekly reminders to all homeowners asking them to update the system and inform us of their progress. You can check the date the ad was posted or last updated on the Housesit Profile. Housesits can be removed at any time by the homeowner due to filled or changed circumstances. This is the free choice of the homeowner. We cannot guarantee that a housesit will still be listed or that the homeowner will respond to you.

You are first registered for a limited non-paid membership. This allows you to be notified of house sit opportunities, prepare your profile, display your profile and receive possible messages from homeowners.

Paid Full House Sitter Membership is US$50.00 for up to 12 months advertising. Full membership is required to: Apply for housesits; Respond to messages; Display direct contact details; Upload:- Photos, References and Police Clearances. Paid members appear before non-paid members in search results. You may upgrade to Full membership at any time following registration to receive maximum exposure and quicker results.

With the limited membership, it is possible that you will receive messages from homeowners via the housecarers message system. In this case you can read the summary details of the housesit but payment is required to view the full message and respond.

View Full Comparison of the Limited Paid Membership vs Paid Membership

Important to receive our email With the prevalence of spam, many innocent E-mails like ours get blocked, or filtered.

Please check your junk folder.

We send them out, but don't control the delivery to your email inbox. Just like when you post a letter, - you post it but don't control delivery.

Some - but not all Members have this problem. It is a big problem, with the flood of spam on the Internet (70pct of all email traffic), and innocent emails can get lost.

Our website must be able to get through to you. You MUST add housecarers.com to your Safe List to ensure your provider delivers ALL your emails from housecarers. Providers can decide to deliver some - but not others . Below is a guide on how to add housecarers.com to your safe list / contact list:

Add your email sender to Safe List>

You may enter your phone numbers on your profile (Profile Edit in the left menu after login). To protect your privacy your phone numbers will only display to Logged in Homeowners who you have communicated with via our internal secure message system.

Not all homeowners post their Housesit. Some will initiate contact with your through the internal message system.

Country or State wide searches are not relevant, and not used by homeowners. They are only interested in their own location and will use that in the search. So make sure you include your favoured cities and towns and for large cities city areas and suburbs. They don't want to page through hundreds of search results.

If we listed all the sitters for a whole state or country, the page would take forever and people would leave the site.
How we Order Search Results for House sitters

We recommend you add favoured cities and towns to appear in more search results. We also recommend you update your preferences - for housesit terms, pets and fexisearch - this will mean you will appear in more search results. Select preferences from your dashboard to fix. As many sitters simply select all states - they will sit anywhere there are a large number of members registered for each Stare of Country eg California,Florida, and Hawaii - well over 1,000

Now a Homeowner is not going to browse through 1,000 profiles - it does not make sense. We limit the search results to 400 else the page would take forever and homeowners would leave. Each homeowner lives in a location in e.g. Texas - where they have put down roots and foundations. So rather than browse 400 general profiles they will input their location - eg Fort Worth - they want sitters for their home in Fort Worth, Texas

If a homeonwer does not find a sitter in their location, they can perform a search for sitters flexibile about location - FlexiSearch. So - make sure you select your are flexible about location in your Preferences.

Search for House Sitter Results are ordered as follows

  • One third of search results are in random order so everyone has the same chance of appearing near the top
  • One third of search results are in join date order, rewarding long time supporters of the community
  • One third of search results are in Referral Point order, with the Referal Rewards Program. The more referral points the higher you appear in search results.

Search results are Cached for 1 hour by the system, to avoid performance response problems. This means search results will change every hour. Please bear in mind that you should include your desired locations on your profile, to appear in specific searches. Homeowners will normally perform Specific location Searches matching where they live. If they do not find sitters they may then perform a more general search for sitters who are flexible about locations.

Sent messages are auto archived to the sent2 folder after 30 days. There is no delete function so you have a record of all sent Messages.

Inbox Messages older then 60 days, that have not been deleted days, are placed in the Inbox (archived) folder.

Deleted Inbox messages are sent to the Trash Folder. Trash Messages older then 30 days are placed in the Trash (archived) folder. There is no delete function so you have a record of all received messages.

From your Message Inbox Select the Trash link to access your Deleted Messages. Select the restore link next to the message you want restored to your inbox

Trash Messages older then 30 days are placed in your Trash (Archived) Folder. There is no delete function so you have a record of all your messages.

Housesits are removed as follows

  1. 1. Auto by the system when the date required goes into the past.
  2. 2. By the homeowner suspending their ad when they find a housesitter.
  3. 3. By us if the homeowner informs us the housesit is filled.

We send weekly reminders to all homeowners asking them to update the system and inform us of their progress

You can check the date the ad was posted or last update by clicking on the ad detail

Housesits can be removed at any time by the homeowner due to filled or changed circumstances. This is the free choice of the homeowner. We cannot guarentee that a housesit will still be listed or that the Homeowner will respond to you.

You can view the Current Active Housesit list at anytime at the webpage below:
Current Sortable List of Housesits

You may have changed your availability date. We only send your housesits notifications matching your Availability Date, Pet prefererences, and Term preferences.

So e.g. if you will mind Pets, but not Cats, and only Long Term, from Apr-04-2025 : - we will only send you Long Term housesits, without Cats, available from Apr-04-2025

Also

Please check your junk/bulk folder and add housecarers.com to your allow list. It is a big problem with the flood of spam that hits services and innocent emails get lost.

Our website must be able to get through to you. You MUST add housecarers.com to your Safe List to ensure your provider delivers ALL your emails from housecarers. Providers can decide to deliver some - but not others . Below is a guide on how to add housecarers.com to your safe list / contact list:

Add your email sender to Safe List

Steps to upload References

  • Login
  • Select the References Button at the top of your Dashboard.
  • Select a document from your computer in one of:- .doc, .pdf, .txt, .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .png format
  • References must be less than 250K file size.
  • Then a link to your references will appear on your profile. Only logged in homeowners will be able to view your references or you can choose to only display to homeowners you have applied to

Tips to overcome problems

  • If files space is too large - scan and save as PDF Greyscales or Black and White. color takes up a lot more file space
  • Do not upload latest word documents - docx Not all visitors have the latest Word. Better to save as earlier word version .doc - eg Word 98
  • make sure you keep your file name simple - not too long and no special characters - eg myref2.doc or reference.pdf
  • References must be less than 250K file size.

The most acceptable form that can be read by most homeowners is PDF. If you use a latter version of Word it may not be accessible by homeowners as they either don't have the latest version or don't have Word at all. You can scan as a PDF dcoument, OR Save As PDF from your word processor.

Full Reference FAQ

You need to have the word Police in your heading/ title of your reference: Select Functions References in the Members Left Menu and update Title to include the Word Police within the title.

Also please select the Police Clearance keyword: Select Profile Edit / Keywords - then under Security select Police Checked

Full Reference FAQ

Please login then Select Profile Edit / Keywords - and complete the section on Status. Make sure you complete the other keyword sections too. This will help you come up in search results, when Key Word Search filters are used by Homeowners.

In accordance with our Privacy policy, you may request Deletion of all your data by sending a request through our Housecarers Contact form

When you receive a response to your application for a housesit, or a message from a Homeowner, we send you an email notification to login and respond to the message at Housecarers.com

Our website must be able to get through to you. You MUST add housecarers.com to your Safe List to ensure your provider delivers ALL your emails from housecarers. Providers can decide to deliver some - but not others . Below is a guide on how to add housecarers.com to your safe list / contact list:

Add your email sender to Safe List

When you receive a message, from a Housesitter, we send you an email notification to login and respond to the message at Housecarers.com

Our website must be able to get through to you. You MUST add housecarers.com to your Safe List to ensure your provider delivers ALL your emails from housecarers. Providers can decide to deliver some - but not others . Below is a guide on how to add housecarers.com to your safe list / contact list:

Add your email sender to Safe List

Only one Housesit Ad can be posted for each membership. Please enter the first Availability Date, and duration. You can mention in the ad text that you are also looking for a sitter for the 2nd date. Once you have filled the first one you can change the dates and duration and re-post your ad if you have not filled both.

We find that most homeowners get plenty of applications and you will have no trouble filling them.

If you have already Posted your housesit, please login then select Edit Housesit to make any changes. Or select Post Housesit button to post your ad.

We use google maps to drop the pin. Google looks at the location information you supply and then attempts to settle the pin at the best location. They generate latitude and Longitude for the pin.

We do not ask for your exact location for privacy reasons. If a postal / zip code is supplied, sometimes google will drop the pin in the center of the post/zip code location.

If you update your location information (without giving an address), we can reset the google pin and get google to drop the pin again.

Google maps also offer a street view, where potential housesitters can see the surrounding areas.

Overall, the google map is a handy tool that we integrate into our website to provide our users with the best possible experience.

You don't want to worry about your pets. Preparing your home for a housesitter is key! Here are some tips to help make things run as smoothly as possible. (continue reading below...) Prepare for your handover. Tips and Checklist

Housecarers pioneered house sitting. We launched the World's first House sitting membership site way-back in October 2000. We have distilled 24 Years of customer feedback into refining and improving our secure matching process.

Register as a Home Owner or House Sitter to participate


USD$25.00   is required to activate your Premium Homeowner membership

  • Receive a Verified Member badge on your profile.
  • Personal recommendations on improving your profile, attracting and choosing the best applicants.
  • Add or Edit Your own Private notes to any House Sitters profile for reference.
  • On request we will access and load to your ad, Professional photos of scenic attractions in your vicinity to attract quality applicants.
  • On request, to attract more quality applications we will promote your confidential Housesitter required ad on our network of related social media sites. We forward applications to you for your consideration.
  • Participate in the Referral Rewards program.
  • Receive a bonus of 6 months of Membership when you take up House sitter paid membership.
  • Try Housesitting with free accommodation for a breakaway across your country, locally, or worldwide! Refer yourself and add six months to your premium HO membership AND receive six bonus months of Housesitter paid membership, Totalling 18 months.

  • Help keep More Pets in their familiar environment with their routines intact.
  • You will be contributing to the running and promotion of the Housecarers Community. We started the first worldwide Housesitting Membership established in October 2000. Your contribution will help us continue this work to help more people. We see ourselves as a community rather than a corporate site. We will never lose the personal touch. You are helping grow and improve this valuable worldwide community resource that is helping Homeowners Leave the responsibilities of homeownership for a well-earned break.
  • More benefits and features will be added with your funding and contribution to the Housecarers community.

Much of the revenue from Premium memberships are used to run, maintain, and promote the service. Membership Fee Revenue helps us match sitters with homeowners each year worldwide.

Search for House Sitter Results are ordered as follows

  • One third of search results are in random order so everyone has the same chance of appearing near the top
  • One third of search results are in join date order, rewarding long time supporters of the community
  • One third of search results are in Referral Point order, with the Referal Rewards Program. The more referral points the higher you appear in search results.

Search results are Cached for 1 hour by the system, to avoid performance response problems. This means search results will change every hour. Please bear in mind that you should include your desired locations on your profile, to appear in specific searches. Homeowners will normally perform Specific location Searches matching where they live. If they do not find sitters they may then perform a more general search for sitters who are flexible about locations.

Membership Type

Limited Unpaid membership (Guest)

You can run with an Unpaid membership to receive House Sit opportunities in your email. Then to apply Full/ Paid membership is required.

  • You will be Notified by Email of House sit opportunities.
  • Browse House sit opportunities.
  • Your profile will be Displayed, with possible Contact by Homeonwers through Housecarer‘s Messages
  • Full/ Paid Membership is required to Apply for House Sits.
  • You may read the Summary of Home Owner Messages. Full Paid membership is reqired to respond to messages
  • You may prepare your profile by uploading References, Pictures, Video and Photo ID. The uploads will activate and display on your profile following upgrade to Full Paid membership
  • Full Paid Membership is required to Read Full Messages, Respond to Homeowners‘ Messages, and display Uploads.


You may Upgrade to Full/ Paid membership at any time following registration to receive maximum exposure and quicker results. Much of the revenue from paid memberships is used to run and maintain two dedicated servers, database and promote the service. Membership Fee Revenue helps us match over 10,000 sitters with homeowners each year worldwide.

Full / Paid House Sitter Membership


USD$25.00 for up to 12 months advertising.

  • Respond instantly to messages from Home Owners, and Apply for unlimited Posted Housesits.
  • You may display your direct contact numbers to Logged on home owners you have communicated with, so they can contact you directly.
  • Review Housesits and receive reciprocal Reviews from Homeowners
  • Add References. Your Private Reference Library will link from your profile (displays to logged on homeowners you have communicated with). Load up to 14 references in a wide variety of formats to your private reference library.
  • Your Photo Gallery will link from your profile. (up to 14 pictures, Plus up to 250 words for each picture.) Profiles with photos get clicked more often.
  • Display your personal House sitting calender with record of past housesits and future bookings
  • Display: YouTube Video on your profile, And OR link to external websites such as Blogs or Facebook page
  • Priority Appearance in Search Results
  • Appear as Featured House Sitter (Random rotation, matching on location of visitor)
  • Add Private Notes to Homeowner Profiles
  • Free, Secure Identity Verification. Display a Verification badge and Verification Points for: Mobile/ Cell, Passport Photo Id , License Photo ID
  • Participate in the Referral Rewards Program
  • Accumulate Verified Positive Reviews from Homeowners following completion of your Housesit. The reviews will dispaly on your profile
  • Leave Reviews of your Housesits

  • Free verification of photo ID to add trust to your profile


You may Upgrade to Full/ Paid membership at any time following registration to receive maximum exposure and quicker results. Much of the revenue from paid memberships is used to run our community, and promote the service. Membership Fee Revenue helps us contantly improve to securely match sitters with homeowners worldwide.


Join the world's first House Sitting Membership site, Pioneering Housesitting for 24 years, founded October 2000

Membership Type

Full / Paid House Sitter Membership


USD$25.00 for up to 12 months advertising, plus a Bonus 1 Month.

  • Respond instantly to messages from Home Owners, and Apply for unlimited Posted Housesits.
  • You may display your direct contact numbers to Logged on home owners you have communicated with, so they can contact you directly.
  • Review Housesits and receive reciprocal Reviews from Homeowners
  • Add References. Your Private Reference Library will link from your profile (displays to logged on homeowners you have communicated with). Load up to 14 references in a wide variety of formats to your private reference library.
  • Your Photo Gallery will link from your profile. (up to 14 pictures, Plus up to 250 words for each picture.) Profiles with photos get clicked more often.
  • Display your personal House sitting calender with record of past housesits and future bookings
  • Display: YouTube Video on your profile, And OR link to external websites such as Blogs or Facebook page
  • Priority Appearance in Search Results
  • Appear as Featured House Sitter (Random rotation, matching on location of visitor)
  • Add Private Notes to Homeowner Profiles
  • Free, Secure Identity Verification. Display a Verification badge and Verification Points for: Mobile/ Cell, Passport Photo Id , License Photo ID
  • Participate in the Referral Rewards Program
  • Accumulate Verified Positive Reviews from Homeowners following completion of your Housesit. The reviews will dispaly on your profile
  • Leave Reviews of your Housesits

  • Free verification of photo ID to add trust to your profile


You may Upgrade to Full/ Paid membership at any time following registration to receive maximum exposure and quicker results. Much of the revenue from paid memberships is used to run our community, and promote the service. Membership Fee Revenue helps us to constantly improve our service and securely match Sitters with Homeowners each year worldwide.



Limited Unpaid membership (Guest)

You can run with an Unpaid membership to receive House Sit opportunities in your email. Then to apply Full/ Paid membership is required.


  • You will be Notified by Email of House sit opportunities.
  • Browse House sit opportunities.
  • Your profile will be Displayed, with possible Contact by Homeonwers through Housecarer‘s Messages
  • Full/ Paid Membership is required to Apply for House Sits.
  • You may read the Summary of Home Owner Messages.
  • Full Paid Membership is required to Read Full Messages, and Respond to Homeowners‘ Messages.


You may Upgrade to Full/ Paid membership at any time following registration to receive maximum exposure and quicker results. Much of the revenue from paid memberships is used to run our community, and promote the service. Membership Fee Revenue helps us constantly improve our service, securely matching sitters with homeowners each year worldwide.


Join the world's first House Sitting Membership site, Pioneering Housesitting for 24 years, founded October 2000

Privacy Policy

Introduction

This Privacy Policy is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Use (the "TCU") posted on the Site. This Privacy Policy is part of, and incorporated into, the TCU.

We have updated our privacy policy to meet the requirements of the new European privacy law called General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR) which goes into effect on May 25th 2018 Housecarers.com is focused on helping you protect your online accounts, and we believe that protecting your privacy is an essential part of that work Our updated privacy policy gives more detail about the information we collect, how we use it, and how we comply with GDPR

HouseCarers.com understands and respects your concerns about privacy. At the same time, we do ask that you provide information about yourself in order for us to understand your needs better and make your experience at HouseCarers.com more valuable to you. We created this Privacy Policy to provide you with notice of what information HouseCarers.com may collect, how such information may be used, and how such information relates to the operation of the Site.

The Site is not intended for use by persons under the age of eighteen.Individuals who are under the age of eighteen are expressly prohibited from submitting to HouseCarers.com or posting to the Site any personally identifiable information about themselves.

By providing any personal information to this Site, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to the collection and processing of such information in Australia, the United States, Europe  and/or any other country.

This Privacy Policy explains

What personally identifiable information HouseCarers.com collects from you, and how HouseCarers.com uses the information;
With whom your information may be shared;
What choices you have regarding the collection, use and distribution of your information;
What cookies are, and how HouseCarers.com uses them;
How HouseCarers.com protects your personal information;
How you can access, update or delete your information;
What else you should know about your online privacy; and
how you can contact us
 

1. What personally identifiable information HouseCarers.com collects from you, and how HouseCarers.com uses the information.

HouseCarers.com collects and stores personal information in several ways at different parts of our Site. This information may include your legal name, email address, age, gender, User ID, User Password. We collect this information in order to provide you with our services more easily, and in a more personalized manner. HouseCarers will not individually identify any user to a third part except when required to do so under the law and under the special circumstances specified under With whom your information may be shared;.

We do not display on the public side of the site the Identifiable personal infomation, including Real Name, Email Address, Phone Numbers, except in the controlled cases below.

House Sitter Members

House sitters may choose to supply contact phone numbers, and skype and whatsapp address.

These direct contact details will only be displayed to Logged on Homeowner members who the House sitter has first communicated with through the secure, internal Housecarers message System.

Identity Verification Information.

To help create and maintain a trusted environment, you may elect to provide identity verification information (such as images of your Passport, or driving license, as permitted by applicable laws) or other authentication information. To learn more, see our Help FAQ about providing identification at Housecarers.com.

Homeowner members may choose to have their Mobile or Cell Numbers validated to obtain a verification rating on their public profile.

House Sitters may choose to upload references from Home Owners to their private Reference Library.

These references will only be displayed to Logged on Homeowner members who the House sitter has first communicated with through the secure, internal Housecarers message System.

House Sitters may choose to upload Photos.

These photos will be displayed on the members public profile.

House Sitters may choose embed YouTube Videos on their public profile.

The YouTube video will play in their public profile or at the members YouTube site.

Home Owner Members

Homeowners may choose to supply contact phone numbers and Address.

These contact details are for Housecarers Internal Verificaton purposes only.

House Sitters may choose to upload Photos.

These photos will be displayed on the members public profile.

Financial / Payment information

Housecarers does not process or store financial details such as credit and debit cards. All subscription payments are handled securely, on our behalf by Paypal, Clickbank and Pinpayments.

We do not do auto-renewals or recurring payments. Invitations to renew are sent out one month prior to expiry.

The payment processors send us receipts which we securely retain for verification. The receipts do not contain credit or debit card Numbers

2. With whom your information may be shared.

HouseCarers.com will not sell, rent or barter your personal information. However, we may from time to time aggregate statistical information regarding our customers, traffic patterns and site usage. Such aggregate information will not individually identify any user.

We reserve the right to disclose any information if such action is necessary (a) to conform to the requirements of the law or to comply with legal process or subpoena served on HouseCarers.com, (b) to protect and defend the legal rights or property of HouseCarers.com, the Site, or its users, or (c) in an emergency, to protect the health and safety of its users or the general public. We further reserve the right to release any information concerning any user if that user participates (or is reasonably suspected of participating) in any illegal activity, even without a subpoena, warrant, or other court order. We cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who may be using our servers or services for illegal activities. We also reserve the right to report any suspected illegal activity to law enforcement for investigation or prosecution. 
 

The information you provide is used to facilitate secure matching between Homeowners /Pet Owners and House Sitters.

3. What choices you have regarding the collection, use and distribution of your information.

You may occasionally receive information about HouseCarers.com services. HouseCarers.com believes that these updates are interesting and informative You may subsequently contact us to request to be removed from this list. In every update that we send, we will include an option to discontinue receipt of future updates. HouseCarers.com reserves the right to limit any registrations on our Site to those who will accept our information and to those who will provide the requested information.

4. What cookies are, and how HouseCarers.com uses them.

As part of offering and providing customizable and personalized services, HouseCarers.com uses cookies to store and sometimes track information about you. A cookie is a small amount of data that is transferred to your computer's hard drive. All portions of the Site that prompt you to log in or that are customizable require that you accept cookies. No other company has access to cookies placed on your computer by HouseCarers.com. We may use cookies technology to reduce the time required for you to submit your requests and for HouseCarers.com to respond to such requests. Cookies will not be used by us to retrieve any information about you, or from your computer,that you have not voluntarily given to us. Cookies placed on your computer by third parties by or through the Site, if any, are not the responsibility of HouseCarers.com and are not subject to the TCU. Please contact the third party placing these cookies to find out what information is collected and how it is used. You can usually edit your browser not to accept cookies, but the features of our Site may not function properly if you do not accept cookies.

5. How HouseCarers.com protects your personal information.

For all our transactions, we employ reasonable and current Internet security methods and technologies. When you set a password for your housecarers account, we use technology that masks it so no one at the company can see it. We mask passwords through a process called hashing, which replaces the actual password with a random set of numbers and letters that are stored in Housecarers's system. This allows our systems to validate your account credentials without revealing your password. This is an industry standard. Where appropriate, we password protect, use encryption techniques and install firewalls. We strive to protect you. We encourage our participating service providers to adopt and honor their own consumer privacy policies. Once we receive your information, we use reasonable efforts to ensure its security on our systems.

Passwords Must be a minimum of 8 characters and may contain up to 20 characters. We recommend you use:- A mix of lower and upper case Letters; Numbers; and any special characters such as %,&@!$ to make your password unique and hard to crack. Passwords should not be duplicated at other sites, and we recommend the use of a password manager.

We keep a record of your log-ins to accounts. We use the information we gather from you to monitor for unusual or suspicious activity in your account, to communicate with you about your account, and as additional information that can be used to validate who you are if you need to recover your account or your account has been or may be compromised. For your protection we lock accounts after 10 failed login attempts.

Photo ID Verification

If you elect to upload verification Photo Id: The Images are encrypted on upload, and encrypted at rest. The images are used Internally for Identity Verification only.

6. How you can access, update or delete your information.

As part of your use of the Site, you are responsible for maintaining and updating, as applicable, your membership Registration Data with current, accurate and complete information. You may view, update and/or edit the membership Data you have provided to HouseCarers.com by logging in to your account and following the appropriate instructions.

You may request deletion of all your data by sending a request through the Housecarers Contact form.

7. What else you should know about your online privacy.

The Site may also contain links to other web sites and advertising. The privacy policies of those web sites and advertisers may significantly differ from that of our Site. It is your responsibility to contact such web site operator or advertiser directly to determine their privacy policy.

8. How you can contact us.

Any questions about our Privacy Policy, the practices of the Site, or your dealings with the Site should be directed through the Housecarers   Contact Form

Top
 

Change Profile Picture

  • Login (top right of this page)
  • Select the Photos Button at the top of your Dashboard
  • Select a photo from your computer with proportions to suit the frame on your profile. Hint: Rectangular photos with ratio approx: 3 wide: 2 high; will resize better than tall or skinny ones. We auto resize the profile photo to fit, but the top may be cut if it is a tall/ skinny photo.
  • If needed, Here is a free - easy to use resize site: http://www.picresize.com
  • The profile Picture must be uploaded to position 1 /slot 1 of your gallery .
  • Non-paid limited Sitter Guest members may upload photos. They will display on your profile when you contribute to the running of the Housecarers community with your Annual Subscription.
  • Increase your response with a photo. Homeowners like to see a face.