Van Lifers Guide to Housesitting

Doing a house sit as a van lifer is worthwhile for many reasons. Sometimes you need a break from the logistics of life on the road. Or, maybe you just want to bake cookies. Or, do free laundry. Or, sprawl out on a couch. Or… the list goes on. As full time engineers who live full time in a campervan, every few months we like to “reset” in a house. We previously paid for Airbnbs until we discovered house sitting, and pet sitting. And now, we will never go back! Doing a house sit as a van lifer is a huge travel hack!

Today, we are sharing with YOU all that you need to know to secure your first housesit on the road!

Why do we house sit as van lifers?

The main reason we housesit occasionally is to take a break from the logistics of van life. Especially as someone who works full time, the mental stress of keeping up with work, where we will sleep, what we will do, how much water we have, etc, can be too much sometimes. Before we discovered housesitting, we would book an AirBnb every few months. However, that cost money! Now with housesitting, we get the break we need, for free.

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How do you house sit as a van lifer?

Let’s start with the basics of how to acquire house sitting gigs as a van lifer. There are two main ways that we use to make it happen: word of mouth and the platform, Trusted Housesitters.

Word of Mouth & Facebook Groups

The first option is by word of mouth. We spend our winters bopping around ski towns in Colorado and found it really easy to network with locals and casually drop that we like to petsit on our travels. Additionally, if you are in one area for an extended amount of time, join the local Facebook groups, people are always asking for petsitters!

We have found that people are genuinely really interested to learn how life works when you are traveling in a campervan so it is usually an easy topic to breach! Word of mouth for obtaining housesits is a great path to go down in areas with lots of “second homes”.

Dedicated Platform - Trusted Housesitters

The other option is to use a dedicated platform for house, and pet sitting. Platforms like TrustedHousesitters make it really easy to find opportunities. Obviously, there is more competition for these house sits, but the logistics are covered which is nice. We have had great success with Trusted Housesitters on their Premium Housesitters plan. There is a yearly fee that goes to the platform for maintenance and your background check. However, you can actually sign up, browse, and apply for free! We just found it helpful to have the subscription in order to get our first housesit since you don’t have any reviews yet.

Trusted Housesitters for Van Life Q+A

During our recent housesits in Alaska and Colorado, we took to our Instagram audience for their questions around housesitting as a van lifer. If you have additional questions, don’t hesitate to drop them in the comments section.

Can you choose dates like AirBnb?

There are two sides to membership on TrustedHousesitters: “in need of a sitter” and “sitters”. Those in need of a housesitter, or petsitter, will list the dates that they need assistance for, along with details about the responsibilities, and about their home. Potential housesitters will then apply.

Though you cannot chose a date specifically for a given home, you can filter your results effectively while applying. You can filter housesits by date, duration, location, pets, and more.

How do you get your first housesit gig without a review?

From our experience, there are three keys to getting your first housesit. (The subsequent housesits will be easier because you have a review!)

Be the first to apply! This means setting alerts for areas you want to visit. We had two
scenarios where we were in the “final running” of becoming a housesitter but simply lost out because we were not the first people to apply. We have learned that owners use their FaceTime interviews to get a few questions answered, and if they like the answers from multiple people, they default to the first person who applied out of fairness.
Be honest! For every application, you will hop on a phone, or video “getting to know you” interview. Being a van lifer and wanting to spend time in a house, and with pets, makes a lot of sense! Share that!
Get character witnesses! As with most things online, the more reviews, the better. However, the only way to get reviews, is to have successful housesits so this is not possible for your obtaining your first housesit. The way to compensate for lack of reviews, is to use TrustedHousesitters “character witness” feature. Send the link to a few family members, and friends, because their responses will go in the same area as reviews on your profile.

Do you get paid to housesit?

No. Both parties pay to be a part of the platform, but there is no exchange of money for the actual housesit. You get free accommodations! And, maybe laundry. That’s enough for us!

** If you set up a housesit through a Facebook group, or word of mouth connection, this can be different!

Where is your campervan parked while housesitting?

Where you will park your campervan is something to address during your “getting to know you” chat with the owner. We have had our campervan in basic parking spots, but also parked .4 miles away only accessible via snowmobile (see photo). It is important to make sure you have a safe space for your van, and, of course, a big enough space! One of our housesits actually needed to reserve a longer parking spot for us – so it would important that she knew this beforehand.

Here is a photo of Eric heading off to snowmobile to our campervan at night!

Do all housesits require petsitting?

Not neccesarily. But, usually. From our experience, the reason people need their house
watched is because they have either dogs, or plants that need taken care of. We did a housesit for one house that was solar powered so we had to take care of the solar panels, but this was
the first time we had to do actual “house work”.

Can I petsit if I have my own dog (or cat)?

Yes! We spoke with a van life community member Jennifer (@MyMidLifeVanLife) who does this frequently. She has housesat several times with her own dog in attendance. She thinks some owners like it because their dog has another dog to play with. Additionally, she says she has better luck getting last minute housesits. This is because often times housesitters cancel and the person in need of a housesit is less likely to be particular about pets coming.

We have housesat once (for 3 weeks!) in Alaska after we got our puppy, Juniper. The owners appreciated that their dog had company. But, they did want to inquire about her socialization skills, vaccinations, and potty training!