Housecarers unavailable while we move to a better home 23/9/09 from 11PM EDT - 09/22/2009 10:40 PM
Housecarers will be unavailable from

September 23/09 starting around 11pm EDT for approx 4 hours while we move
to a new facility. This facility owned by hosting.com will provide far better connectivity,
security and uptime for all our members.

Ian

Fox News Journalist looking to do story on midwest USA housesitting from Homeowner angle - 03/09/2009 09:15 PM
I'm a news reporter for a TV station in Grand Rapids, MI. I would
like to do a story on what house sitting is and how it's become
helpful for home owners as the housing market stagnates here in the
U.S. Do you have anybody in the U.S., particularly in the midwest,
who can help with this story?

We're looking for people in the west Michigan area. We're based out of
Grand Rapids, MI, but we also cover cities along the lakeshore
(Muskegon, Holland, Grand Haven, etc). It'd be great if we can hook up
with someone from around here! Thanks so much for your help.

So any homeowners in that area (even if not on market angle) who have had housesitters and want to takepart please contact housecares.com via contact link at the top of our home page and
I will pass on your interest

Ian, housecarers

House sit notifications changed - only housesits on or after your availability date - 01/05/2009 12:51 AM
The housesit notification system has changed so you will only receive housesit notifications available on or after your availability date.

Enhancements to the Housecarers message system - 12/02/2008 08:52 PM
Following feedback and requests from members we have changed the message system

We just changed the system so that sent messages older then 30 days go into the sent2 basket. Also waste (deleted) messages older then 30 days go into the waste2 basket.

So you just have current messages in waste and sent. You can recover from both waste baskets.

Most members like to keep a record so we think this should suit most users.

Enjoy .. Ian

New reference upload facility is now ready and available - 10/29/2008 03:37 PM
You now upload references to your own private reference library and then opt to link this to your profile for viewing by selected homeowers.

You can choose to display your references to all logged on Homeowners or only to Homeonwers you have applied to housesit for, or responded to.

You may load up to 14 references in various formats - word docs, text, PDF or most image formats (eg if you have scanned a reference)

If you choose to display reference a "My References" link will appear at the top right of your profile.

With the proliferation of spam, emails with attachments are now viewed with suspicion. So the reference library allows homeowners to easily view your references. They are kept as secure encrypted documents and for privacy reasons will not be indexed by search engines.

After login click the references link at the top of your members page to start your reference upload and manage your library.

Enjoy

Ian

New Calendar feature - ready to use - block our your commitments on your personal Calendar - 08/31/2008 09:59 PM
We have added a new Calendar function to your members area - click Calendar from your members area after login to add your existing commitments into the future. There have been a number of requests from sitters for this feature over the years - especially the sitters who are in demand.

Then homeonwers can clearly see the windows when the sitter is available by cliking on their calendar from their profile.

You can turn your calander on or off at any time from the calandar function.

Cheers

Ian

Homeowner comments, where appropriate, to bring balance to forum disucussions - 07/17/2008 10:46 PM
Some homeowners have expressed a desire to bring balance by airing their point of view. I think this is fair. Homeowners may submit their topic contributions to me (Ian White) the advministrator and I will post them if appropriate as a conntribution to the topic.

The homeowner should submit to me their contribution through the contact form at housecarers.com together with their username and topic they want to contirubte to

Ian

Are you currently housesitting in Dublin - TV show would like to talk to you - 06/10/2008 08:49 PM
Note from TV journalist - "I am doing some research for a property slot on TV 3's Ireland AM
show and they are interested on doing a slot on house sitting."

If you can help out - homeonwer or sitter please contact Ian White via the feedback form at
www.housecarers.com

Ian

Washington Post looking for housesitting Stories - 04/28/2008 01:52 AM
The Washington Post is looking for stories.
"Stories, anecdotes, do's and don'ts, and other tips on the subject of
housesitting will be appreciated."

You can contribute by following the link below

House sitting stories required for Washington Post

Posting a new topic in the forum (starting a discussion) - 03/11/2008 01:53 AM
I am sorry the package is not that clear on how to post a new topic

1. Enter the forum category by clicking on the category eg
Housesitting
or
House Sitting stories

2. Click on the New Topic Link (at top right of page) to start a discussion (topic)


If you want to add to discussion on an existing topic simply click on the topic then click the reply link at the bottom of the page after the last contribution.

Happy posting

Ian

Journalist from South China Morning Post looking at doing story on housesitting (Hong Kong Based sitters please respond) - 02/25/2008 07:30 AM
If you are based in Hong Kong and have done housesits via this site - the sits can be anywhere in the world (as long as you live in Hong Kong)l and are interested in particpating please ocntact me via the feedback/contact link at housecarers.com

Journalists from around the world contact us from time to time - and this housesitting is becoming a newsworthy and interesting topic that they want to write on.

So if you ware willing to share your experiences with a journalist please contact me via the contact form at www.housecarers.com

New Housesit Notification Button at the top of your members page after login - 02/23/2008 07:06 AM
We have created a new button in the members area: Housesit Notifications
This will include a listing of all housesit notificaitons matching your nominated areas. (That is housesits posted in the countries, states, areas you nominate on your profile).

We have temporarily suspended email notifications while we consolidate them into one email per member (containing a list os housesit postings). We expect the housesit notifications to start in the next few days. Until then please access the
housesit Notification button after login

Housesit Notifications - 02/22/2008 01:33 AM
As our service has grown we are sending out more emails.

Some providers like Yahoo ares treating our emails as bulk and either sending them to the bulk folder or rejecting them. We are working on this with our engineers and will be talking to Yahoo,

One thing we will be doing is consolidating all emails into one (rather than seperate notifications).
So we send out less emails and are less likely to be treated as bulk.

If you are missing notifications please click search for housesit at our website - the most recent ones will be at the top; you can sort by state date etc from the top of the list.

We are working around the clock on this. Unfortunately with the flood of spam innocent emails can suffer.

regards
Ian

House Sitters Membership Fees - 01/11/2008 12:41 AM
Some members have commented on the rate of increase of membership over the last 2 years from USD$35.00 to USD$39.00 then USD$45.00

These increases are the result of the strengthening of the AUD$ and weakening of the USD$. We launched housecarers 7 years ago at the rate of AUD$50.00. 7 years latter we still collect aud$50.00. So in effect we are collecting the same membership fee we did 7 years ago (no increase in 7 years)

The website costs a lot to run (two dedicated servers and sql database) and promote. Without evenue we would not be able to match over 3000 sitters with homeowners each year worldwide.

Ian