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Homeswapper rant!

[Deleted User]
[Deleted User] Posts: 0
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edited 29 April 2012 at 4:28AM in House buying, renting & selling
I've been on Homeswapper for 7 months now & pay for it & am looking to DOWNSIZE from a LOVELY 3 bed Victorian conversion into a smaller cozy 2 bed house

I had alot of interest from people who didn't even read my ad / what I was looking for but had some LOVELY potential matches and got VERY excited about a few of them as it looked like they could really be my dream home.........

BUT FIVE of the people who showed interest / vice versa LIED on their description and their homes are listed as a HOUSE with NO mention on their ad that it is actually A CONVERTED FLAT!!! :mad::mad:

Mine is a first floor house conversion & have listed it as such and put it in description but it just really irates me now that I have had SO many let downs & disappointments on there due to people NOT BEING HONEST

Why not just list it as a ground floor converted flat or 1st floor conversion etc! :(:(:(:(

One lady even turned up for a viewing of a 'house' that was actually a conversion & the tenant wasn't even IN at the appointed time & I only found out THAT one was a conversion because the lady said SHE only found out when she GOT THERE , even though no-one was in!

I think its pretty shoddy as it is hard enough to find what you are looking for on there without people being DISHONEST in their description

Had my BIGGEST let down today when I really thought I could have found my dream house & mine was IDEAL for her family too but as it turns out after I ASKED her ( I always do now! lol ) she said it was ''2 bedrooms on the ground floor'' ie a ground floor 2 bed flat in a converted house NOT an actual HOUSE....

If I wanted a conversion I would STAY PUT as mine is honestly lovely but too big for me now and it has SO many features and an absolutely MASSIVE living room with 4 casement windows & high ceilings , 3 bedrooms , 1 with ensuite , plus garden etc and is so spacious and full of character but I just want someone with the same period features but is actually a HOUSE when it is described as so!! :(:(:(
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Comments

  • Hump
    Hump Posts: 519 Forumite
    For the background to your problems try Christine Whitehead and Kath Scanlon's Social Housing in Europe paper see ( http://www2.lse.ac.uk/geographyAndEnvironment/research/london/research.aspx ) - have you tried an advert in the local paper?
  • Hump wrote: »
    For the background to your problems try Christine Whitehead and Kath Scanlon's Social Housing in Europe paper see ( http://www2.lse.ac.uk/geographyAndEnvironment/research/london/research.aspx ) - have you tried an advert in the local paper?

    They charge for ads & I can't really afford it as already pay for Homeswappers , have tried Gumtree though and of course will just have to be patient , was just a big disappointment though this time as I really thought it was 'the one' lol

    Its still annoying when people lie to get 'more interest' , almost as bad as dating sites! :rotfl:

    Pointless lying really as do they think people won't notice its HALF a house when they get there , not the whole thing? ;)

    Homeswappers full of timewasters so far!!
  • Maybe you need to add that you are not interested in flats and only want a 2 bed house.

    I dont think you will find any people who will give up a house for a flat as an upsize situation.

    People who have children and access to a garden will prefer the house.

    Plus couples without children would not be allowed your flat due to under occupancy.
  • cattie
    cattie Posts: 8,841
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    Have you tried notices in shop windows of areas that you would like to move to? Or even printing out a batch of notices to put through doors of any likely looking 2 bed properties?
    The bigger the bargain, the better I feel.

    I should mention that there's only one of me, don't confuse me with others of the same name.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    edited 30 April 2012 at 2:35AM
    Maybe you need to add that you are not interested in flats and only want a 2 bed house.

    I dont think you will find any people who will give up a house for a flat as an upsize situation.

    People who have children and access to a garden will prefer the house.

    Plus couples without children would not be allowed your flat due to under occupancy.

    I've already stated it TWICE in my ad that I want a HOUSE ONLY , no flats , conversions or maisonettes but people seem to ignore it to try and wangle what they want , maybe hoping to change my mind which I WON'T! ;)

    I GAVE UP A BRAND NEW 2 BED HOUSE WITH A LARGE GARDEN to swap / upsize to THIS one as ;

    1/ I LOVED it and still do ( but need somewhere smaller )

    2/ I NEEDED the extra bedroom for my 2 girls which this has AND the absolute SPACE , character , MASSIVE living room , spiral staircase , fireplace , huge casement windows , wooden flooring , 2 bathrooms , GARDEN , etc etc etc SWAYED it for me and I DO get interest , but just not what I'm looking for ( or they LIE which is the problem I'm having on the site!! )
  • BigAunty
    BigAunty Posts: 8,310
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    So now that you know that people are fibbing (or being a bit optimistic in the description of their properties), you just need to stop falling in love with the initial descriptions and be harder in your verification process. No biggy - a quick 'Can you confirm if your property is actually a self contained house or is a flat/conversion?' during the initial contact.

    Does this website have a process where you can report posts for being inaccurate?
  • I have recently joined homeswapper but will be soon be leaving it. They have no contact email or number so you are at the mercy of the users. I am sure for the most part the majority are genuine but some are very odd. I clearly stated I would only exchange like for like I wasn't going to downgrade. A lot of people seem to mention time wasters and are clearly jaded but if you are new to the site and you want to move home you have to make sure you make the right decision. I am flexible and want to move to a less quiet area and was sent a very rude email by someone I was communicating with accusing me of being a timewaster and not caring about where I wanted to live or the property. I found it very distressing. I have a lovely property I would just prefer to live somewhere livelier. Being told the area is quiet is not a bonus for me. I don't hold out any hope of the site being a success for me. I am just amazed that they have no contact details
  • dasophster
    dasophster Posts: 911 Forumite
    Homeswapper (and swapping via gumtree) is a complete waste of time. Just as you get people who view homes for sale for kicks, you get people doing the same with homeswapper. We have had our time wasted so many times over the two years we have been on it. Our housing association pays the homeswapper fee so we haven't lost anything in that regard but it is time we have lost. We are not even fussy; we are willing to move like for like in a different area (this area is lovely but we fancy a change), don't mind flats or houses, don't care about decor or whether the property has a garden etc. However no-one wants to swap into a flat even if they have a flat themselves, everyone wants to swap into a larger property with garden in a really posh area. I have lost count of the number of people saying they have a 1 or 2 bedroom flat under a motorway flyover and then get aggressive when we say we not only wouldn't want to move there; we wouldn't even be allowed by our housing association as we do have 4 children.

    I've also had problems with two seemingly serious swappers; who messed us around for ages and then pulled a vanishing act. One lady even registered our address as hers for her kids' schooling and as a delivery address for DFS, we had to chase up these people and say no she does not live here. Unfortunately you do have to give the other party your full address and date of birth details as their housing association/council requires it for their forms, you are not allowed to send your details to the other party's housing association or local authority direct, I see this system as having great potential for identity theft and it is really really flawed. Another lady I told her our housing association were putting the swap on the computer system and she just disappeared after that meaning we had to tell our housing assoc to forget it; months later she phoned and left a voicemail, I emailed her quite annoyed asking why did she disappear and if her voicemail was still about continuing to swap then she had another thing coming, she replied saying she was so upset as we had told her that our housing association had told us not to swap with her and put our details on their computer system to find another swap instead! When I had told her they were putting both our sets of details on their system to get the ball rolling. It seems a lot of people just don't know how a home swap works and to be honest the information is really hard to find-there is only one website that clearly details the process and even then it is quite vague about certain aspects of it.
  • [FONT=&quot]Home Swapper[/FONT][FONT=&quot] acts as the medium between people who are interested in exchanging houses. They have different websites where people register online and upload their expected details.

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  • BigAunty wrote: »
    So now that you know that people are fibbing (or being a bit optimistic in the description of their properties), you just need to stop falling in love with the initial descriptions and be harder in your verification process. No biggy - a quick 'Can you confirm if your property is actually a self contained house or is a flat/conversion?' during the initial contact.

    Does this website have a process where you can report posts for being inaccurate?

    Yup , you are SO right , I do have to be more practical and less emotional ie ''love at first sight'' even though its hard for me when I see the most cutest perfect ''house'' which does make my heart flutter and causes an emotional response :rotfl:

    The FIRST question I always ask now is is it a house or a conversion , just a let down if they respond ''its the ground floor'' when there is NOTHING saying that on their ad , like I said it is fully described throughout the title AND description as a ''2 bedroom house'' no mention whatsoever of it actually being a house conversion!!!

    Seems there is no way of reporting them for inaccurate descriptions and it is left up to people's 'consciences' which there does not seem to be much of on there , no-one seems 'crystal clear' and 100% upfront and honest , so it DOES mean there are ALOT of time wasters on there wheareas HONESTLY would get the job done & WITHOUT the huge disappointments and ANNOYANCES ;)

    I think I am waiting for my dream HOMESWAPPER let alone my dream house :rotfl:

    One woman got really rude to me for no reason so I thought ''nope , you're not having my home now love & I DON'T want to deal with you OR swap with YOU even though I like the look of your home too!''

    So an upfront , civil & HONEST person who genuinely loves my flat as much as I love their house and wants the swap to go ahead 100% is what I am still hoping for now :D x
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