Home exchange advice....please

betterbargains4u

We are considering going to California for about 3 weeks next year and are considering doing a home exchange.
Can anyone recommend some good sites and also if anyone has done this...can you offer up the pro's and cons.
Please don't offer your advice.....if you have never tried this type of holiday, as I don't want this thread to get bogged down by negative comments from people who haven't experienced this.

richardw

Do a list of the worst that could happen to your home that you can think of, then ask if anything worse happened to others.

betterbargains4u

richardw wrote: »

Do a list of the worst that could happen to your home that you can think of, then ask if anything worse happened to others.

I did specificaly ask........

Please don't offer your advice.....if you have never tried this type of holiday, as I don't want this thread to get bogged down by negative comments from people who haven't experienced this.

I don't want to be rude....but I DO NOT want comments from people who have never tried this !!!!

kb36

I have swapped homes on over a dozen occasions now and would say the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. In my opinion the only drawback would be the fact that you have to tidy your place before you leave! You could however get in a cleaning service to do this for you as the cost of this is more than compensated for in savings made on accommodation. Go to https://www.knowyourtrade.com for impartial advice and ratings and reviews of agencies. You could try out a free agency first to test the water or one that has the most number of listings in your country of choice. Also if by next year you mean 2010 do start looking now! The worst thing that ever happened on a swap was one family managed to melt out electric kettle by putting it on the gas hob but no harm was done and money was left for a replacement! Let me know if there is anything in particular you need to know or are concerned about as I would be happy to share my experiences.

luvvlyjubbly

omen666 wrote: »

Well you are being rude. What do you expect from a public forum? Search fvcking google for forums that cater for that sort of thing if that is all you want to discuss.

I see nothing wrong with richards post above so dont know why are slating it. This is a public forum and therefore we are all entitled to post on this thread and give our opinions.
.Think you are some sort of hypocrite personally http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27397119&postcount=8

And to whoever reported my previous post to the forum police, get a life too.

Is there any need?!!

omen666

er yes.........

richardw

Faeces in all the matresses could happen, sounds like false economy.

chocolateteddy

I have been and still am a member of the NCT Houseswap register. You need to have children to join though but we have been members for over 8 years and have had a great time.(google nct houseswap) No accomodation fees and we have not had a bad experience. we currently have a merlin pass and have spent a week or two each school holiday at a time near chessington/legoland/thorpe park. Great value holidays in the school holidays in fact I begrudge paying accomodation fees now!!! And some of the houses we have stayed in - way out of our league price wise but a family home just in a posher place than we live.
We have already organised most of our swaps for 2010, one with the family we swapped with this summer. It is great for familys with younger children as we swap baby equipment like highchairs etc to save taking them and if you swap with families with similar aged children they get to play with toys they don't have at home, kitchens are full of normal cooking utensils so heaps better than self catering. We always remove to my parents any precious toys or items that we wouldn't want played with or accidently broken. We have only had one breakage - a glass and it was replaced with 4 new ones!! The people we have swapped with have left a file of things to do in area, supermarkets, doctors etc so it feels like home the moment you arrive, rather than trying to find your way around the area blindly. We talk/email regularly in the lead up to a swap and you get to know the people quite well although you never meet them.
I suppose the only draw back is if you can't get someone to swap with you in an area you want to go (we have only done swaps in britain) but we aren't fussy where we go usually and always have a good time. And it is only £30 a year to join so even if we only got one swap it would be worth it.
As for cleaning the house before we go - it's a good excuse to spring clean I do top to bottom before our first swap of the year and it only needs a bit more than a normal clean for the rest of the year- if that makes sense If you want any more info feel free to PM me.

betterbargains4u

omen666 wrote: »

Well you are being rude. What do you expect from a public forum? Search fvcking google for forums that cater for that sort of thing if that is all you want to discuss.

I see nothing wrong with richards post above so dont know why are slating it. This is a public forum and therefore we are all entitled to post on this thread and give our opinions.
.Think you are some sort of hypocrite personally http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=27397119&postcount=8

And to whoever reported my previous post to the forum police, get a life too.

What a plonker !!!!! :rolleyes:

betterbargains4u

Thankyou for the positive responses, whom I have thanked above. Everyone else........read the first post properly !!
Enough said !!

sc1985

Don't let negative comments get you down.
I have never done this. But my mum does it every year. Saves her a lot of money. Only negatives she has had is the house being left untidy.
But nothing that cleaning wouldnt fix.

go for it