Home Exchanges

ribenagirl

I've been tentatively looking at the idea of a home exchange for a little while now. Has anyone tried this (in which case, how did it go?) or is thinking about it?

(I mean, a home exchange where you go stay in someone else's house on holiday in like New Zealand or somewhere while they stay in yours, not a full-on house swap thing! )

aliasojo

Funny enough, Edinburghlass and I had a conversation about this very subject the other day.

I think we both came to the conclusion that the tidying up aspect would be prohibitive.

Seriously though, I think it's quite a good idea as long as it was done through a reconised agency perhaps? I would worry that a private agreement with a stranger would be fraught with potential problems.

Good way to cut the cost of your holiday and you may well stay in places you wouldn't otherwise have considered.

Don't think anyone would want to house swap with me at the moment, lol. (I have no bedroom floor!)

Edinburghlass_2

She has no bed either, come to that :rotfl:

ribenagirl

the thing I'm most worried about TBH, is having to let someone else drive my mini cooper s - I'm a bit fanatical about it!! (and you need a car really to get around, where we live )

I've had a look at a couple of online agencies and keep thinking of taking the plunge but always back out at the last minute

TY you guys!

aliasojo

Shouldn't you be hoovering!

(Sorry to hijack your thread ribenagirl)

aliasojo

You don't have to have your car as part of the deal though. Whoever wanted your house could arrange car hire themselves perhaps?

Personally, I wouldn't want total strangers driving my car either.

ribenagirl

aliasojo wrote:

You don't have to have your car as part of the deal though. Whoever wanted your house could arrange car hire themselves perhaps?

Good point! I assumed that that is just what you did. *phew*

And there is no way I'd want anyone going down my drawers (so to speak ) either, or noseying at my bank statements. Eeeeeek! Wish I'd never started this - just putting myself off some more now

Edinburghlass_2

aliasojo wrote:

Shouldn't you be hoovering!

(Sorry to hijack your thread ribenagirl)

No need for me to do the hoovering now, Zappy does it himself :rotfl:

Pink.

I love the idea of home exchange in theory. It certainly does seem to be moneysaving and is probably fine for couples who live orderly lives, but it would take me until next summer at the very least, to make my house habitable for people who didn't know me and who may not be prepared to forgive me and my family for our collective disorder :rolleyes:

Pink

se999

Hi,
We've done house swaps with https://www.homelink.org.uk (there are lots of others) with no problems.

The pre-trip cleaning is a real pest, but you just move the dates of your 'spring clean', I try to gradually go around the 'bits you miss' over the couple of weeks before so it's not too bad just before we leave. Lots of exchangers also offer to arrange a local cleaner to come in at the end of the stay, so you go back to a clean house, but you have to negotiate it as a part of the swap (which we've done), or you pay the cleaner directly. I suppose you could have a pre-exchange cleaner in!

We've not included cars, car hire is so cheap in most countries that it's not been worth it for us, it also seems a lot of hassle to sort out the insurance; but we're only doing normal 'holiday' type exchanges, lots of retired people go off for very long periods and so it's worth looking into.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Forgot someone mentioned about the privacy aspect! We actually have a filing cabinet for documents, so just lock it. But standard advice is if there is something precious or confidential you are worried about, leave it with a friend or neighbour, or in the attic out of the way.