Help! Best Home Exchange?
Nov 23rd, 2005, 05:43 AM
#2
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Can't speak for them all, but we use homeexchange.com and are very pleased with it. Arranged a successful exchange to Sweden last year and have gotten a couple of offers but nothing set for this year.
Nov 28th, 2005, 08:35 AM
#6
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You might be interested in our Swedish home exchange. The report is here:
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...2&tid=34657438
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...2&tid=34657438
Dec 1st, 2005, 06:25 AM
#9
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Joan, I haven't gone yet. We are swapping our Tampa pool house over Christmas with a small family from San Francisco, parents with 2 young kids who live in a 3/3 in the Mission District. She had posted on Craigslist in September and we began emailing and providing information about each other. We both decided not to swap autos. The home exchange sites had some agreements that we both pondered as neither of us had done this, but I guess the realities of the situation hit us both: 1) us flat-landers driving their BMW in San Francisco, and 2) us teen-driver family already paying huge insurance premiums not wanting to deal with ramifications. One suggestion on the swap site was to have both parties agree to pay the others deductible if anything happened but that won't keep your insurance premiums down if they do wreck your or anothers car. Anyway, bottom line was that we don't really need a car in SF except for maybe a couple of day trips, and they are going to be coming from FLL where they are taking a cruise and will need to rent a car to drive from there anyway.
Oddly, they didn't care to have the beach house as I'd told them I could try to arrange it. I have a tenant who thought they'd be out by around Christmas but then decided they'd need it longer. The SF couple said not to worry, they didn't think they'd be up for getting their kids and stuff together for a night or two and would rather stay put. Our Tampa house is more than twice the beach house size and we have a hot tub so I think they'll be happier here anyway.
I think the key is to email and get information and then get on the phone with each other. A friend told me about her moms experience -- she won't swap with families with kids because of the damage they did with crayons on her walls. I am preparing my home for the 4 and 6 year old, putting my breakables away. And I need to paint anyway. I'm a little concerned about the pool and liability for that.
The other dilemma is my dog. The cat is no big deal but my dog is getting old and having some health problems. I've decided to kennel the dog for the week they're here in a place that they can monitor her health and where she won't be a burden on the swappers.
So that's my story, Joan. I will tell you after the first of the year how it goes
Oddly, they didn't care to have the beach house as I'd told them I could try to arrange it. I have a tenant who thought they'd be out by around Christmas but then decided they'd need it longer. The SF couple said not to worry, they didn't think they'd be up for getting their kids and stuff together for a night or two and would rather stay put. Our Tampa house is more than twice the beach house size and we have a hot tub so I think they'll be happier here anyway.
I think the key is to email and get information and then get on the phone with each other. A friend told me about her moms experience -- she won't swap with families with kids because of the damage they did with crayons on her walls. I am preparing my home for the 4 and 6 year old, putting my breakables away. And I need to paint anyway. I'm a little concerned about the pool and liability for that.
The other dilemma is my dog. The cat is no big deal but my dog is getting old and having some health problems. I've decided to kennel the dog for the week they're here in a place that they can monitor her health and where she won't be a burden on the swappers.
So that's my story, Joan. I will tell you after the first of the year how it goes
Dec 1st, 2005, 07:43 AM
#10
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A good friend of mine did a UK house swap and one of the big positives for her was the family whose home she stayed in had encouraged an elderly couple next door to take my friend's family "under their wing." They ended up shopping, having tea, and going to an outdoor opera performance with these neighbors and it deepened their experience to have British friends.
Dec 1st, 2005, 11:00 AM
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Our experience, on both sides I think, was excellent. We had dinner on our last night in Sweden with them and we both talked about what a great experience it was and that we both would exchange again.
We had detailed agreements about the houses, utilities, internet, cars, laundry, insurance, expectations etc. which both families signed. We also left numbers for emergency contacts, repairmen, and other info. I believe templates for these documents are part of the homeexchange.com site.
We took care of their cat and fell completely in love with him. That was great fun for us, although he was pretty low maintenance.
We did exchange cars, both were about the same age and fairly comparable. The clutch broke in their car, luckily when we were not too far from their house and on the afternoon of the last day that we planned to use their car. We had the number for their towing service (similar to AAA) and it was towed to their local garage. The Swedish family offered to pay our taxi ride home, but we wouldn't accept. They took care of the repair upon their return since it was not our fault.
Overall, many people we knew were / are skeptical about doing a home exchange. Our family and friends had scenerios about parties, broken items, fires, thefts. We discovered that at least in this instance, we exchanged with a family very similar to ours who loves to travel and wanted a more local / slower experience. Part of our comfort was reached through emails and a phone call prior to the exchange.
Finally, we have two boys and while they can be loud and unruly, and accidents do happen, we would be mortified if they wrote on the wall and our family would pay to have that room painted. So hopefully all children are not the same and I like to think that that experience is not typical. One thing I do when we check into an apartment (we rent a lot of these while traveling) is to child-proof and pick up clutter and knick-knacks that we don't need around just to guard against things getting broken, and so we have plenty of space. Perhaps more families should do that.
We had detailed agreements about the houses, utilities, internet, cars, laundry, insurance, expectations etc. which both families signed. We also left numbers for emergency contacts, repairmen, and other info. I believe templates for these documents are part of the homeexchange.com site.
We took care of their cat and fell completely in love with him. That was great fun for us, although he was pretty low maintenance.
We did exchange cars, both were about the same age and fairly comparable. The clutch broke in their car, luckily when we were not too far from their house and on the afternoon of the last day that we planned to use their car. We had the number for their towing service (similar to AAA) and it was towed to their local garage. The Swedish family offered to pay our taxi ride home, but we wouldn't accept. They took care of the repair upon their return since it was not our fault.
Overall, many people we knew were / are skeptical about doing a home exchange. Our family and friends had scenerios about parties, broken items, fires, thefts. We discovered that at least in this instance, we exchanged with a family very similar to ours who loves to travel and wanted a more local / slower experience. Part of our comfort was reached through emails and a phone call prior to the exchange.
Finally, we have two boys and while they can be loud and unruly, and accidents do happen, we would be mortified if they wrote on the wall and our family would pay to have that room painted. So hopefully all children are not the same and I like to think that that experience is not typical. One thing I do when we check into an apartment (we rent a lot of these while traveling) is to child-proof and pick up clutter and knick-knacks that we don't need around just to guard against things getting broken, and so we have plenty of space. Perhaps more families should do that.
Dec 15th, 2005, 06:30 AM
#13
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Just came across this interesting discussion and thought I'd throw in my two cents worth!
I had a very successful exchange to Scotland from my home in Sydney two years ago. I did lots of research beforehand and registered with two agencies - one was a 'free' site but this turned out to be a waste of time as most of the people on it didn't seem that bothered about arranging exchanges (most didn't even reply). I guess nothing in life is really free!
The second agency I registered with was Home Base Holidays and I was very pleased with the service - very easy but sophisticated site to use, lots of attractive exchange offers and much information provided. One thing I looked for before deciding which agency to join was not just the number of listings but whether I could see how long listings were kept on the site as if there are lots of listings where many may be out of date this is not much use. The Home Base site (http://www.homebase-hols.com) gives this information - each listing shows when the member joined and when their listing expires. I didn't see any more than two years old and most were under a year. It didn't take long to find a member interested in my offer and all went smoothly with our arrangements.
Hope this is helpful as I know it can be confusing when faced with so many sites which seem to offer the same service.
I had a very successful exchange to Scotland from my home in Sydney two years ago. I did lots of research beforehand and registered with two agencies - one was a 'free' site but this turned out to be a waste of time as most of the people on it didn't seem that bothered about arranging exchanges (most didn't even reply). I guess nothing in life is really free!
The second agency I registered with was Home Base Holidays and I was very pleased with the service - very easy but sophisticated site to use, lots of attractive exchange offers and much information provided. One thing I looked for before deciding which agency to join was not just the number of listings but whether I could see how long listings were kept on the site as if there are lots of listings where many may be out of date this is not much use. The Home Base site (http://www.homebase-hols.com) gives this information - each listing shows when the member joined and when their listing expires. I didn't see any more than two years old and most were under a year. It didn't take long to find a member interested in my offer and all went smoothly with our arrangements.
Hope this is helpful as I know it can be confusing when faced with so many sites which seem to offer the same service.
Jan 21st, 2007, 08:09 PM
#14
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On the topic of home exchange, we have recently launched a new, free unaffiliated service called Know Your Trade. We have rated and reviewed all 60 home exchange clubs, in addition to offering tips on how to choose the club that is best for you and how to arrange and prepare for exchanges. We also offer an opportunity for members of home exchange clubs to rate their club and a Forum for questions, home exchange stories and more.
www.knowyourtrade.com - Home Exchange Made Easy
www.knowyourtrade.com - Home Exchange Made Easy
