Changing apartments is the biggest and safest way to arrange a stay. You need to do your own research to make sure your partner is reliable and responsible. Check references, find them on Facebook, or ask your housing swap for more information about potential swap partners.
The websites mentioned above are based on an evaluation and feedback system, which means that you are familiar with the experiences of other house swapping and your prospects for hospitality. It has proven to be very effective in protecting your property from profiteers. However, house swapping is not for everyone.
It also does no harm to ensure that your insurance covers your valuables in amounts equal to or exceeding their value. By and large, householders are considerate, educated people. You treat your house as your property with as much respect as you treat the house as your property.
You can also make your home available to a wide range of intermediaries with different travel needs. You can find unique accommodation options that are otherwise unavailable or too expensive. People have swapped their houses to stay on a yacht or with people while they travel around the area.
With HomeExchange, leave your pet at home with a loving family who will take care of it while you care for their sleep. The members look for a pet-friendly home and agree to observe each other while exchanging pets.
In order to be on the safe side and to be sure that you have the desired location by the desired date, we recommend that you start the search at least three months in advance. If you are open to the possibility of not being stuck at a certain destination, you can organize a house exchange at any time. Several of my exchanges were coordinated with a local mountain to get a few feet of powder.
If you are both on holiday at the same time, stay away from each other for the same week. If you want to holiday and visit separately for business, you can swap your houses. In this case, you could arrange a stay in your apartment at a later date.
The house exchange network operates according to a points system. Use the time when your house is empty to earn points when you spend the holidays with our other members at home. There is no need to coordinate data and locations with other members to organize swaps.
As Forrest Gump put it, shit happens and house swapping is not 100 percent safe. If a swapper is found guilty of damage or theft, he will be blacklisted by your home exchange or network of choice. You will be covered by the insurance offered by your exchange to cover losses and damages.
Over the holidays, I was on the home banking websites HomeExchange and LoveHomesWap, and my husband wanted a more personal connection, so we tried it for the first time. After we returned home, several friends asked us about it. Below is an overview of how we managed to find our way into the housing market from start to finish.
We went on Facebook and Twitter to reach out to everyone we knew who lived in France, friends, and relatives. I used Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn to search for swaps, and then we skyped and met a lot by email to work out the details. I also enquired at school and with neighbors. I found our trap through a friend who delved into her network and tried to find a swap for herself.
We went to their house and had a similar experience to the first, except for their outrageous humor, and spent hours in fits of laughter. A few days later, I had a third call. This time with a couple who lived in Paris and were friends with our holiday exchange partners and stayed with other friends. They arrived and we felt very comfortable. They didn’t go for the two-drink rule, but we had a ball.
We had several flight cancellations that delayed our arrival on the island and some of our luggage was lost in the process. While he was there, an elderly lady with her pearls appeared at the door. We explained what was in the bag, and as she spoke English, she understood us: she would come back with her late husband’s pajamas (Syd) and a new nightgown for me.
