Home Swap/Home Exchange Facts by Travelogger

Sep|20|2007

Home Swap/Home Exchange Facts

Posted by Hannah Grace as Around The World, Destinations, Family, Tips

While doing research on home exchange I was really surprised at how widespread it apparently is. After looking at various listings though I was a bit disappointed at the number of “home exchangers” who were actually simply looking for vacationers that would rent their beach houses and other luxury properties. Anyway, here’s what I found out about home swaps.

1. Home swaps are supposed to be free. While websites might exact a price for you to be able to post listings or even just view them there should be no money exchanged between the vacationers.
2. There are plenty of posers out there. To avoid people who are just trying to reel you into renting their property here’s some things that will warn you about them while scanning listings:

Exchange period is listed as flexible - It’s flexible because when you contact them they don’t even really live in their house nor are they going on a vacation!
Exchange destination is listed as anywhere - Just like in the exchange period they have no real plans of going anywhere so they list anywhere to get as much people to contact them for an offer. However, there are some real swappers that do list anywhere as destination. Usually though they have a definite period in mind.
Price stated - Some have the gall to list the rental rates. In cases like this it’s the website’s fault and I get really irritated because the websites obviously only want to profit and do not care about the home swapper’s welfare.

3. It takes a lot of shopping around to find a good home and family to swap with. You might like the location and the terms but they might not agree to what you want. This means that even if a site has tons of listings, if it’s your first time to swap, chances are you will end up visiting several sites before finding a good one.
4. Destinations that are most wanted are Australia, United States and European countries like France, Spain and Switzerland.
5. Most homes are really nice, which is puzzling since the people who swap homes are apparently those that can afford expensive vacations. Go figure.

5 Responses

Lois
21|Sep|2007

Hi Hannah

Glad to see you have discovered home exchange but you, like many people researching the idea for the first time, are probably more than a little confused about home exchange sites that include a large number of commercial rental offers along with home exchange offers. It’s not a problem to have both types of listing on one site - but they must be totally separate so that those only interested in home exchange don’t have to waste time suggesting swaps to those only interested in letting properties.

On our own site (Home Base Holidays, est. in London in 1985), we include a limited number of non-commercial rental offers, i.e. rental is chosen as an additional option, along with home exchange, by a small number of second home owners who often let their properties to fellow members at special reduced rates. This means our private, members only site is not particularly attractive to commercial renters who can find plenty of free or rental specific sites that will reach many more potential tenants.

As for being open on dates and destinations - many genuine home exchangers are very open and flexible, especially retired people who don’t need to fit their exchanges around work or school holidays. So please don’t dismiss them all as some how suspicious just because they don’t list particular destinations or have set dates.

Hope you will visit my home exchange blog:

http://homeexchangetravel.blogs.com

I’m always looking for new home exchange related topics to cover so, if you have any questions or points to make about your experiences, I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers!
Exchange Queen
21|Sep|2007

Hi Hannah,
I run a site called Know Your Trade (http://www.knowyourtrade.com) that rates and reviews all the home exchange sites. Since we have examined all the clubs thoroughly, we know that most of the legitimate home exchange sites do separate rentals and exchanges and offer a search option so either option will be listed exclusively. Some clubs do not allow rental options, but many do. As long as there is a way to sort out the two, that is ok in my book.
As to the open dates and destinations, I agree with Lois. We have found that many people, especially as Lois points out, those who are retired, are very flexible. Many look at home exchange as an adventure and are truly open to all destinations at any time, with enough notice.
Take a look at http://www.knowyourtrade.com for information about ALL home exchange clubs. We are unaffiliated and unbiased.
Vacation Rentals by Travelogger
24|Sep|2007

[...] a large family on vacation can post problems when it comes to lodging. One solution would be to swap homes with other people. Hannah has already actually written something about this. An alternative to home [...]
hannahgrace
27|Sep|2007

Hi Lois! Thanks for visiting! Thanks for clearing some things up. I did see some websites that separated Home Swaps and Vacation Rentals. Been enjoying browsing through Home Base Holidays day dreaming of the time my home will look respectable enough to swap! ^_^

And Hi Exchange Queen, I do apologize but your comment got lost and I only read it now. I sure will check out your new site!
Ursula
02|Oct|2007

Hi Hannah,
For anybody who likes to give Home Exchange a try, I suggest to look at several home exchange sites and get “a feel” for them before deciding which one to choose. Many of the experienced home exchangers are members with more than one club. That’s because some Home Exchange Clubs have many listings in a particular area, let’s say, in Europe. Others have a great selection of American listings.
As far as finding other home exchangers with kids and their accommodation needs, our Home Exchange Network, http://www.JewettStreet.com, offers a unique search function called “Have Kids will Travel”. With one click you can find other families in a particular area. By the way, membership with JewettStreet.com is still free, no strings attached.
Happy Home Exchanging!