Yes, I believe you really have to think through serious logistics. There are insurance issues, especially if someone is swapping cars. For example, my car is not suitable for anyone to drive. It’s a big truck I use for work. So…do I need to get a small commuter car to make my swap suitable and desirable?
Lots of clearing out the bathrooms, closets, drawers,office, linen closets, etc. I’m pretty picky so I would have a very high standard of how I would want to leave my house. I suspect the ideal situation would be two parties swapping vacation properties.
Honestly, it is not really an issue for us. When we have a swap in place we start really cleaning and organizing a few months out. It’s a great reason to organize closets and spaces. My house is never really dirty, so we just do a deep clean as we go. You leave 2 drawers and some closet space. We eat out the fridge and cabinets in the kitchen and then clean the weekend before we leave. Clear some space in the bathrooms. Throwing stuff away twice a year works well. We have our papers in a box and we give that and some jewelry to my sister. We bring our ipads. I’ve never worried about our computers. People usually bring their own electronics. We don’t have a fussy home so there is not much to break. If we don’t want something touched we put it up or leave a note. We have a notebook on our home and neighborhood and city. Once you do it it’s done.You don’t have to switch your car. We’ve never had a problem.
It is probably not the right situation for everyone, If it makes you nervous or concerned it is really not a good fit and you won’t enjoy yourselves. We have quite a few friends who have done it, which is how we got started. It made vacationing affordable at a time when I was working part-time so I could take our youngest to numerous therapies and we kept with it as I transitioned back to work.
Thanks @amom2girls I will look up Home exchange. Airbnb will cost about £600 for 12 nights - home exchange £100. It’s a no-brainer. We really should take the plunge!
For those willing, we stayed in AirBnB’s WITH the host on our last EU vacation. Less expensive than private accommodations. Some of our favorite memories! All our hosts were incredible, and the experiences added to our trip. Sometimes we just want a place of our own, and we’ll also be looking into a home exchange, but for shorter stays, that’s also an option.
@kjofkw we have always gone for the whole home airbnb as we like to cook - or rather we don’t want to eat out every night and we like shopping in foreign supermarkets. Strange I know but it is nice see regular food but different from one’s own. I have not really considered a ‘room’ airbnb. Hubby likes his own bathroom and in Britain at least you are generally sharing. But for 12 nights it might be much cheaper. I’ll have a look. Thanks for the suggestion.
I much prefer vacation rentals over hotel rooms. I like to have a couch to hang out and catch up on emails, etc, or plan my next day by researching. But the most important thing to me is I want to have coffee when I wake up. I don’t want to get completely dressed up to go out and find coffee somewhere in the lobby. Besides, the coffee in the hotel room coffee maker or lobby is Horrible!! And I love shopping foreign markets, it’s fascinating. I don’t eat heavy big meals very often at night. Much prefer wine and some light snacks on a balcony or patio…with a view of course!
For those who home swap…are the homes you go to super clean and uncluttered? I seem to get anxiety in other people’s homes if they are messy, cluttered or dirty. I don’t know why that is, but I might be uncomfortable in a home swap. Don’t have any problem with vacation rental, but I research carefully with a discerning eye and they are clutter free by nature (because they are not homes that are lived in)
We did a house/car/job swap in 1996 with another member of clergy in a different country. We cleared out drawers and closets ahead of time for them. We had young children (ages 2 and 5) and they had none, but they provided toys and children’s books and videos for our kids in their home. It was a wonderful experience for all.
I appreciate all the replies and the chance to learn how people prepare for a swap. I agree that swapping vacation homes would likely be easiest. Readying our house for an exchange would be impractical, in spite of all the potential benefits. We have rented in Europe through VRBO and had a great experience.
Looked at a room rental with airbnb and it was cheaper. I will have to consult hubby - a couple had en-suites. I am going to have to make a decision soon as don’t want to be stuck with no choice as things will have been booked. Though mid October shouldn’t be so bad?
Thank you to everyone who replied.
We have swapped a variety of homes/flats. Every one of them has been clean and tidy. We have swapped with other families and young marrieds and older people who have no children. Obviously, the swaps with young children will have toys and a bit more clutter. You find that most people who opt in to the program are similar. You can read reviews and feedback. You will see photos and can research the area. We have only swapped our car with people in Europe, otherwise we have used our car to drive to our destination.
You can list when and where you are interested in visiting. We live in Philadelphia and receive more offers that we can ever accept. Unfortunately, most are not in a time frame that we can agree upon due to school schedules and extra curriculars. The offers are often from really cool places and not all are for 2 weeks. We have done long weekends in NYC, Washington DC, and Boston. We get those offers a lot, too.
We don’t have a second home and obviously have not allowed that to stop us from participating. We find it a lot of fun and an adventure.
I’m fascinated with this idea, and I think we could do it in a couple of years, at which point our kids will both be out on their own and our home fix-up list will be pretty much complete. We are self-employed, so we can be flexible with timing. And, we own our office building which is close to our house, and could use that to store anything we wanted out of the way or to secure. Like @coralbrook, I appreciate a more home-like vacation setting. We also want/need to be a bit frugal in our traveling. We have done VRBO once (Asheville, NC) and doing a 2nd one this week-end (Wilmington, NC.) Also looking at some AirBnb’s for when we visit our son in Winston-Salem. @amom2girls, thank you for your insights about your swapping experiences. Question for you - do you have a sense of what people desire most when looking for a place? We are in Philly too, but in the suburbs - but just minutes from several different Septa lines, and a 25 minute drive into center city. Lots to do around our place as well, including Morris Arboretum, Woodmere Art Museum, the village of Chestnut Hill, and Forbidden Drive trail along Wissahickon Creek, all just 5 minutes from our home. Wondering if a 4 bedroom in Montco has the same appeal as your city home - ?? We would be open to long week-ends as well as longer stays. PM me if you have any further insights or suggestions!
@Embracethemess It is so hard to tell what people look for. It was such a surprise for us when we first started getting all of the offers. We have received a lot of offers from Penn parents coming for tours/parents weekend, graduation time every year. Older people coming back to revisit the City. Europeans tend to like/be used to cities, but we traded with families outside of Boston and Toronto (had our car) and did day trips. We were able to spread out, cook, pack lunches. It saved us a lot of money at a time when we didn’t have a lot.
A big piece for you will be how you list/package your home. Talk about proximity to Philly/NYC/DC. List all of the awesome things to do out in your area. 4 bedrooms mean that families can travel. We don’t have a stunning home by any means. It is perfectly nice and well located. Europeans are not afraid of public transportation/trains. They often have school holidays at different times which has been difficult during high school. Also, we’ve had crazy offers for 3/4 weeks from French and Italian academics who were looking for a long break. I really hope we can do those once we retire.
@coralbrook , I think the paywall weeds out some people. And we say “no thanks” more often than “yes.” You can control where you want your swaps. You can look at properties and check out the other host profiles. I hope you have fun!
Do you always do a simultaneous swap? For example I’ve seen some sites where if it is a holiday home there is no need to that. But not sure how it works.
I have looked at so many sites now I can’t remember which one offered ‘points’ for swapping which you could then ‘spend’ on another house. I am guessing it really is only for 2nd homers. I will do some re-digging.