<p>Our son will soon be off to college and our daughter to France on an AFS student exchange (11th grade).</p>
<p>We’re thinking of a house swap with a French family towards the end of our D’s time there. Have any of you tried this? We’re also wondering if you have any advice re: a good agency to help us find a good fit.</p>
<p>A friend of mine has used this site for several exchanges and has been very happy with her experience:</p>
<p>[HomeLink</a> USA International home exchange, house swap, homeexchange information](<a href=“HomeLink USA International home exchange, house swap, travel information”>HomeLink USA International home exchange, house swap, travel information)</p>
<p>I would be nervous about house switching, when you do it are you supposed ot pack up all your doodads so they are not at risk? Do you assume nice people will be nice to your stuff?</p>
<p>I guess it would be smart for CC to start a home exchange link, we’ve talked to each other for so long, we would all feel pretty comfortable :)</p>
<p>somemom, I agree about worrying about all of the “doodads”. I always wondered how you would know if grandma’s antique platter was missing until you went to look for it the next Thanksgiving. I guess things are not that important to some people, and they would not mind risking losing a piece of crystal for the chance at experiencing a new country. I guess you need to be comfortable with another couple showering in your shower, and sleeping in your bed, and perhaps looking through all of your stuff. It is definitely not for everyone.</p>
<p>NSM-your next to the last sentence made me shiver, the way you phrase it, ewwwwwwww, and yet I could imagine trading with some one I knew, and many people come to our area in the summer, so hmmmmm, maybe I should get over that “eww”.</p>
<p>I actually had a friend who was a single mom, short on cash, two in college and I hooked her up with family in SoCal who were going to be out of town. My friend got a free place to stay, they got a house sitter and she did some big cooking and left them some prepared meals- they are old and don’t cook much, so they were thrilled. I had no problem recommending her.</p>
<p>It’s thinking about having a house sitter in your home that causes you to realise how private you are! A dear friend’ss son had just moved back to the area and was in his 30s living with his mom (yuck) and she offered to have him stay at our house when we left town and it just felt “yeech” because he had a real chip on his shoulder and I did not want him going through my stuff and I just knew he would.</p>
<p>But then, my D is an official pet sitter, does over nights all the time and has no interest whatsoever in going through any body’s stuff; though she did comment she now understands why Dad & I are so intense on leaving the house & frig clean when we leave town, she always thought it was silly until seeing how gross some people leave their home or especially the old food in the frig. 
On one job people were gone for three week and D had to check on the cat daily, they left seafood in their frig!!!</p>
<p>I am NEM;), but it is yucky to me. The concept is interesting, until you really think about people potentially being able to go through your closets, drawers, touching your stuff, bathing in your tub, and sleeping on your mattress (even though you sleep on mattresses used by others in hotels). It all makes my skin crawl. JMO, LOL.</p>
<p>You could try just renting an apartment or house in France. If you’ll be there for a week or more it’ll usually be cheaper than a hotel.</p>
<p>You are NEM because you type more accurately than I do Or else i was thinking phonetically</p>
<p>LOL! ten characters</p>
<p>Somemom and NEM thanks, now you have me all freaked out with thoughts of kooties and such.</p>
<p>Look, anytime you stop for a night at a hotel or motel (super yech!) you’re sleeping in someone’s bed.</p>
<p>Our house is actually filled with objets d’art and such from all over the world that we’ve accumulated from our travels. Hence, the desire to find a good agency that will check out all parties. We hope to spend two to four weeks in France and thought this house swapping idea might be just the ticket.</p>
<p>vballmom, Thanks I’ll check out that site. We really appreciate the help.</p>
<p>Sorry, Max, I have the heebie jeebies, too! And i hear that the worst place in a hotel is on top of the bedspread- every one sits there and it is rarely washed!</p>
<p>Let us know what you find out and if you do it, how it goes! It is not so much the dollar value of things as the sentimental value of things acquired with fun memories or irreplaceable things.</p>
<p>Sorry, Max. I just brought out a few reasons that I would not want to do it, but that is just me. The pay off for experiences in another country might still have me thinking about it. Can’t say that I would follow through with this idea.</p>
<p>Max, my H and I swapped houses with a couple in England. It turned out very well. We enjoyed experiences (including socializing with their neighbors) that we would have not experienced otherwise. Also, when they met our dog, they volunteered to babysit so we didn’t have to kennel him!</p>
<p>The logistics of the swap were quite comical. They flew to Minnesota where we picked them up. They gave us their car keys and a photo of their car, and we flew to London, armed with the photo, to hunt down their car in the airport parking lot! </p>
<p>We had a wonderful experience & I would definitely do it again.</p>
<p>? Hunting for a car not your own in foreign country…what an adventure!</p>
<p>BTW - Intervac was the agency that we arranged our swap through.</p>
<p>OK, for the English majors, let me re-phrase:</p>
<p>Intervac is the agency through which we arranged our swap.</p>
<p>We did a house swap with friends (California to Washington DC). It was great! The husband is an engineer, and he fixed a bunch of stuff in our house. “No problem”, he said, “I would have done that at home.” We traded cars and everything!</p>
<p>I didn’t worry for a second about my stuff or snooping. Maybe my life just isn’t very interesting, because I can’t think of anything about me I wouldn’t want them to find out about.</p>
<p>Hey, NEM, maybe we should trade and promise not to touch or look at each other’s stuff :D</p>
<p>So good to read about this! Have always wanted to do a housing swap, as day to day life in other places fascinates me far more than ‘the sights.’</p>
<p>I agree, my life holds little that I’d be concerned about someone else seeing, have little of great value, though a nice, if lived in house. Craigs list is one free place though which I’ve tried to arrange such things, though hasn’t worked so far.</p>
<p>somemom, there you go! BTW, I have nothing of great value, it is just the idea of someone going through my stuff that really bothers me. Frankly, other than things that are sentimental only to me, there is nothing of value here.</p>
<p>Just thinking, this is a great thing if you owned a summer/vacation home.</p>