How to Swap Homes

Swap your home with another family and significantly reduce the cost of your vacation! Reduce the cost of food by eating out only when you want to and eating in the rest of the time. Swap cars and eliminate the need for a rental car. Here's how.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Online services
• Information about and pictures of your home
• Written agreement
• Specific instructions for the people who come to your house on how things work.

1. 
   A site to see in Southern France

   Consider having another family in your home while you are in theirs. Are you comfortable with that? By looking into the various online services (see Resources below) and reading about the people, you may get more comfortable with the idea. (Some services allow you to search through listings before you become a member. Others don’t.) Some services are free, while others charge.
   
   From all the information, should you wish to proceed, find a home in the area to which you want to travel. Usually you can see pictures inside the home and sometimes photos of the family. The listing probably will tell you what members are in the family, if they have pets or smoke and their proximity to the nearest city.

2. 
   French street scene

   Contact the prospective exchanger. Send a friendly email asking if the other party would like to trade homes. From there, you will probably have a number of emails, each party telling about themselves, and maybe sending more pictures. You may exchange information about each other’s area and what shops and amenities are nearby. Find out what public transportation is available. Website addresses with more information may be exchanged. Ask any question that will help you to know whether or not to make the exchange. Notice if the other party has exchanged before. You may be able to check with people they exchanged with before.

3. 
   Monet's home, Giverny, France

   Talk about dates to find out if your timing is compatible. Occasionally an exchanger will offer a nonsimultaneous exchange, but not usually. Do you want to exchange cars? Find out about the size of the automobile.
   
   Once you are ready to make an agreement, most online sites have a form to fill out that will help you ensure that every important item is covered. Such items as auto insurance, how and where keys are to be obtained and who to call if there is a problem are included. A neighbor or friend is often listed as a contact for problems or simply to answer local questions.
   
   Parties generally agree that they will leave the house in the condition they found it in and will repair anything broken. If cars are being exchanged, you probably want to start and end with both tanks full. Sometimes a cleaning person is recommended, and both parties agree to have it cleaned at the end of their stay.

4. 
   Along a canal in France

   Before you leave, make sure you’ve left directions on how to operate things in your home. Does the television have three remotes? Explain, please. Is there a quirk to getting the stove operating? Does an emergency siren go off in your area at a certain time? Tell all for a successful swap.

5. Note any problems or misrepresentations. You may want to discuss these with the exchanger. You are now in a position to recommend (or not) an exchanger.

Tips & Warnings

• Notice the number of children and ages. Make sure you are comfortable with this.
• Store valuables, whether paper or something else, in a locked place.

Resources

• HomeLink International
• Home Xchange Vacation
• HomeExchange
• International Home Exchange Network

[smelltheroses]

on 10/2/2008 As I said on an earlier post, swapping homes is great. I've used sites like CL and caretotrade.com but not yet the one mentioned here. I did a vacation swap but am now looking at doing a permanent home exchange on CL and caretotrade.