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How
To > Arrange a Home Swap
In the movie The Holiday, Kate
Winslet and Cameron Diaz’s characters temporarily swap homes and, in a way,
lives. Kate vacates her rainy English cottage for a Hollywood mansion, and
Cameron trades palm trees for a chance to meet Jude Law.
It’s rare for a holiday home swap or
rental to come complete with a dishy English movie star, but don’t let that put
you off the idea.
In a home swap, you arrange with a
homeowner in some other part of the world to trade houses simultaneously. It’s
possible to do this independently—say, through mutual
friends—but you can also join a home swapping organization. After paying a membership
fee, you list your house and advertise the times of year you’d like to
travel and the places you want to go. Other members of the group browse your
listing and contact you to make a trade.
The advantage of this system is that,
aside from the membership fee, it’s free. On the downside, many people may be a
bit nervous about letting strangers wander through their home. Also, if you live
in a small town off the tourist trail, you’ll probably have fewer offers to swap
than someone in a major city or resort area.
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When considering joining a home swapping
club, ask for referrals, testimonials and
media clippings. Most home-swapping companies are completely legit, but—as in
any business—some are not.
Most swapping companies provide
extensive advice on arranging a happy home trade. Here are a few questions to
keep in mind.
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Does my insurance policy cover home swaps?
Many do, but contact your insurance company to make sure. Don't forget to check your car insurance policy, if you're
contemplating giving your guests access to your vehicle.
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If I rent my home, does my lease allow
me to home swap? Check with your landlord. Again, many leases do allow
short-term free guests, but some may consider swapping a form of subletting.
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Will there be any extra charges in the home I'm visiting?
Before you leave, you and your host should decide how to handle expenses for
services such as long-distance phone calls, Internet access and emergency
repairs.
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May I see more pictures? If there are only one or two on
the site, ask for more.
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What is the neighbourhood like? A house may be beautiful,
but it doesn't exist in isolation. Depending on your needs and tastes, a house
next to a busy nightclub or surrounded by silent farmland may be your
definition of holiday heaven or hell.
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Are there special conditions? Are children welcome? May I
smoke? May I bring my dog? May I invite guests over for dinner?
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Are there added responsibilities? Your host may expect
you to water the plants, mow the lawn, bring in the mail or even take care of
pets. Ask.
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Three of the keys to a successful house
swap are "start early," "be flexible" and "be honest."
You need to start early for several
reasons. First of all, it gives you the widest choice of potential properties.
Those chic flats in central London and rustic farmhouses in Tuscany tend to go
quickly. Even in less popular locales, houses get snapped up when there isn't a
wide range of homes available.
An early start also helps you build a
relationship with your fellow swappers. After even a few e-mails and phone
calls, you'll feel less like you're leaving your house to strangers and more as
though friends are moving in. Those communications also give you lots of time to
discuss ground rules about such potential bones of contention as smoking, noise,
pets and children.
As for being flexible, it goes with the
territory of home swapping. If you are tied to a particular two weeks and will
only consider properties within a narrow geographic area, you will probably find
home swapping frustrating. But if you're willing to consider a suburb rather
than downtown, winter rather than summer, or an apartment rather than a house,
for instance, many more options will be available. One of the joys of house
swapping, after all, is that it gives you a chance to live like a local...and
even in Paris, not all locals live in the Latin Quarter in April.
Similar flexibility comes into play in
terms of amenities. If that downtown apartment has no parking spot, can you make
do on public transit? If that rustic farmhouse has no Internet access, how do
you feel about the village Internet cafe, or about staying offline altogether?
And what do I mean about being honest?
This tip actually has two parts: be honest with your potential swappers, and be
honest with yourself.
Don't embellish the truth when you
describe your house to potential swappers. A backyard pond does not constitute
"lakefront." A 20-year-old stove and a wheezing refrigerator do not a "gourmet
kitchen" make. If it takes an hour on the commuter train to get to Grand Central
Station, don't claim your apartment is "in the heart of Manhattan." It will only
lead to tears.
And don't let a desire to be flexible
spur you to lie to yourself about the things you truly consider essential to a
happy holiday. If you revel in candlelit baths, you may get grumpy after two
weeks in an apartment with only a cramped shower stall. If your kids spend every waking
hour in your big backyard at home, you may be setting yourself up for a long
bout of cabin fever if you swap your place for a tiny studio apartment.
Finally, if letting someone else sleep
in your bed and use your dishes creeps you out, admit it. Home swapping just may
not be for you!
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Make sure your guests have a good time in your home, and foster your own
peace of mind, by following these tips.
- Confirm the dates of the exchange in writing, as early as possible.
- Give your guests room to breathe. Clear out a closet and a few dresser
drawers. Hide clutter in the basement.
- Make sure your home is tidy and that major appliances are in
working order. Do those minor repairs you've been putting off.
- Stock up on basics: soap, toilet paper, kitchen staples.
- Leave sufficient clean linens and towels.
- Put away any valuables you're worried about. Many home exchangers stash
the family crystal, expensive electronics and rare books in one room that is specified as "off
limits." Another option is to take such items to a friend's house.
- Password-protect sensitive computer files.
- Be crystal clear about the location of the house key. In fact, leave a backup
copy with a neighbour, in case there's any confusion.
- Put together a guide to your home and neighbourhood and leave it on the
kitchen table or in some other prominent place. Include details like directions to the nearest grocery store;
menus for take-out restaurants; instructions for using the phone, TV, washing
machine, thermostat and other appliances; instructions on pet and plant care,
if needed; brochures for nearby attractions; the phone number of the nearest
medical and dental clinics; and anything else you think might be useful.
- Ask a friend, family member or neighbour to drop in on your house soon
after your guests arrive, to make sure everything is going well (both from the
guests' perspective and from yours).
- Warn your neighbours that you're doing a house swap, so they don't get
worried when they see strangers frolicking in your backyard.
- Call home once while you're away, in case your guests have any questions.
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Here are a few links to get you
daydreaming.
1st Home Exchange - This Montreal-based
site is available in English and French.
Aussie House Swap - This
site focuses
on house swaps within Australia and New Zealand. You can join if you live
elsewhere, but only if you want to swap your place for a spot in one of those
two countries.
Digsville -
This house-swapping site, based in New York state, has several useful features.
The U-Rate option lets potential swappers see reviews of properties and
neighbourhoods from people who have tried the place before. With the
"hospitality" option, members can choose to stay in their home and host
non-paying guests rather than doing a full swap—a nice way to get accustomed to
the idea of strangers in your house without taking the full plunge right away.
Exchange Homes - This
comprehensive Texas-based site has been around since 1986.
Global Home Exchange - Based in Nanaimo, British Columbia, this site
offers listings with a wide range of time frames, from weekends to long-term
sabbaticals.
Green Theme International -
This British site offers listing information in multiple European languages,
including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese.
Home Base Holidays - Another
British-based site, Home Base has lots of good tips for home swappers, in addition to
detailed listings.
Home Exchange - If you watched
The Holiday carefully, you would have seen Kate and Cameron tapping their
keyboards to get to this California-based site. It's available in seven languages.
Home for Swaps - This
French-based site has more than a thousand listings in France, as well as
listings in many other countries. The French version of the site is
EchangeImmo.
HomeLink
International - One of the grand-daddies of the home exchange industry,
this Brussels-based organization has been around since 1953. It now has local
offices in 22 countries (including Canada
and the United States), and listings
are available in a wide range of languages, including Japanese and Turkish.
Intervac
- Another long-established organization dating back to 1953, Intervac has local
representatives in 35 countries. In many cases, country representatives maintain
separate Intervac websites with detailed info and listings for that particular
destination (such as the Canadian and
American sites). The main site is
available in 15 languages, including Polish and Swedish.
Jewett Street - This newish
site, based in Germany, is run by a well-travelled Swiss woman. It's available in English
and German.
Sabbatical Homes - This site
is aimed primarily at the academic community looking for long-term housing
during the school year. However, you don't have to be a teacher to try it,
particularly if you live in a college town. Its strength is in swaps of six
months or more.
Trade to Travel
- This site, focusing on people with luxurious second homes, is not a typical
house swap site. Since most members are not listing their primary residence,
swaps are rarely simultaneous. Instead, members get points for hosting other
members in their ski chalet or beach house, which they can then "spend" to stay
in someone else's upscale holiday condo when that person isn't there.
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Certified Home Exchange Clubs
- There's no denying it: home swapping can be a nerve-racking proposition for
some people. The idea of leaving your house with strangers while you're halfway
around the world isn't exactly natural. CHEC offers a range of services to put
members' mind at ease, from insurance policies designed specifically for home
swappers to mediation in case a swap goes wrong. CHEC-certified clubs agree to a
code of ethics.
Craigslist - This classified
advertising behemoth has separate sites for dozens of cities and countries. Pick
your destination, then look under "home swap" and see whether anything is
available. Alternatively, you can list your home on your local Craigslist.
Craigslist is much more casual and freewheeling than traditional home swapping
sites, and many listings don't have pictures. It's probably best for very free
spirits with a high risk tolerance.
The Home Exchange Academy
- This e-book is a primer on the ins and outs of home exchange.
The Home Exchange Guide -
This is another e-book full of tips. You may need to scroll down the page to see
it.
Home Swappers Newsletter
- Home Base Holidays (see above) publishes this free bimonthly e-zine, full of
useful tips and inspiring stories.
Know Your Trade
- It's not a club or company, per se, but rather a collection of reviews of home
swapping clubs, stats on which clubs have the most listings in particular areas,
a newsletter about home swapping and other useful stuff. On the downside, the
layout is a bit busy and the site can be slow to load.
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