House Swap

Thanks Michelle for the tips, especially regarding your own home's location. I've been thinking about this for some time but wondered who would want my location -- not quite Toronto, not quite cottage country. I guess I just need to point out its a short drive to both and see what happens.

Did you include cars when you exchanged in England?

Thanks for the great info. I so want to do this, however, my husband doesn't like the idea of people in our house. He's afraid of damage or stolen items. How do you deal with this? Have you ever had damage to your home and how do you handle it afterwards? Do you also let the other family use your car? As you said, I have seen some incredible locations and two people families which, to me, would be perfect. Also, having stayed in many zimmers over the years, most Europeans are very clean and tidy and tend to take very good care of things. To me, it sounds like a win/win situation especially with this economy.

I'll jump in on this, since I am a great fan of house swapping, and we've done five. I agree with everything Michelle has said, except about 2nd homes. European 2nd homes are often in beach towns full of vacation developments. Not my cup of tea. Just be very careful about this, if it's not yours either. I'll add that we've never had anything taken or broken. I put my irreplaceable things in one cabinet with a "please don't use" note on it. Did exchange cars with a Scottish couple. No problem since we had driven for a year in the UK; and they didn't seem to have trouble here. If anyone is interested, I'd be more than happy to share the details of my preparations for a smooth exchange.

We are at the end of our first home swap...Holland for Florida... and have loved every minute of it. The house we swapped for is less in square footage and amenities than our house but that's not important to use. We picked this one because of it's location and that's turned out to be a winner for us. We like the idea of having a home base, being able to eat "at home", not paying high bar bills just because we want a glass of wine, and probably the most important...having access to a washer and dryer. We included cars in our swap too. As far as damages go, we figure that's what insurance is for. Anything we are really concerned about either got locked up or put in a safety deposit box.

Based on this year's experience, we are already in negotiations for next year's holiday.

Hi, Thanks for the responses. I'll try to answer your questions based on my experiences:

We did not rent a car but people certainly do. This is something that really varies between exchanges.

As for the broken/stolen issue, I have never had this happen but it certainly can. I will add however that you are also in their home so it is highly unlikely that they will steal anything but certainly accidents happen. The homeaway site actually covers this for their members with an insurance policy.
We are swapping our vacation house which we also occasionally rent. I have separate sheets/towels and a locked closet and there is nothing of any significant value or extreme personal nature in the house.
That said, the London swap was their primary residence. She locked her husbands office and asked me if I minded. Absolutely not- this is her personal financial info and although I am not a snooper she has every right to protect her privacy.
Full disclosure here... I am pretty anal :) so this requires me to go out of my comfort zone. As I mentioned in my first posting, I was not completely comfortable with the cleanliness of the first swap so I was prepared the second time around. You really need to know yourself and your family but I would wholeheartedly do it again. I learned a lot the first time and keep building on the with each trip.

Will respectfully disagree about the second home comment :). We just swapped an apartment in the middle of Florence surrounded by locals. The site has 30,000 houses on it so I really think it varies widely on location and there is truly something for everyone!