Am i mad to consider an easter house swop with a florida family?

[Theladyloriana]

Has anyone done this and it actually worked out well?! I'd like to take the dc to south Florida gold coast for a break... I live in a nice village which could temp people near some lovely places...

[DefinitelyNotAJourno]

I've done this through a home exchange website, and swapped with a family in Paris. It worked very well!

[KurriKurri]

Sounds like a great idea - is there anything specifically you are worried about?

[Notso]

I'd love to do this but not sure anyone would want to visit where I live

[araiba]

why do you think you would be mad to do it?

[HeyMacWey]

What do you do with all your stuff?
Do you pack away all of your clothes etc?

I'm tempted to do this as we're in a reasonable location - do you let them use your car too?

[WalkingZed]

Nothing to contribute just interested in responses!

[DefinitelyNotAJourno]

When I did it, no, we didn't pack away our stuff. I cleared a wardrobe for their use. They had one room off limits to me, where I presume they stored their clutter.

We both had cats, so left enough food and instructions on feeding.

We did not exchange cars as big are city properties anyway.

We bought our own food, but allowed each other to help ourselves to condiments, stuff in the fridge etc.

I mailed them my keys to arrive a week before while I met their cleaner at their place.

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

Yeah, I've done it twice. Love it. Do it through a website where you have to pay a small fee to join, cuts down on timewasters. And be fussy - the first time we swapped I chose a house based on location rather than if I particularly liked the house and I was pretty miserable (it was exceptionally dark and cluttered, things I'd shrugged off in the excitement of getting a free holiday).

We have an office so we dump some clothes and toiletries in there to make space for our swappers, we didn't lock the door or anything though. And we either post keys ahead or meet people, depending on dates and stuff.

[Dowser]

I did. We swapped our holiday cottage ( 3 bed) in n yorks with a couple who lived in London.
I let them have a week and we had 3 nights.
It was great.
They didn't move a thing. Nothing. Even down to the hair brush on the dressing table.
Told us to help ourselves to food from freezer. We didn't.
Our cottage ( being a holiday home) had no clutter anyway.
We didn't need to swap cars.

Went really well. Only downside is I would have liked to have met them.

[shopaholic85]

We had two very successful swaps with a family in Spain and one from France a few years ago through the Guardian home exchange website.

Spain: We did meet them before the swap as they were in the UK beforehand and we chatted via text in the run-up. By the time the swap came around, it felt like we were having friends to stay. We came back to find our flat as we had left it with the addition of a few lovely home gifts.

France: We were picked up by the family at the airport and shown around their home before they left to catch their flight. Again, we came back to find our flat as we had left it with a home-cooked French dinner in the fridge.

For both swaps, we locked up breakables, cleared wardrobe space and left spare towels and bedding. Everything else we left for their use, including our London Oyster cards.

We've been renting since, but as soon as we are home owners again, we will definitely return to home swapping. A cheap and fantastic way to travel, as you only pay the cost of flights.

[Dowser]

Way back in the 90s with three kids we probably saved £300 on accommodation which will have gone towards food and petrol costs.

[Dowser]

It's great how everything went well with people here. It shows how most people are basically good and kind and restores my faith in humanity .

[Theladyloriana]

Me too and gives me a great deal of excitement! Any recommends on which site to use, and any thing to watch out for?

[Theladyloriana]

Thanks shop for details

[Theladyloriana]

I suppose I wonder if I was mad thinking of all those crazy stories about air b and b...

[JuxtapositionRecords]

I'm interested in this too so thanks for starting the thread op!

For those that have done it, how would it work with your home insurance? Ie, say something did happen (something got broken/spilt/or worse case, stolen) - would this be covered?

[Bogeyface]

I would love to house swap but ours needs too much work doing on it!

The thing to remember is that they have as much invested in the swap as you do. Its their holiday too, so its in the interests of both parties to make is a successful as possible.

I hope you find someone to swap with!

[Theladyloriana]

Your welcome juxta, and yes that is a good point?

[Theladyloriana]

You're

[BeALert]

If you're swapping with a family then bear in mind Florida schools don't necessarily have holidays at easter. Spring break there is usually late March and is a week long.

Also think about cars. Will you swap those too, or hire a car out there.

[shopaholic85]

Juxta, I informed my insurance company that I had friends staying at mine while I was away. Because it was for 2 weeks each time, they said that this wasn't long enough to be a problem and I was still covered. I'm not sure what the cut-off point is. I'm with Aviva.

[KERALA1]

You would be mad - mad not to do it.

We've swapped about 12 times now. It's fantastic. We have seen so many places with our dds than we would otherwise. Brittany, Austria, paris,
Puglia,, Brittany just a few.

We started off using guardian site but too many Brits so we just use homelink. If flying def swap cars. Leave cars at airport then fly and collect others car. Most airports allow you to leave keys at information desk.

[KERALA1]

Tell your home insurers, we use aviva they are good about it. We are not covered if the swapees rob us, but are if something accidental happens say house burned down. Costs about £30 to put someone on your car insurance.

Warning - it is addictive! We fly to Berlin on Saturday nice swapee just texted to say it's 27 degrees!

[misscph1973]

I have been thinking about home swapping for years, but never done it. Is it okay to do it if you rent (I do)?

[ClaraLane]

My parents used to do it all the time as kids, this was pre-Internet so mum had a big book the size of a phone book delivered to us with our entry in and then we picked where we wanted to go. We've been all over Europe and the US and Canada and it saved so much money over the years. Think they used to go with a company called Intervac. We never had a bad experience except for the lack of kettle in Stockholm and leaving behind all the chocolate in Ottawa (we'd put it in the fridge so it didn't melt). All Dad used to do was put some sensitive stuff up in the loft and we'd all clear out a drawer in our chest of drawers for them to use.

It was great as a kid because we had all new (to us) toys and books and massively cut down on the crap our parents had to take, eg booster seats, high chairs, pushchairs etc. We were even featured in a magazine and one of their friends were on TV talking about it. We've made lots of friends through it that we still keep in touch with today!