AMA about home exchange holidays (we have done about 30)

[samarrange]

Anything you've always wanted to know about home exchange but were afraid to ask. We've been doing it since 1996 when our kids were little.

I'd prefer not to say here as it would be a bit outing. Feel free to send me a DM though.

Just to emphasise that you don't need a super-pristine house to exchange, here are a couple more pictures of the place where we are this week. The first is a window fitting that has seen better days, and the second is the bathroom ceiling, which seriously needs repainting (it's actually quite a bit worse in real life than in the picture). Oh, and the upstairs loo seat came loose on one side -- we contacted our exchange partners to say "oops, have we broken this" and they said "no no, it's been like that for years, there's a plug thingy that refuses to stay in to hold the seat in place".

This is absolutely not to slag off the house we're in, or our exchange partners with whom we have been happily WhatsApping and who have enjoyed their time in our home. Rather, it's to show the entirely normal stuff that you find in other people's houses, and which you don't have to worry about in yours either. In a hotel you might think this was a bit crappy, but in a home exchange it's perfectly fine. Our place has some stuff that isn't in perfect decorative order either.

One time on an exchange there was a bit of a bang and the lights went out. We worked out that the cause was the ancient-looking dishwasher, so we unplugged it and reset the breaker. Then we phoned our house (this was at least 20 years ago) and told our partners that their dishwasher seemed a bit dead. The DW just laughed and said "I've been trying to get DH to agree to buy a new one for ages, this is perfect because he'll have to now".

Is the car swap an essential part of it? I had a friend on my insurance some years back who got crashed my car and (while it's not a fancy car at all) I still prefer not to lend it out. I might be too fussy for these sorts of exchanges on the car basis (I think I would be okay with the house part).

No, car swapping is not necessary. If you swap with a family from France or the Netherlands they might well drive to the UK. But for a longer-distance swap, making your car available will improve your chances. You might also find that your partners let you use their car anyway, which is cool in one sense but might make you feel guilty.

In 2022 we set up a "possible" swap with Iceland for 2024, to include a car swap as we were planning to do a lot of driving. But when we came to check in to form things up in 2023, our partners regretfully cancelled as they had just changed their car and one of the couple (we didn't find out which) no longer wanted to swap it. Car rental is expensive in Iceland, plus we would probably have felt a bit awkward with the asymmetry. But it was all well in advance and there were no hard feelings.

Thank you - I really appreciate you taking the time to answer questions.

Thanks for your answers. I very often swap or let friends stay in my place while I'm away, but for the first time this summer there will be people that are not friends or friends of friends (older couple - we heard on a community group that the couple was looking for a place near their grandkids for exactly the time we will be away, and we need someone to feed the cat). In your experience what are the most important things to clarify to make things go smoothly?

This is a great thread - thanks :)

We have just returned from our first house swap and honestly it could not have gone better. The house was very comfortable and clean, with amazing views and lovely to explore a new area without spending hundreds on a hotel or cottage.
Our swap partners enjoyed staying in our house too and gave us a lovely write up. I am in the process of arranging another swap (we already have one arranged for October too)!

@Daz57 that's brilliant.

Can I ask everyone who does the house swap and lets the guests use their car. What do you do about insurance? Do you just both get it for each other?

In your experience what are the most important things to clarify to make things go smoothly?

@sunnydayhereandnow

I would say, if there is anything that you really really really don't want them to do/use/look at then make that very clear, or even better, unplug/hide/lock it away. If you have something that can be easily broken if you try to force it then explain that. But try to keep the list of these things as short as possible. You're presumably not swapping with people who will get drunk and accidentally rip the shower off the wall while trying to stand up.

We just have one balcony door that is a bit weird and we show people a video and say "If it doesn't close with one finger, open it fully and start again". Every home has stuff like that, though, so if you are exchanging with people who have a bit of life experience they will generally be familiar at the meta level with the idea that stuff doesn't always work in an obvious way. Expect a few WhatsApps on the first 24 hours.

Where we live, the car is insured for any driver. Sometimes there might be a buffer excess for non-named drivers, or non-named drivers under 25 or with a licence for less than 2 years or something. One time our insurance company asked us to provide the licences of our partners, but there was no charge to add them. So it depends on the insurance customs of each country.

One time in the US or Canada, I forget which, our partners provided us with a letter saying "Mr and Ms Samarrange are using our car with our permission, please call us for more info". We've never felt the need to do that.

Thank you @samarrange

When we swapped we always had quite a shit car so weren’t precious about it. No way would we swap with our new car!

The issue with cars is tickets parking in England is quite complex and most swappers who used our car racked up tickets for parking / driving in bus lanes etc so warn them.

@TheaBrandt thanks. It'd be my old Corsa they'd be using. We'd hide DH's car. He wouldn't let anyone but me drive it.

Also Americans cannot deal with our roads. Theirs are huge and lots of lanes of traffic they couldn’t get their head round country lanes where two vehicles couldn’t pass each other!