AIBU to encourage you to consider a home exchange for a holiday?

[notanothertakeaway]

We have had fantastic experiences and it ticks so many boxes for us -

Free holiday

Live like a local

No ethical dilemma about holiday lets decimating local housing stock

Plenty of comfortable houses to choose from. For many people, it's a lifestyle choice, not because they cant afford a holiday

Yes you have to clean your house before you leave, but it needn't be a show home. Just be honest about facilities, distance from town centre etc

I realise it's not for everyone, but I hope some people might consider it. I think it's a great idea

I'd love to. Being able to go on holiday for the cost of travel would be great! However, those same budgetary constraints mean that my house is not the sort of place that anyone would want to stay, despite being in a popular tourist area.

I’ve always been kinda interested in to do this but have discounted it because didn’t think there’d be any demand due to our location.

But now I’m wondering.. we have a 5 bed modern house with a good sized woodland garden in Kent. We’re in a pretty but dull 😆 new built commuter village. It’s about 45-1hours drive to beach, to Canterbury and various historic Kent villages. There’s direct train to London.

I'm sure Luton as a holiday destination would attract loads. 😀

@UglyModernWindows I'm sure people would be interested in your house. In case you're interested, the agency that we use offer a free trial homelink.org/en/about-home-exchange

YABU because this whole concept is absolutely classist!

Well, that's a new one on me; I'm the first to accept it's not for everyone and have heard it described as many things, but never "classist" before - especially given the vast diversity of homes offered

Not being snarky, but I'd genuinely be interested to know how you make that one out?

imagine someone staying in your house while you are overseas and something goes wrong like a leak or less severe but still annoying, the hot water no longer working

No need to imagine; it happened to me years ago, with an extremely rural Connecticut house where a lightning storm knocked out absolutely everything - even the water, which was electrically sourced from their own well

Luckily they had a generator, but they also had neighbours who rallied round and have now become very dear friends who I stay with often (and they with me)

Every cloud - even a storm cloud - and all that

@Puzzledandpissedoff I hadn't thought of home swapping being classist until I read this thread, but now I think it probably is.

Only people with homes that are desirable either through location or through the house itself are likely to get people wanting to swap ergo the poorest who probably don't have either are unlikely to get any interest in their property.

I get where you're coming from, rookiemere, though it's never been my experience after swapping with everything from a Californian mega-home to an extremely modest flat in Plymouth to be near relatives (maybe I'm just not demanding enough!! )

I myself live in a grotty east midlands city, once in a bog standard semi and now in a nicer bungalow. It's true there isn't the tsunami of offers folk get in such places as London, but in 63 swaps I've never once failed to get to where I wanted to go - because IME people want a base rather than a palace, and this central position has a lot going for it if folk want to see something of the country or the amazing scenery nearby

I don't want people I don't know in my flat unfortunately. Not with all our work computers/laptops,files there.

Would probably void insurance

@Puzzledandpissedoff actually one of the reasons we liked house swaps when DS was young was that we wanted to spend time with relatives and friends but don't really enjoy staying in their homes.

As these weren't particularly touristy places house swapping was a good way to get a place to stay near them. I'd rather put up with the minor inconveniences of preparing our property and living in someone else's without them there, compared to having zero privacy and being beholden and possibly underfoot at a friends or relatives.

My house is the type that an estate agent would tactfully describe as needing modernisation and there isn't much for tourists in the town. At best it could be a base for the nearest cities or tourist places, but then why would anyone stay here instead of those places themselves?

This.

I wouldn't dream of such a thing.

And I have no ethical qualms about the existence of holiday homes.

YABU because this whole concept is absolutely classist!

You might just as well say that holidays are classist full stop. Or that starting a thread recommending anything that some people might not be able to afford is classist.

The OP isn't BU to suggest a type of holiday just because some people might not be able to do it or want to do it.

I wouldn't mind this but no one would want to stay in my area, even as a "base" to go elsewhere - they'd just choose a base in that area.

Also surely it only works for retired people, who don't work or have kids at school so don't have many restrictions on when or how long they go for. As you need a double coincidence of wants with the dates. It's hard to even get a friend to go on holidays with you because you both won't be free at the same time, let alone being free at the same time as a stranger who also wants to stay in your house.

People tend not to want outer London suburbs where it takes an hour to get anywhere even Watford and I doubt Watford is on many people's hit lists for a holiday!

Actually I think the classist accusation is probably fair. We have a nice house in a beautiful tourist city and we swap with others with nice houses or flats in desirable locations around the world mainly Europe.

Doubt the Californians we swapped with would exchange their house and travel all that way for a semi in Redditch in need of modernisation. Ironically (because it’s a free holiday) it seems to be quite wealthy people with nice houses that swap with each other.

My DPs did this twice and holidays in South Africa and the USA that they would otherwise found too expensive.They liked the reciprocal nature of it.Thw biggest nuisance was all the tidying and sorting before hand ;and they were very organised and minimalist types.We live in what looks like a jumble sale most of the time so I am not sure that we could offer a good swap.DPs lived in leafy commuter belt with great access to London, coast, NT type places and airports.

I wouldn’t do this with a stranger but I was thinking recently how well this would work with family / friends.

I just don’t think I could lock all my personal items away. There are too many. All paperwork… the computer.. anything of value that we aren’t taking with us.. photos .. all underwear etc. It would be like packing up to move house almost! But yes amongst people you know.

Thanks for starting the thread OP. DH and I are starting to consider the rather large gap between our future retirement travel desires and our actual pensions. House swaps are a fantastic idea.

ooh- I might look into this. We do live in a touristy area and we used to rent our house out as a holiday let when we lived overseas (in fact I have to clear out in the summer as we have bookings I couldn't bring myself to cancel). I hadn't really thought about swaps but looks interesting. So long as they dont mind watering my pots I dont mind if they wear my clothes and commit acts of unspeakable depravity with my kitchen utensils

We wanted to spend time with relatives and friends but don't really enjoy staying in their homes

Yet another excellent reason for those who enjoy this to do it, rookiemere

Also surely it only works for retired people, who don't work or have kids at school so don't have many restrictions on when or how long they go for

Not necessarily, RaisinGhost; there are a heck of a lot of families with DCs on the sites, who appreciate having a place to themselves (and of course if they swap with others who have children they can be pretty sure the home will be suitable). It's true with a lot of Americans though, because of the very restricted leave many get

We tended to swap with equivalent families- when ours were primary aged we swapped with quite a few families with similar aged kids then they have each other’s toys which is a result! The best holiday ever was when the swappers cat had had a kitten. There were tears at the end of that holiday…

We have done it and I agree with some of your points op but I do think it really depends where you live etc . Also demographic of people , do they have kids etc ? Also it’s a huge amount of work before , you didn’t mention that but it is!!! Do you have kids @notanothertakeaway and what ages ? I think that’s also a big factor as to the state of a house etc for people.
All the bedrooms cleared of clothes etc (where do you put it ? we had extra space in attic to put all the clothes and random bits in rooms and living areas but loads of work. We actually had to paint areas as place needed refreshing , deep clean , empty fridge and freezer, for people working loads and with kids this can be loads and loads of work before a holiday. Clean sheets the morning you leave on every bed, leaving for a holiday that day is manic , leaving it absolutely immaculate when you are wrangling with kids and all the logistics of travel that day is mental tbh.
Can you explain how you managed it in the morning of your travel @notanothertakeaway ?
Also we have 3 v v high energy kids so need access to a pool etc , that’s why we go to campsites as the area we go to is all villas and although our area is nice , our house wouldn’t compete with a villa with pool tbf..
Also we find we meet way less people on our own in a house vs in a campsite area where it’s v international and we also spend loads of time in the local areas too.
Its just not as simple as it sounds and can take a lot of work beforehand tbh and after!
We live in a tourist area though and can rent the place on Airbnb when travelling but still epic work before.

I also agree with pp , a lot of houses on house swaps we viewed were v high tend type housing.

It is a lot of effort before you go. There is no such thing as a free lunch. We didn’t swap for the first time in 10 years last summer and wow it was lovely not having to leave the house pristine!