Question re house swaps

[skymoo]

Hi

Just wondering how many MNers have done this, and would they do it again...I am certainly interested but the only thing bothering me is security and cleanliness - I am not ott on cleaning but wouldn't like to come back to a hovel ifyswim

has anyone joined any of the sites mentioned on here, or know anything about them?

Hi, not joined any of the sites but did do a house swop earlier this year and wouldn't do it again.
I got really stressed out getting the house ready for them whilst heavily pregnant (it was a house we only use for some of the year when we aren't abroad for DH's work) Went out of my way to get stuff ready for them and DH even flew 3,000 miles a few weeks before the swop to do final tidying/cleaning etc.
The swop did save money obviously, but their house was not what we expected. we had problems with no electricity, no hot water, AC etc which was not particularly relaxing.

Obviously if you are in a hotel you can complain but what can you do when you houseswop?

What made me decide never to do it again was when we returned to the house we swopped for the first time a few months after the swop.

There was minor damage (ie stains on carpet, marks on wall etc) that I suppose you have to expect but what really annoyed me was that they'd moved a lot of my stuff. Expensive ornaments and other items were shoved in drawers and some were damaged and when we got our gas bill it was massive and we are having to increase our DD from 30 to 80 pcm to pay it off.

We also got a really nasty email from them about a month after the swop criticising the house and saying it was dirty etc. Bearing in mind my DH had spent 2 days cleaning it for their arrival he was livid with them,

I would never do it again, too stressful

Also, the security thing is a worry. When we'd agreed on the swop it was just them and their children. We later found out that they'd had various other people staying in the house which was very worrying.

thanks for that, very useful to know