Has anyone done a house swap for their summer holiday

[MrsFogi]

I am thinking of doing a house swap during the olympics (we are in London). I'd be interested to hear about experiences of doing a swap, things I should be aware of, the best websites to advertise a house swap, anything else really.

There is a house swop section under 'classifieds'. I think there might be someone there who was looking for a swop to London during olympics.

I've done one before, a few years ago and I wouldn't do it again but it works for a lot of people

Why would you not do it again MOSagain?

Amongst other things, the thought of a complete stranger being left alone in your most valuable possession. It was very stressful worrying about how our house was. Also, we were working away at the time and weren't back to the house until a few months afterwards so it was a long time to wait to find if house was ok. A few other reasons which I won't go into on here

I'm sure it works ok for a lot of people, I just wouldn't do it again.

We've done it a few times with friends and family and 4 times with strangers through internet sites, once to France and 3 times to the States. They were all fantastic holidays. No bad stories to tell at all; our home has always been left in beautiful condition. The last time we swapped was to a beach house on the Outer Banks: 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a hot tub!