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Original poster

Talk to me about house swapping…

26 replies

Russoooooo · 22/10/2023 09:45

I’m mulling over the idea of renting a house in Spain for a month next summer as a kind of informal immersion experience for my DC (who both want to improve their Spanish) and a real break from ‘normal life’ for all of us. No travelling, just a different ‘home’ for a while.

Renting somewhere non-touristy is affordable, but it obviously does cost, and I’m a single parent without massive reserves.

I’m therefore toying with the idea of a house swap. Has anyone done one? Any advice? Our house is just a very ordinary semi-detached, but it’s in a very popular tourist area. Is that likely to work? And are quite long swaps possible? How much of our ‘stuff’ can I leave out, or would I need to do a massive clear out?

OP posts:

orangelotus · 22/10/2023 16:05

I have recently joined a house swap group on face book. People put their house plus details of what they'd like etc and it seems very popular I'm thinking of doing the same thing, ( only the giant clean up before hand puts me off!)

natura · 22/10/2023 16:48

You could do that - you could also look for a house-sit. I travelled for a few years rent-free by living in other people's homes and taking care of their plants!

Original poster

Russoooooo · 22/10/2023 17:01

That’s what gave me the idea initially @natura. When we go away, I get people to stay here to look after our cats so I just started wondering if it might be mutually beneficial…

OP posts:

Original poster

Russoooooo · 22/10/2023 17:02

Would you mind sharing the name of the group @orangelotus ? Thank you!

OP posts:

dabdab · 22/10/2023 17:10

We did it for quite a few years when our children were smaller, both UK and abroad. It was fab! However, it kind of depends on your attitude I suppose. We do not live in a super wonderful house, just a terrace, and I do not feel especially precious about others staying in my house.
Things I liked:
-Cheap!
-Get a feel for a more local, lived in area
-Lots of people would leave tips of places they liked to go / walk/ shop
-Could be quite interesting to be in other people's houses, not so anodyne
-Very useful when you can use someone else's child clobber / high chair / toys rather than take it with us
-You can end up somewhere interesting that you did not expect if you are open to it (eg - 'We are free in the first week of August, what properties are available then?')
Things I did not like:
-Clean house and try and pack for family trip (although as we did more swaps I did less, but still cleaned bathrooms, hoovered, kitchen, bedding)
-Clean their house a bit before you leave
-Can be a bit unknown, and sometimes the area where you want to stay might not have a property that you want to stay in

Over the all the swaps that we did, there was only one place that I felt like I wanted to give the bathroom a quick clean. We never had anything taken or issues like that.
One thing I will say is that we found it quite easy to arrange swaps when we lived in London, but far harder when we moved further south!

Ohmylovejune · 22/10/2023 17:15

I'd love to as we are in coastal Cornwall with parking and a free fruit cage during the summer! But the house would need such a huge clean up operation. It's not untidy but we've 30 years of stuff in cupboards and it's quite dated. I'm guessing we aren't supposed to be like a modern holiday let - that's not the point

orangelotus · 22/10/2023 17:20

I'm
Useless with Facebook but the group is callEd Home Swap (Air B andB)
Even though it says air b and b people put their own homes on their. Some wonderful houses.
If you can't find it I'll get a young person to intervene!!

Natsku · 22/10/2023 17:37

We did house swaps when I was growing up and it was brilliant (I especially liked it where there was a cat to look after in one house, though I expect my mum wasn't so happy about that), only problem was the one time the family we were swapping with turned up the day before we left! We had to go sleep on the floor of my dad's church that night.

Just2MoreSeasons · 22/10/2023 17:55

I do house swapping. PM me if you like. My favourite group is People like us.
Join their Facebook page to get a feel for a month or so and if you're still interested- jump in and pay the fee (similar to one night in a hotel).
Touristy area will make people interested. Do a declutter and take some great photos.

Original poster

Russoooooo · 22/10/2023 17:59

Thank you for all of the advice. @Just2MoreSeasons - how much decluttering do you do? For example, do you need to leave cupboards etc empty?

OP posts:

Just2MoreSeasons · 22/10/2023 19:02

I generally choose a cupboard or two (I am embarrassed about) for each visit, so over time the house is starting to look a bit better.
I have a swap starting at the end of this week and last week I started clearing a couple of dumping ground areas and this week right at the last minute I'll probably put in about 5 hours of cleaning and making space.
We don't empty cupboards or wardrobes or drawers. I'm afraid they need to pretty much live out of their case.
One thing I do is make my teens bedroom the dumping ground of clutter and personal stuff and IT stuff. Then lock the door on it and say I've two bedrooms instead if 3. My teen doesn't like anyone in their room anyway so this works well for us.
Really interested in your user name- you are intriguing me!!

Original poster

Russoooooo · 22/10/2023 20:57

Hahah. The username is football related. What did you think it was? (I’m hoping I’ve not inadvertently chosen something rude!)

Good to know that not everything needs clearing out, and I like the idea of locking one room. Thank you!

OP posts:

WashableVelvet · 22/10/2023 21:03

We use HomeExchange which has a really good interface for the app. Used to use Intervac but the site is stuck in 2005, no proper calendar function etc. if our guests are adults we stick the kid things in the children’s bedroom but we don’t otherwise leave cupboards empty etc. We do clean though - we have a weekly cleaner normally but there’s inevitably hours of extra stuff to do for a trip (clean fridge, sanitise bin). And then we have to clean their house before coming home unless they’re able to provide a cleaner whose time we pay for. But overall very worth it.

FusionChefGeoff · 22/10/2023 21:17

I'd build in a professional deep clean BEFORE the swap as part of the costs. You are packing and preparing to leave for a month so will have a lot on your plate. I'd pay for cleaners to come in after you leave but before your swap arrives.

VenusInfers · 22/10/2023 21:33

We’ve done house swops every other summer for the last 12 years, also via HomeExchange.

Agree with PP that there is a bit extra cleaning, but people don’t expect empty wardrobes or drawers. Leaving some space in the fridge, freezer and kitchen generally is probably more useful.
Important not to underestimate how long settling up the swop can take. If you’re in a touristy spot that will really help, but you will still need to be proactive about suggesting swops for houses you want.
We have only ever swopped for a max of 2 weeks, so not sure how likely a really long swop is.

We’ve recently started making videos to show people how to use things around the house (weird controls, stiff locks etc) and that’s been popular and v quick to do. If you can, recruit a neighbour to welcome them and make sure they are okay. Leaflets for local attractions & guides to what’s on are a nice bonus. Finally, it’s always nice to leave a small welcome gift of local biscuits/wine/jam - you will always find one waiting for you too!

marmaladeandpeanutbutter · 23/10/2023 10:25

We did a few and it worked well, but the work beforehand was really hard work. You need clean food cupboards, some space cleared, any decluttering, a bit of dedicated shopping eg a few loo rolls, clean bedding and towels and then a whole house clean. It's a lot on top of a job and kids, even if you have a cleaner to help. We had some great holidays though.

Just2MoreSeasons · 24/10/2023 14:21

I Think i was a bit put off by all the house cleaning at first, but now I think of it as a very very part time job. I probably put in about 20 extra man hours per year and that 'buys' me about 3 or 4 holidays per year (some in the uk some abroad).
So it's still a great bargain!

DuesToTheDirt · 24/10/2023 14:39

We did a number of house swaps years ago.

Yes to extra cleaning and tidying (we're not super clean or tidy normally). You don't need to hide ornaments or photos - though our first swap, when we had small children, turned out to be a place with ornaments, and after that we swapped mainly with people with children the same age as us. This has the benefit that you can use their toys, bikes, games etc. However, I'd definitely tidy the usual crap that lies around, the batteries, flyers, pens and all that stuff.

Actually the deep cleaning was a good thing, as we're not normally motivated to do it. We'd also fix odds and ends of broken things that usually you just put up with.

We used to leave some empty drawer and wardrobe space, by chucking a bunch of stuff in bin bags and hiding them in a large cupboard. If it's for a month I think people will appreciate this. It's also good if you can leave some kitchen cupboard space.

DuesToTheDirt · 24/10/2023 14:40

Oh, and you need to be the sort of person who doesn't freak out at strangers using your house, and maybe seeing your sock drawer or whatever. Quite a number of people aren't up for this.

Albless · 25/10/2023 10:06

I can thoroughly recommend home swapping! I don't plan on travelling any other way now!

If you are in Scotland, you need a short term lets licence now - which is a pain in the arse and completely unfair, but that's another conversation!

I'm a member of Home Exchange - which recently merged with another home swap group, so there are loads of members. They also have Facebook Groups for members - I'm on the Home Exchangers in English one, and that gives people another route for arranging swaps. There might be one for Spanish speakers too.

https://www.homeexchange.com/

If you are thinking about house or pet sitting, then I have used Trusted House Sitters to find people to look after my cats when I'm away on non-reciprocal exchanges. I've not managed to travel as a sitter though as I've found that most sits are advertised at too short a notice for me and I prefer to plan a few months ahead. But definitely worth a look. You could do short sits local to you to build up reviews.

https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/

If you do think of taking out membership with either of those site, then let me know as they sometimes issue codes to members for others to get a discount when joining.

HomeExchange - #1 home exchange community

https://www.homeexchange.com/

Humphriescushion · 25/10/2023 10:15

We have house swapped a few time and works very well. Our house is in a popular destination ( not uk) so we get lots of requests. I use it to visit family in the UK and often want not very touristy places in the uk so I people think no one will want a non touristy hotspot I often do. I use guardian house exchange and home exchange ( mixed success this year , easy to find something in non touristy place but then I wanted London and no luck this year)

i also use trusted house sitters for pet sitters and this has been great as well.

Muddle2000 · 25/10/2023 11:52

What do you do though if someone leaves a pile of work for you or generally takes advantage in some way?

feralunderclass · 25/10/2023 15:04

How friendly do you have to get with the other swappers before they approve you? I've house swapped before but only with friends and it's been great.

DuesToTheDirt · 25/10/2023 17:25

Muddle2000 · 25/10/2023 11:52

What do you do though if someone leaves a pile of work for you or generally takes advantage in some way?

Never had that happen in maybe 10 swaps. The worst one was probably a house with 2 rooms that smelt of dog, and they didn't clean our house before leaving (it was only a week, but I could tell).

We did have a family of about 5 who wanted to swap with us, a family of 4. Then they said they wanted to have other family (another 5 people) stay with them, and we pulled out - we have 4 soft chairs, 8 dining chairs, 4-5 beds, some singles,1 full bathroom...I guess we wouldn't have known if they hadn't told us in advance.

Albless · 25/10/2023 20:12

Muddle2000 · 25/10/2023 11:52

What do you do though if someone leaves a pile of work for you or generally takes advantage in some way?

Ive not come across that, and I think it would be extremely unusual. It's mutual hospitality - and in addition, you are both taking the same risk in letting people into your home. There's balance and reciprocity involved.

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