Talk to us about Home Exchanges......whether you've done one or not

[AnnMumsnet]

At Mumsnet, we're looking into whether we can provide you with a service to enable home exchanges - both in Britain and abroad - for holidays or travelling.

So we'd like to know what you think - is this something you'd be interested in?

Have you ever home swapped with anyone before or do you know someone who has?

If so, has your/their experience been good or bad?

All feedback very welcome....thank you
MNHQ

[MrsRhettButler]

I would be interested, I was on home swapper but didn't manage to find a swap so am still looking.

[Memoo]

Do you think anyone would want to stay in a council house in Warrington?

[MotherPanda]

There's so much trust involved - I'm not sure I've got it in me. Would insurance cover any breakages/accidents/theft?

[Inghouls2]

my parents would definitely be interested and I'm looking iinto it for them at the moment.
They live in France and would like to swap with someone in Kent, so they can visit family without the vast expense of rental cottages or B&B.

[paulapantsdown]

I have thought about this in the past, as we are near Heathrow and tubes into London. However, the thought of all the DIY and cleaning I would have to do puts me off!

[ChristinedePizanne]

I did it for the first time this year and it was great :) The French couple I swapped with were lovely and we have kept in touch. They left our house immaculate and I hope I left their the same way.

I would definitely do it again.

[SouthernandCross]

I wouldn't want to go and stay in someone elses house but we've always been happy to have someone come and stay here. We've used www.housecarers.com/ to find house sitters when we are away on holiday.
We aren't far from Heathrow either are 25 mins from Baker St on the Met line so we've always had plenty of interest even though we have two dogs that need walking daily.

[christmasmum]

I did one this year through the NCT site and it was great. Bit of cleaning beforehand but it's sooo nice coming back to a clean home that it's worth it. We had a lovely time and as we swapped with a family with similar age children the kids had a blast playing with all the new toys. Worked brilliantly for us.

[lesstalkmoreaction]

I've thought about doing this in the past as we live in a fab spot in the cotswolds and we get lots of weekenders visiting from london, I would love to swap and visit london more often. But I have 4 children and our house although clean and tidy is cramped. The children sleep in bunk beds in 2 small rooms and if I went on holiday I would want something bigger and to swap with a london house I would feel we were offering less.
But if anybody was interested in a regular weekend swap count me in!!

[superdollyfragilistic]

I have a holiday home in Cyprus,and would def think of exchanging that for a London house , if they would take a dog, it's so hard to find places to stay in London when I am visiting family there with a dog. The house I live in in Sussex is too scruffy to swap, but eventually I owuld consider it

[LavenderScream]

Hmm I am interested in home exchanges in general BUT knowing how nosy I am myself I am not sure I would want a MNetter staying in my house.

This I am sure says more about me than MNers, the proposed scheme, etc.

[YaMaYaMa]

How does it work with insurance though? Wouldnt it invalidate your buildings & contents?

I really like the idea of it but I think I would worry about the way my house was treated while I was away, and also I'm not sure who'd want to holiday in a semi in Liverpool. Hey Memoo, we could do our own house swap - a week in sunny Liverpool for a week in equally sunny Warrington

[WhoWhoWhoWho]

I couldn't do it. I don't think I would be able to relax fully while I was away knowing strangers were staying in my house. Me and DS are both a bit funny about things being 'just so' though, it would probably work well for more laid back types.

I am interested in the answer to MotherPanda's question about insurance coverage too.

[Besom]

Yes I've thought about this as I live in a tourist hot spot. I would definitely consider it.

[christmasmum]

We asked our insurance company and they said they actually prefer a house not to be left unoccupied so did nothing to our policy at all. Lots of people asked if we thought it was weird ahvign strangers in the house but you e-mail so much beforehand - and of course, you're staying in their house - that it really didn't feel odd at all. What happens when I'm not there I don't care about!

[christmasmum]

having even

[Firawla]

I think I would feel too weird having strangers staying in my house. In theory its good idea, if you change with someone dc similar ages then it would be convenient they have all high chairs, toys to play with etc but i would worry about how my house was being treated & also would be worrying while staying about if dc mess things up or break anything, whereas you dont worry too much in a hotel

[ChristinedePizanne]

I locked personal stuff away as did they. Well, not actually locked but stuffed into the attic.

There is something really lovely about staying in someone's house - I thought I'd feel really weird about it but I didn't. They stayed another night when we got back too and we got on really well. We had spent ages on the phone before we did the swap so we 'knew' one another pretty well although we hadn't met.

It was fine with the insurance - same as with christmasmum, my insurers were pleased the house wouldn't be left empty.

I don't have a lot of expensive jewellery or stuff that is really worth nicking to be honest, I might feel differently if I did

[BlueRedGreen]

I would definitely. I did register our previous house on Genee, but didn't have any great offers, and have been thinking about doing it with our current house. We live in a beautiful area where people try very hard to get accommodation for various events though, so would hope we'd get some great offers from people who wouldn't otherwise be able to come.

[BlueRedGreen]

I would definitely. I did register our previous house on Genee, but didn't have any great offers, and have been thinking about doing it with our current house. We live in a beautiful area where people try very hard to get accommodation for various events though, so would hope we'd get some great offers from people who wouldn't otherwise be able to come.

[ChristinedePizanne]

I did my home swap on Guardian Home Exchange and had tons of interest (I do live on the coast though). I'm saving up for a trip to the Blue Mountains next!

[LoveInAColdClimate]

I would potentially be interested, although find the idea a bit nerve racking as well...

You might need to get swappers to conduct some sort of interior design taste matching test before hand... When I was growing up my parents did this. We returned home to find that one of the glass doors had got caught in the wind and smashed - not an issue, accidents happen, and the swappers had replaced it. The only issue was that rather than replacing it with clear glass, the swappers had clearly decided to give us a special treat with a glass upgrade - to an extremely, er, striking fern pattern. I assume ferns were probably extra so they must have thought they were doing us a favour . Le Queen would probably have collapsed on the spot on coming home . I think replacing the glass again back to clear probably rendered the house swap a bit less economical...

[topknob]

I would love a swap, funny thing is we are in a really nice area wanting to move to Basildon and can't find one, even on Homeswapper !

[trixymalixy]

I would definitely be interested. My parents did a house swap with someone in Canada and it worked out really well. Need to finish the house first though....