Exchanging homes for holidays

I did wonder about it when the children were young, but never did it. I wouldn’t want the cleaning and tidying, nor the loss of privacy.
I wonder what the insurance company would say?

DD housesits for people with pets Eloethan.
If you go through an agency the housesitters should be vetted and all should be fine.
She has been on repeat stays for some people and grown quite fond of some of their pets. The last day or so she seems to spend cleaning to leave it immaculate for when the owners return.

A couple I knew years ago did this after they retired; they were retired teachers with their own nice home but did this for a change of scene.

I joined Trusted Housesitters about 4 months ago (because we have a dog) but I have been too nervous to use it.

My son pointed out that probably 99% of the time there would be no issues but what if 1% of the time the person house sitting decided to change your locks and squat in your house. It would not, apparently, be a criminal matter but a civil one, and it might take months of expensive county court procedures to regain your home - and in what state!

Of course, that is the alarmist perspective, and some of my choir friends have used this organisation without any problems whatsoever, but it scared me.

I dont even like people staying over night. Im far too private to share my space. Even when I was rentying the agent had to fight to do an inspection.

My friends used to do it regularly, they lived very near a station into London and they had some great holidays all over the world. But they returned one year to find that one of their pet chickens was missing and the people staying had had it for dinner ! They stopped after that .
I would find the stress of preparing the house and putting personal papers and documents in a safe place not worth the hassle.

Some house swap sites.

www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/dec/07/10-best-home-swap-home-sharing-websites

I wouldn't fancy it with my main home but I think it would be fine with holiday home because there are no personal documents left there. It's got 7 bedrooms so I could put all personal stuff like clothes we leave there in one bedroom and lock it and let it as a 6 bedroom house.

We have used Guardian home exchange with great success.

It isn’t our main home we exchange but our holiday let.

I'm looking into it. I've hosted Airbnb (having the guest/s as houseguests) in a previous house and it was fun, met some fantastic people and made not a lot of money.
We live overlooking a beach, good public transport links and the neighbours would be supportive.
Just looking for the right platform to advertise on.
Guardian is one, but as OP asked, recommendations for others would be helpful.

Can’t think of anything worse for me personally. My house certainly wouldn’t be up to scratch, books, sheet music and my painting stuff everywhere. Hate housework too. Too much clutter.
I live in an area where friends let their houses out for Open golf and one said she wouldn’t do it again as it was too much bother even though the financial recompense was good.

Sounds like hard work. I'd rather just pay and have no potential quibbles or misunderstandings.

No, the idea doesn’t appeal to me at all.

We did it when the kids were little, via an exchange agency with a family in Belgium. It was a cheap holiday and the house had everything we needed for two young children (as did ours for them). We actually ended up meeting lots of neighbours and regulars in the local bar - non of whom knew our host family!
I did find all the cleaning stressful though, especially cleaning their house, washing all the bedding etc when we had a ferry to catch!

My friend sent me today some lovely pictures of her exchange last week. She often does it for a weekend and has she tells me done more than 50 exchanges in Europe and America. She lives in London. We have taken on a friend’s house and she just put everything of value in one room , their office. With just two of us there was little mess to clear and a cheap, very comfortable holiday.

My son said to me, "What if you travelled to do the exchange, only to find out they don't own the house at all."

Done it once when my children were early teens. We lived in SW London, they lived in Boston. Tall thin house near the Charles River. It was in the Italian quarter, so lovely restaurants. August, so a bit humid. The thing about exchanges is that they're trusting you, so you have to trust them. It worked for us, apart from the cleaning!!

I dont know where you live, but I suppose you would never know the answer to that one.

We usually go away in the winter and though I have thought about this I can’t think who would want to visit our area when the weather is cold.

She couldnt understand why everyone doesnt do it!

I have a cousin who used to do this. Dont know if she still does. It saved them a fortune.

But she has one of those houses which is nearish to the sea, and always looks up to date in furnishings and cleanliness.

Wrote

My late husband and I did this years ago we went to Lyon in France and we had a brilliant holiday.
Our home was immaculate when we arrived back home and we write to the couple for a number of years afterwards it was a brilliant experience

You have to be the kind of person who is used to sharing your space.
I used to think everyone was like me but plainly they're not.

I've been hosting volunteer helpers for the past 15 years and I shared a dormitory at boarding school. No secrets here.

The worst part of house exchange is definitely the cleaning your house before and their house before you leave!

I replaced broken toys too only to discover that they were already broken.

I have friends that did it for many years - definitely not for me though. The thought of people I don't know living in my house fills me with horror!

We haven't, but had a long chat with friends of friends at a social gathering a few years ago, who'd done it both in Europe and America. As far as I could gather without any problems. I believe it can entail using each others cars and looking after pets if they remain in situ. So a lot of trust on both sides. I think there needs to be an appointed person nearby to call on if needed.