Home Exchanging

There is a cheaper way to holiday than hotels or motels or campsites, it’s called home exchanging, and as I have now completed a few of these exchanges I thought I would list the pros and cons..

Here’s how it works..

There are many websites where you can list your home for exchanging with other home owners around the world. You input brief details of your home and add a few photos, and then you can list where and when you would like to travel. The website allows you to search for homes in the areas you wish to visit and you can then send an email to those owners whose properties interest you asking them if they wish to home exchange with you.

If you are lucky you will find someone who does wish to exchange with you for a defined time period in an area where you wish to visit. Popular exchanges for my home seem to be with tourists from other European cities, or with travellers from New Zealand or Australia.

As many of the homes listed on the website are actually second or holiday homes, often the exchanges are not carried out simultaneously, but if it is main homes being exchanged then they would have to be exchanged at the same time. Even pets, plants and cars can be exchanged. It is a little like having a home sitter.

Some successful exchanges I have completed are;

10 days in a 3 bedroom apartment in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, France

2 weeks in the wing of a beautiful old mansion just outside Verona, Italy, with 4 bedrooms, a billiard room, and state of the art kitchen

6 weeks in an heritage house on Nelson’s (New Zealand) seafront with stunning sea views

2 weeks on Waiheke Island (New Zealand) in a house 20 yards from a pristine beach

Are there any downsides?

Well, occasionally you may find yourself sleeping on a sagging bed, but this has only happened to me once, and that was in a studio attached to a main home so I might be a little more cautious about staying in a place that the owners don’t use themselves ever.

Sometimes you are left with no wardrobe space to hang your clothes in.

Occasionally things can stop working and you need to fix them, whereas in a hotel or rental situation you could just walk away.

Sometimes, things will get broken by accident, and if you have very special belongings then these should be put away from harm.

The pluses?

Overall, this is an excellent way of allowing you to travel and have essentially free accommodation.

You also get to make friends with many of the people you exchange with around the world.

I would highly recommend it.