House swap how does it work

List your home and view 18, stunning properties. Perfect for kids? Mountain location? Send them a message and request a stay in their home. Share your plans and tell them why you love their home. And begin a great relationship based on trust. You go to their place. They come to yours. Classic Swaps can happen at the same time or at different times.

Just clear some space in the kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms. Lock any valuables away. Here are a few tips on how to put your things away. Love Home Swap is a community where you connect with other like-minded travellers. Our platform is designed to be social and flexible, so if you feel unable, or do not wish to travel at this point in time, remember that your annual membership to love Home Swap entitles you to 12 months of travel, so there is plenty of time to arrange trips in the future.

Leave them with a neighbour, friend or family member, send a spare set of keys ahead in the post, or install a key safe and give your guests the code. Will you hire a cleaning service?

Do you expect your host to use a professional cleaning service? How will you arrange the key swap? According to Costabel, "We encourage members to iron out details in terms of everything, including linens and food especially perishables. We have a beginner's guide to arranging a swap on HomeLink. Renters can participate in home exchanges too.

And various forms of ownership, like co-ops or condos, work also, as long as you've cleared the exchange with the necessary parties. Check with your landlord or co-op board, or read your lease to see if you're permitted to rent your place out to strangers, which in most cases constitutes a temporary sublet. Naturally, a first-time home exchange isn't the most suitable option for a last-second getaway.

Costabel advises that travelers start planning swaps "three to six months prior to the exchange for international travel, sometimes even up to nine months in advance. If there's a major event going on, you definitely want to start planning well in advance. When we asked Costabel if swappers could trade cars along with houses, she told us, "Most definitely. Whatever suits the exchange partners. Our members who live in major cities with extensive public transportation may not even have cars.

But swapping cars, which provides cost savings to those who would otherwise need to rent a vehicle, is common in the home-exchange community. Different home-exchange sites have different vetting processes. Some use social media as a screening process: Love Home Swap, for example, offers a Facebook app that swappers can use to check out possible exchange partners on the social-networking site.

Costabel tells us, "We have home-exchange evaluation forms that we encourage our members to complete after every exchange, and we provide that information to members who request references. These are important pieces of information to share if you're looking to do a mutual exchange. When you own your own home, you have the right to let any guest stay on your property. But when you're a tenant, you may need to obtain consent from your landlord to participate in a house-swapping arrangement.

Similarly, if you own a home that's part of a housing association , you may need to obtain permission before moving forward with a home exchange. There are several good reasons to participate in a property exchange. For one thing, doing so could save you quite a bit of money in the course of your travels. Swapping homes with someone else could also mean getting access to that person's car, depending on the nature of your arrangement.

That's another way to spend less money in the course of your travels -- not having to rent transportation or pay for ride shares to get around town. Furthermore, swapping homes with someone else will show you what it's really like to live in that city. And if you swap homes with someone who lives in an apartment building, you may get to know some of the other tenants, who might take you under their wings and show you around town.

Also, there's something to be said about getting to utilize a fellow traveler's property versus being crammed into a hotel room. If you're planning to travel for months at a time, a house exchange may seem like a far more pleasant solution.

Finally, if you do a house swap, the person you trade homes with may be able to offer you insight on things to do at your destination and ways to enjoy your trip more frugally once you're there. That person may also be willing to put you in touch with some of his or her friends so you have company if you're traveling alone or simply like meeting new people. Though there are plenty of good reasons to participate in a house exchange, there are a few negatives you should consider as well.

First of all, when you do a house swap, you're effectively signing up to have a complete stranger live in your home. Whether you own your own property or not, that could be unsettling.

Granted, you will get a chance to communicate with your house-swapping partner before moving forward with your arrangement, but for the most part, you'll still be trusting someone you don't know to treat your home with respect.

And that leads to the next thing you ought to be leery of: property damage. When you let someone stay in your home, you never know what sort of damage might occur, accidental or not. As a counterpoint, the person staying at your home is also trusting you to use his or her home, so it's in everyone's best interest to be careful, but it may be a concern of yours nonetheless.

Using a reputable house exchange service can help in this regard, though. That way, you can see whether there are any black marks on a member's record before agreeing to swap with that person.

If you're going to do a house exchange, it could also pay to call your homeowners insurance company and make sure any ensuing damage would be covered.

Finally, arranging a house exchange takes time. You need to find a site to list your home on, browse through different property options, talk to potential swapping partners, and hash out the logistics of exchanging homes with somebody else.

By comparison, booking a hotel room takes a lot less time. You simply figure out what your budget looks like, decide what area of town you'd like to stay in, and use a travel site to quickly narrow down your options. If you like the idea of living in someone's home during your travels and don't mind the idea of a virtual stranger living in yours, then a house exchange could be a very cost-effective way to explore someplace new.

Just make sure you understand the repercussions involved in a house exchange, as well as the time commitment it'll likely take to arrange one in the first place.