We have done 4 home exchanges over the past 5 years and we have fine tuned our home exchanges with each one. A home exchange is a fun and economical way to travel. Below are some tips that have worked well for us when doing a home exchange:
1) Sign up for a home exchange web site like www.HomeExchange.com. Take the time to populate your site with great photos, detailed information about your house and neighborhood. Indicate if you have pets in your house and if you will be finding other accommodations for pet(s) if the home exchangers are not interested in watching your pets. If you are discussing an exchange, make sure to ask about pets, especially if you or your travel companions have allergies.
2) If possible, include an auto with your home exchange. Rental car costs can be expensive, especially when traveling to another state or country. By exchanging your car as well you can save a lot of time and money having to deal with a rental car.
3) If you do exchange a car, make sure you clean your car before your exchange and fill it up with gas. Contact your insurance agent and determine if you need to do anything special for your house exchange guests while they are driving your car. Leave a copy of your insurance card with the car or in the house.
4) If you are exchanging cars, try using valet parking at the airport or nearby parking lot. Valet parking makes it really easy to exchange cars. Usually the valet has you take a picture of the parking ticket and text it to the person picking up the car as well as leave the name(s) of the people picking up the car.
5) If you are doing an international exchange, ask your potential exchangees if they would like to exchange some currency as well. This allows you to have some cash in the local currency upon arriaval. Use a currency calculator like www.xe.com to determine the value of the currency you are exchanging and then determine which currency you will use. For example, if exchanging $500 US today for Euros, they would leave for you 463.70 Euros.
6) If you have important papers in your house or valuables, lock them in a cabinet or closet.
7) Invest in some large plastic bins to put personal items in to help de-clutter your space. Put items in the bins and stow in a closet or out of the way.
8) Put together a binder of information about your house. Include directions to your house and how to get into the house, how appliances/electronics work, where to find things in your house (garbage bags, cleaning supplies, remotes, etc.), information about how to login to wifi connections, local neighborhood information (include restaurants, entertainment, parks, hospitals, doctors/pharmacies/urgent care, post office, grocery store). Another nice touch is to talk to your neighbors and see if they would be willing to get to know your house exchange guests. Our favorite house exchanges are those where we get to know the local people! Encourage your neighbors to reach out to your guests and have them over for dinner or go out to show them a local site. For families with children, it is also helpful to line up a couple babysitters who may be willing to babysit for your house exchange guests.
9) Clean out your fridge and remove perishable foods from the fridge/counter. This is especially important because as food goes bad, it will smell up your house or your counter. You may think you are being helpful by getting food for your guests, but if you do that, coordinate with them first and determine what they may want if they want some things stocked in the house for their arrival. Peopel will usually prefer to shop for their own items and have their own tastes. It is helpful to have a clean fridge for their food storage.
10) Place a hold on your mail before you leave and let your guests know about any papers, packages, etc that you may want them to be on the lookout for. Often house exchange guests may use your home as a home base and travel around while on their trip. It is best to not have to rely on them to bring in your mail while you are gone.
11) Clean your house before you leave. If possible, arrange for a cleaning person to come before and after your exchange. This is of course a nice to have, but getting ready for a house exchange does take some work to get your house ready. If you have a house cleaner you trust who can clean before your guest arrive and after they leave it will make your exchange a little easier for you and your exchangee.
12) Take care of any yard work prior to your departure. If the yard will need to be mowed or plants watered, ask your guests if they would be willing to do these, but make sure to not overburden them. Remember, they are on holiday as well and should not have to work too hard while on vacation. If you have a friend or neighbor that can do some of these tasks that can also be helpful.
13) Provide a spare key to a neighbor (in case your guests lock themselves out of your house).
14) Communicate any home alarm codes or numbers to your guests. If you want them to use your alarm provide detailed instructions.
15) Have fun! Be open to exchange requests that come to you and get to know your potential exchangees! Set up Skype or video conferences with your guests to get to know them and they get to know you. It is a great way to meet people from another location! The number one qeustion we get from people about house exchanges is how do you trust people to be in your house. Remember, this is a mutual trust. You are in their house at the same time they are in your house (in most cases), so it is important to get to know your guests and get to know them and build that trust.
Questions to ask your potential home exchange exchangee:
1) What dates work for you or are you flexible on travel dates?
2) How long will you be at our home?
3) How long can I be at your home?
4) How many people does your house sleep?
5) How many bedrooms does your house have?
6) (If bringing others on your tirp) - Are you ok if I bring others to your house? Indicate who you are bringing.
7) Does your house have air conditioning/heat?
8) Is a car exchange included? If yes, where will I pick up the car? Where will the keys be?
9) Do you want to exchange currency as well? Agree on a currency amount you want to exchange and where you will leave the currency.
10) What is the safety like in your neighborhood/city/country?
11) What enterainment options are there in your neighborhood/city/country?
12) (If traveling with young children) - Do you have babysitters you can recommend?
13) Can you recommend local restaurants?
14) Can you recommend any day trips / overnight trips I should do?
15) Do you have any pets? If yes, do I need to be responsible for taking care of the pets?
16) Are you exchanging with anyone else close to our exchange dates? If so, will there be any overlap or what are their travel dates?
17) What local transporation options are available and how much do they cost?
18) Do you have any neighbors you can introduce me to? Can you let them know when I will be there?
19) Any special instructions for your house? (are there doors that are hard to open, TVs that are confusing to operate, do you have cable/satelitte, appliances that are confusing?)
20) Do you have English (or language of choice) speaking friends/neighbors?
If you have done a house exchange and have other tips or information to share or if you have questions about doing a house exchange, please send them to Kristen at info@findaccommodations.com and I will be happy to share them here!