House Swap
 

House Swapping.
ive been thinking about this concept for a while now. i see many advantages and disavantages in it?

has anyone tried it before? the concept of going to another country/state/province for a holiday and swap houses with someone for a set period of time.

would you try it? if so, why/why not?

its a cheap way of travelling. im always looking to maxmise my experiences overseas, and try and make my buck go further. this concept really has hit a chord with me, so much so that im thinking of houseswapping at least once.

what are your experiences. what should i be looking out for?

We want to try it, but our concerns are for our pets. We have cat sitters who will come to take care of them, but that may be intrusive to a visitor and they feel like we're checking in? I'm not sure...

It sounds attractive, but just not there enough to take the leap of faith.

Interesting concept D. Is there a methodology or set of logistics in place to help facilitate things?

Or you could try subletting out your place and subletting from another.

In any event, good luck and please let us know what you find out.

well it'd have to be a straigh swap. a bit like the movie 'the holiday' with kate winslett and cameron diaz.

the reason being that i'd want to be living in a place where people respected my place as much i would theirs. so at least ill have some sort of control. ill know who they are and where they live.

not sure about the methodology just yet. only just started looking into it seriously.
the only issue is the privacy and people going through your underwear if you got a creepy person staying at yours.

was discussing this recently with close family friends (australian) who swapped their lives with a canadian family for a year. they said they´re pretty sure they got the shit end of the stick so would never do it again. i think it was issues like pay (both mothers were teachers so swapped jobs) the father couldn´t get a visa to work and i can´t remember the other issues.

OK - who wants to swap with me? Sounds interesting.

im thinking about doing a swap next year. if i get the right deal id rather swap with someone i know from TFP.

the only problem with the UK is the damn weather! im looking at either UK or US. I dont really want to get short changed though. apples for apples. my place is pretty nifty id like to think.

im not really looking at swapping jobs or wives or whatever. just a holiday say for a week or two in another country but having access to free accomodation while the owner of the house you will stay at will have access to yours. how do people swap keys and stuff like that. what are the logostical challenges involved?

This sounds like something I'd be interested in. I just have to hide all my porn.

I don't think anyone would want to stay in my tiny apartment.

I would swap!! We have a pretty nice house and it is about 30-40 minutes from the ocean so I think whoever swapped with us would be happy. I would only do it for a vacation though, not extended length.

Yeah, Australia has quite a bit better climate and such. Maybe if it was between Banff, Canada and Sydney, Australia it would be a good switch for about 6 months.

I have a cool house, but nobody would want to vacation here. I also don't have a job they will let me do from anywhere in the world.

Hmm, I thought I was for it, but apparently I'm not. The_Wife has informed me that my instincts were wrong. Apparently we vacation somewhere on a beach, preferably on an island, within walking distance of the water.

She'll make an exception for Dubai, apparently, though. Unfortunately, we're not going on that long a trip anytime soon.

You've seen this??!?!?!!?! And you admit to it??!?!?!
I love this movie. But I never thought I'd meet a man who has seen it. :oogle:

I would try it, but unfortunately I have no home to swap presently. Maybe I could just loan them my car, laptop, paints, and a cardboard box.


I have nothing productive to add to this thread.

shame... i live on the marina (literally overlooks the water) and 300m from the beach. ive posted my pad here somewhere in a thread a few months ago

but if i go to the states ive got people to see. your probably one of them, so its no good you being here!

what sort of rules can be enforced? the last thing i want is my place to be trashed. it doesnt look like many people have done this sort of thing before.

hal - its ok, i wont look for your porn, just keep your undies hidden really well!

you know... tempting to swap with you.... but I'd want to be in Dubai to be with you, and same when you were in NYC.

this won't work between us apparently LOL

Same here. I'd want to meet up for sure. But maybe we can do this in the future - my boys are both way too young for this to happen anytime soon. Like 5+ years to even be considered.

Ever consider fractal ownership for this sort of thing? - There's a few where you'd actually own part of the house instead of some lameo pure timeshare group, and you can do the house trade sort of thing.

From an investment side of things, I know of one in Cancun that costs 6k up front, $200 a month for 5 years. 18k or so total with an option to purchase the property at 40k. The comps in the area sit around 100k, so whenever you exercise the option, you'd make roughly 60k base on the current rates. Not a bad run over 5 years, and you get usage of the place for vacationing. In relation to this thread, you can do the swap thing with timeshare groups willing to trade their vacation space with you. If you're just after the money, you can also rent out the place for cashflow purposes. I almost bought 3 of the houses outright, but I had some issues in January that killed my cash flow so I ended up passing on the deal for now.

jazz..cynth..no no no.. not looking to trade with you guys. ill have to trade with members i dont know so well or a complete stranger. so it wont work with you guys

GG - umm.. errmm... i havent see it :rolleyes: ive only jut heard about it :)

merlocke - yeah ive heard about time shares. i dont like sharing! its not about the money. i just like knowing something is mine.

Ive thought about doing this too, more so now that I have my own place. I live casually and the things that are most valuable to me cannot be stolen or wrecked. Important family items I left at the house and havent take so I dont worry about things like that. Logistically, I suppose a good way to go about it would be with emails and photos and exchange of pertinent information of what youre getting into such as shit the dishwasher broke and the repair man is coming the day after you arrive. It would be nice to leave the keys with a trusted friend who would maybe agree to meet the swappers at the airport and bring them to the house and give them the keys and so forth. It could be a welcoming hand.

Being the swapper myself, I would go prepared with maps and the usual. I wouldnt want to count on the swappee to have to take care of me. More the other way around. I would ensure that I kept to the agreement, took care of their things and left things in order. Its easy to be responsible.

And I would have a blast.

I would be too tempted to put my balls on everything at the house I went to... EVERYTHING.

Which is why this is just a bad idea all around.

i dont mind your balls being on everything as long as its not your crack

yeesh - ok no, you don't get to stay at the house in Cancun! Dude... that's just wrong...

Maybe the benefit of swapping with you IS the porn :)

It might be fun to swap houses with a relative. I have many that live nearby, and we seem to stay in groups somewhat even when moving out of state. I think that I would feel more comfortable knowing who was living at my house, especially if there are people that I know who are nearby to help me see the sights. So I don't think swapping with strangers would be something I would do.

I would, however, make an exception for Bill Gates. :D

edit: oh, and I saw the movie "The Holiday." I liked the movie, but disliked the acting of Cameron Diaz.