Watch Out – Ten Things to Avoid
Home exchanging happens every day, presenting great opportunities to enjoy another location, be it local or on the opposite side of the world. People of all cultures and demographics are benefiting from swapping homes while saving a fortune. Throughout this guide we have focused on things that will enhance your experience. When speaking to some of our friends, they have asked us to add in some things to watch out for and avoid. Here is our list:
1. Avoid property listing with little or no pictures. There is usually a reason, either they are not really serious about trading or the property isn’t worth photographing. Both are good reasons to avoid the listing.
2. When hosting, don’t leave valuables or fragile items out in the open. In over a decade of experience in exchanging, we have never heard of a theft or an expensive item being broke, but let’s just not push our good fortune. Accidents can happen, be smart and put valuables and fragile items locked up and away.
3. Don’t exaggerate or enhance the description of your property. All of us are proud of our homes, please simply be honest when creating your listing. You want the same from your hosts. Home swapping is based on honesty and trust; this starts with each of us.
4. Don’t buy travel (airline or rail) tickets before getting an exchange agreement with the other party. Best to be safe, unless of course you have alternative accommodation available.
5. Watch out if the other party doesn’t communicate with you. This is a sign that they are not really interested. Best to find a trader that is open and communicates in a timely manner.
6. Watch out for home exchange networks that don’t clearly have contact details. Websites can be great, but ensure they have an address and phone number. Any reputable exchange network will make themselves easily available to communicate with its members.
7. Don’t agree to a trade without some type of verification about the people and the property. As mentioned earlier, some of the exchange networks have a validation program and can assist you in this process. If not, then do some validation of the other party on your own.
8. Do not send or pay money to a host property owner in advance. The basis of home exchange is to avoid paying for accommodation. The exception here is a damage deposit which is a reasonable request; this should be paid only near the time of exchange. Our recommendation is to use a third party service like PayPal where the host can refund the deposit back to you, even after several weeks, with no service charge to either party.
9. Avoid exchange networks that don’t offer secure communications, don’t protect your data and have too many free members. You will need to communicate with others around the world about you home, ensure the communication is only going to people that have been validated and are truly interested in home exchange. Don’t risk exposing your information and don’t waste your time.
10. Don’t travel without insurance. Sometime when doing a home exchange, people forget about insuring their vacation. We highly recommend that you get the right travel insurance for you, home exchanging is not an exception.
We would like to give you a bonus thing to avoid, don’t do anything that is against your natural intuition or instincts. If something doesn’t feel right, trust your instincts and don’t do it. Trading homes is a great experience. Beyond saving money, you have the opportunity to live like a local, enjoy the comforts of a home, often with a lot more space. Remember the eleven items above and we wish you the best in your exchange vacation.