Has anyone done a home swap for vacation/long stay?

[lala646]

Wondering if anyone here has done this and would care to share their experiences?

Some background: DH and I own our apartment which is in a very central and desirable neighborhood in NYC. DH will be retiring in the next 5-10 years, when we are in our early 50's, and we will likely move out of the city to get a home with more space. The apartment will be paid off in the next year or so, so we're thinking for now that we will keep it for the foreseeable future, and pay the maintenance/upkeep costs. Because of our co-op rules, we can't rent out the unit, but I don't think we would be prohibited from a "swap", and it feels like this may be a great opportunity for us to stay overseas or in other cities for longer durations without having to worry about expensive hotels.

 

[MamaBee]

Wondering if anyone here has done this and would care to share their experiences?

Some background: DH and I own our apartment which is in a very central and desirable neighborhood in NYC. DH will be retiring in the next 5-10 years, when we are in our early 50's, and we will likely move out of the city to get a home with more space. The apartment will be paid off in the next year or so, so we're thinking for now that we will keep it, and pay the maintenance/upkeep costs. Because of our co-op rules, we can't rent out the unit, but I don't think we would be prohibited from a "swap", and it feels like this may be a great opportunity for us to stay overseas or in other cities for longer durations without having to worry about expensive hotels.

I have a neighbor at my other house that does this. She goes through an agency. They pick where they want to vacation..and the agency coordinates the match. I would definitely go through an agency than trying to do it yourself. She’s been all over the world staying in other people’s houses instead of paying for hotels. They even swap their car keys for the other family to use.

 

[lala646]

I have a neighbor at my other house that does this. She goes through an agency. They pick where they want to vacation..and the agency coordinates the match. I would definitely go through an agency than trying to do it yourself. She’s been all over the world staying in other people’s houses instead of paying for hotels. They even swap their car keys for the other family to use.

That's interesting! I've only done a cursory investigation, and found a handful of websites, but I'm definitely going to keep looking into it!

 

[Garnetgirl]

I have two friends who have done this. One had a wonderful experience, the other, a terrible time awaiting when she got home. Neither had gone through an agency.
Ironically, the one with the bad experience swapped her home with the brother of a friend. The one with the great experience worked with a total stranger.

 

[lala646]

I have two friends who have done this. One had a wonderful experience, the other, a terrible time awaiting when she got home. Neither had gone through an agency.
Ironically, the one with the bad experience swapped her home with the brother of a friend. The one with the great experience worked with a total stranger.

Yeah, I would imagine it would be a bit of a roll of the dice, kind of like AirBnB. Hopefully using a well-established agency would help to mitigate the risk, at least a bit. Homeexchange.com, which seems to be one of the bigger ones, does offer theft and damage protections, which would offer some peace of mind.