The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThinking of trying a home exchange for maybe 6 months or a year.
Anyone tried this with one of the established companies such as Homeexchange?
The empressof all
(29,098 posts)I would probably have to do a lot of decluttering though....Which is a good thing.
secondwind
(16,903 posts)We went to a villa on a coffee plantation, a Paris apartment with a car in the garage, Normandy in France, also a home in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon, a villa in Rome, and several other wonderful locations.
We started off by choosing the location and getting acquainted via email with the owners. We shared everything we needed to say, we even took care of a cat in a Paris penthouse. Never had a problem. Exchanged photos etc.
Its an amazing experience, and so much better and cheaper than a hotel room, etc.
The yearly fee you pay is cheaper than one night in any location.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,750 posts)It seems appealing, but the cost of storing all my personal things might be significant. Not to mention, my only dishes are my wedding china (I promoted them to every day use several months ago) and I'd be a bit unhappy if strangers broke them.
Perhaps more to the point, how do you manage bill paying? Do you put everything on auto-pay? What if the people in your home use a LOT more water or electricity or gas than you do? How is that handled?
I really want to know the practical aspects. I'm not seriously considering letting others live in my home, but I'm thinking about a long (30 days or more) cruise and wonder how to handle those things.
Next year I have two nearly back-to-back trips. Two weeks at the beginning of March for a Hawaii cruise, then the first two weeks in April for a trip to Seattle. I'm thinking I ought to put the few of my bills not currently on auto pay, on auto pay. I'm open to suggestions.
BSdetect
(8,989 posts)We are looking to swap houses for a year or longer if possible.
The company running this scheme seems to have a lot of help available to answer all these questions.
So far I've only registered with Homeexchange.
Ideally a person who is moving for a job relocation long term.
Seems unlikely we can find someone to do that but you never know.