Accommodation will always be one of your biggest travel expenses…but what if it wasn’t? What if you could reduce the cost of your accommodation to zero while still enjoying the comforts of home?
That’s what house swaps promise.
House swaps have been around for decades. It was the entire premise of the movie The Holiday (starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet). They became all the rage but then were soon eclipsed by sites like Airbnb.
But as travel prices skyrocketed post-COVID, more and more people have turned back to house swaps as a means of saving money while they travel while still getting a local experience (but without the hassle of an Airbnb).
House swaps are exactly what they sound like. You sign up, list your home, and then swap with someone else in another city. They stay in your place and you stay in their place.
The biggest and most popular platform for swaps is HomeExchange.
And, in this post, I’ll go over everything you need to know to get started with a house swap and help you decide if HomeExchange is right for you.
What is HomeExchange?
Founded in 1992, HomeExchange is a network that facilitates swapping homes with another person or family. The company actually started as a mail-ordered printed directory before moving online. Today, there are over 200,000 members in over 155 countries. It’s the biggest and most popular house swap platform.
Currently, it costs $220 USD per year for unlimited swaps.
It’s easy to use too. You just have to make a free account, fill in your profile (including plenty of photos and detailed descriptions of your home), verify your identity, and pay the fee.
Once you do that, you’re ready to start looking for exchange opportunities.
You can find home exchange opportunities by simply browsing the website (there’s a handy map function so you can see where opportunities are) or narrowing your search by using the website’s filters. You can filter by the number of bedrooms, if it’s pet friendly, accessibility, and amenities (like swimming pools).
When you find a home you’re interested in, all you need to do is reach out via HomeExchange’s secure messaging system, express your interest, and get the conversation rolling.
There are two types of exchanges: what HomeExchange calls “The Classic Exchange” and an “Exchange with GuestPoints”.
Classic Exchange
The Classic Exchange is probably what you think of when you think of a home exchange: you stay in someone’s home, and in…
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