I’m wondering fi anyone has ever done a straight-across home swap with another couple or family? Since it’s a bit far for us to travel to other vacation spots, I’m starting to look into home-trading sites where you can trade your home directly with someone who owns a home in another place, and pan to stay quite a bit longer than you might otherwise. Sometimes you even have access to their car, etc.
Florida would be a great place for a home swap since you could easily stay a month as there’s so much to do.
Has anyone ever done this? We’re not total noobs at this since we did own a condo at Big Sky which we rented out and accumulated points to trade (usually to Disney, lol), but that wasn’t our primary residence, and this would be.
Well, if no one has swapped homes, if you did, what town would be a good place for a stay of 2-4 weeks? Besides Celebration,that is Florida, or anywhere…
I haven’t been on a plane for over a year and I’m about to lose my mind. DD 26 and I spent 8 hours yesterday watching Disney trip videos.
What service do you use to match you with someone? And is it always literally a swap or is it like your house goes into a pool and everyone is divvied up a house in the location they want?
I don’t think I could trust strangers living in my house.
Don’t they do home swaping during august holiday? I wonder if our EU friends have experience to share? I’m with @Jeff_AZ on NOT letting strangers in my house.
I don’t know what service we’ll use, I’m just looking into it right now. I guess that by the time the strangers actually land in your home, they’re not strangers. And you can usually pull the plug if something seems amiss.
I really did NOT like renting our ski place, because those renters had no skin in the game- stuff would be missing, broken, (even barf covered up under a throw rug, once- to be fair, it was in the kids’ room and I doubt the parents even knew- but the cleaning service should have!!). The rental company would just fix it up and write it off. But it always got under my skin. That was still my stuff- it was not a timeshare. So we definitely know what we could be getting into.
However, in a home swap, you’re in THEIR home as well. That tends to make people behave, or so they say. That’s why I want to ask around a bit first. It’s a bit like doing Air BnB, in that you have a chance to meet the renters & my friends who have done Air BnB as “landlords” have done well, and some have really loved it. But home swaps give you more control than even Air BnB.
It just seems logical that if you have a home in a vacation spot, why not use that to go to another vacation spot? A month in another place costs a small fortune. And I do worry about it being empty for extended periods. I could tell you some horror stories about that. Like driving up to your house and seeing icicles coming out from between the logs and the windows frosted over from the inside…
We’ve actually been to nearly all of the other places mentioned here, though I’d love to go back to NOLA, we were not there nearly long enough, and it was during a conference anyway.
I’ve rented three homes (and a dovecote!) in Europe and it is the way to go, especially for a family. The last time I rented from a brother and sister who had a place in Rome, I stayed there with some friends. Right there by the Spanish Steps, it was awesome. I would know a lot more about home-swappers than that pair knew about me, that’s for sure!
I would swap, but no one would want to stay where I live.
Destin, FL would be my pick for four weeks. Or Chincoteague Island. But depends on the time of year for either. I’d also love to spend four weeks in SoCal, but there is nothing to do there now.
I can only swap if someone wants to dog sit for four crazy doggies. I truly mean crazy. Two are scared of strange humans and two are scared of strange dogs. One eats anything and everything and sometimes need emergency vet visits to make it come back up (I was in a panic when I found a chewed up razor blade handle of my teen daughters but couldn’t immediately find the blade itself which thankfully made itself known after looking around not chewed up at all). But people would like Austin in the fall or spring during ACL or SxSW if the pandemic ever ends.
Florida, or anywhere…
doggies. I truly mean crazy. Two are scared of strange humans and two are scared of strange dogs. One eats anything and everything and sometimes need emergency vet visits to make it come back up (I was in a panic when I found a chewed up razor blade handle of my teen daughters but couldn’t immediately find the blade itself which thankfully made itself known after looking around not chewed up at all). But people would like Austin in the fall or spring during ACL or SxSW if the pandemic ever ends.