66 Practical Home Exchange Tips

A Complete Guide to Finding, Arranging, and Enjoying a Perfect Home Exchange Holiday

We've compiled and exhaustive list of house swap tips to help you find, arrange, and experience a perfect home exchange. Follow these tips and you and your family could be spending your next holiday in a villa in Tuscany, a New York City brownstone, a ski chalet in the French Alps, a London flat, or a beach house in the South Pacific rent-free!
 
To help you put our tips into perspective, here's an analogy to which most of us can relate (or have at some time in our lives).
 
Home exchanging is a bit like dating, where a house swap service plays the equivalent role to a dating agency. It helps you to meet, but the rest is up to you.
 
You start by joining a home exchange service. You list your home, describing its assets, the advantages of your location, information about yourself, and your preferred destinations. Then you search the listings for a home in a region you want to visit. Photos help you distinguish tall, dark and handsome from short, a little overweight, and lacking fashion direction. Listings without photos are analogous to going on a blind date—not without risk! You contact listings that interest you, in the hope that one or more will fall in love with your home and will want to swap.
 
What helps make a home exchange a success are chemistry, flexibility, honesty, communication, and a bit of luck.
 
Whether you are a home exchange virgin or a seasoned pro, our comprehensive guide will help you find, arrange, and enjoy a perfect home exchange vacation.