How to Travel the Home Exchange Way

Posted by Jacob Koos on September 17th, 2015

Vacation Home Exchange is a new and exciting way to travel that’s taking the world by storm.  It provides a unique and authentic vacation experience living the life as a local. See your holiday destination through the eyes of someone who lives there and do what the locals do. I assure you, by the end of your trip, you’ll have a better understanding of people from other cultures. You get to maximize your investment as well by doing vacation home swaps during empty periods. All in all, home exchange is an economical, comfortable and fascinating way to vacation far from home.

Doing home exchange is as easy as 1, 2, 3 and here is a short guide on how you’ll get started with the best vacation of your life.

Find Out if Exchanging Homes is for you

Home exchange may not be perfect for everyone. Some people may enjoy the idea of exploring new places with the added bonus of not paying for hotels, restaurants and in other cases, transportation. Home swap is a perfect way to know the natives and become a part of the community; you’ll get to make new friends and you’ll get to experience first-hand the local culture.

Some people however are not looking forward to cooking and cleaning during their vacation or having a stranger stay in their home. Some home exchange hosts introduce their guests to their neighbours to help their guests feel secure and some homes have house keepers who attend to their guests’ needs.

Home owners in less known vacation destinations may find it difficult to have someone to swap homes with, this doesn’t mean though that you should miss out on the benefits of home exchange, it just means that you should be ready to work a little harder in finding someone to swap homes with.

Home exchange may not be ideal for someone who is not flexible with their vacation time. A minimum of seven days stay is preferred, however, staying for three days and two nights can be worked out. Many exchanges take place during off season, especially vacation homes that are rented out.

Setting up a Home Exchange                                   

There are a lot of home exchange organizations out there and most of them charge a monthly or a yearly membership fee, some organizations offer exchanges without paying a fee, however, you’ll find more secure exchanges and serious exchangers when you are a part of a network in which members paid fees to have their home listed.

Some organizations will provide you detailed guidelines on how to arrange a home swap, or better yet, arrange one for you. In addition to that, other organizations provide additional personalized services such as suggesting tourist spots, restaurants, shops or a map on how to get around.

Once you’ve chosen a network to work with, it’s best to plan your vacation far in advance as possible and be flexible with your travel dates. Put in as much information as you can about your home in your listing and offer letter emailed to a possible exchange partner focusing on the best highlights of your home such as the cosy atmosphere of your home or the beautiful eternity pool in your property, the location of your home and its accessibility to public transportation, tourist spots, shops and restaurants, anything that will attract a guest to your home. The more exchange partners you reach out to, the more chances of finding the perfect home exchange for you. You should be specific as well on what you are offering and what you expect, like using a vehicle, housekeeping, taking care of or bringing pets, using the swimming pool and such.

IVHE is a perfect website that helps you with not only putting up your listing and build a network, it also provides personalized services such as helping you make an itinerary or looking for available homes for exchange. IVHE or International Vacation Home Exchange is an exclusive community of second or holiday home owners. IVHE offers members with vacation properties a unique opportunity to get more out of their current investment with non-simultaneous home exchanges. In addition to that, IVHE offers both simultaneous (direct exchange) and non-simultaneous exchanges (credit exchange) giving its members more flexibility with their travel dates and destinations.

With the credit system, member A earn credits when Member B stays in Member A’s property; Member A then use those credits to stay in any other members' property. For example, Person A lets Person B stay in their villa in the Caribbean. With the credits Person A earned he can stay in Person C’s ski chalet in Colorado and Person C goes to Person D’s condo in Thailand and so on.

Your Home’s Security

Your home is safe, especially with IVHE and its members. Since members are like-minded second home owners who understand each other’s needs and expectations, rest assured that your home is in good hands. Members expect their home exchange partners to take care of their homes as they would their own and vice versa.

Problems with home swap are virtually rare. Most common issues that may arise would be varying standards of cleanliness. If more serious problems occur, such as damages, you may report it to your home exchange organization. However, most of these organizations do not accept responsibility for damages associated with any exchange. The most that they can do is revoking your exchange partner’s membership.

You may ask for references to help avoid any misunderstandings with your exchange partner before finalizing an exchange. It’s also a good idea to sign a written agreement the terms of your exchange, most organizations have sample agreements you can use. Provide your exchange partners with important contact numbers and instructions on how to use appliances and security systems in your home. Also make sure to take care of your home exchange partner’s home the same way you’ll care for your own.

IVHE does something else to help keep their members’ mind at ease. IVHE, take its members’ security very seriously. IVHE has something they call as 4 Star Exchange Verification, this gives IVHE members comfort in knowing that members are verified in a variety of areas. In this verification process a member can earn 4 stars by meeting these criteria’s.  The first is having a personal phone call, IVHE talks with its club members to verify the facts. Second, IVHE view personal identification like a passport, driver's license or national identity cards. Third is property verification by viewing a recent utility bill or equivalent, which matches the members' identity with the property. Finally, another star is gained once a member has exchanged or traded. The 4 Star Exchange Verification provides IVHE members with added comfort, security and peace of mind.

I hope these guidelines helped you understand on how it is to travel the vacation home exchange way. After reading this you’ll now know what it takes to swap home. Home exchange may be an unconventional way to go on vacation, but I assure you, the unique experience you’ll get from this will definitely be worth it.

So join IVHE now and start reaping the benefits of trading homes!