Home exchange, or house swap, is the ideal way to save money while traveling. Using Roofswap.com, travelers can easily find a partner for a mutual home exchange for an agreed time period. The concept of home exchange has been around since the ‘50s, evolving from printed catalogues to the easy, friendly and secure site of Roofswap.com.
There are about 500,000 house swappers globally and the concept was recently featured in the movie “The Holiday”, where Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz demonstrated how easy and enjoyable it is to exchange houses (and, in their case... find love). If they enjoyed it.... you will probably enjoy it too!
Most swaps are done simultaneously, with exchange partners staying in each other's homes at the same time and even using each other’s cars to save on car rental. Home exchanges are often arranged for vacations, which range from a short weekend to as long as a month.
Follow these four simple steps to make your dream vacation a reality using RoofSwap:
- Create a free listing
- Search vacation homes
- Prepare your home
- Enjoy your house swap vacation
1. Create a free listing
It takes couple of minutes to complete the straightforward registration process. We recommend adding as many pictures as possible to your listing including interior and exterior shots – they will attract other Roofswappers and bring your home listing alive.
Think of your listing as an advertisement, where you are trying to “sell” others on your home. The more descriptive you are about the visitor attractions and unique features of your area and your home, the more interest and exchange requests you will generate.
2. Search vacation homes
Roofswapping can occur in two ways. Either a swapper contacts you or by having you initiating a contact with a home owner. Exchange offers can arrive from exotic locations that you might not have considered visiting – keep an open mind as your best vacation could be found there! We made it easy to respond to requests by using your Contact Log.
The more home owners you contact, the better your chances of arranging an exchange. Allow plenty of time (4-6 months) to find a match, realizing that lead time is important for vacation planning. It often takes multiple requests to get the right home exchange match.
Once you find a home that you like and the dates of travel suit both parties, it is time to discuss with the other party the little details of the trip by phone or email. To make it easy we prepared an optional Home Exchange Agreement to make sure that all the details have been covered.
3. Prepare your home
Apart from cleaning the house for your guests’ stay and leaving some extra room for them to store their belongings, we recommend preparing a “House Welcome Book” that will make their stay easier and answer any potential questions. It might include information on operating electronic equipment (e.g. washing machine), emergency phone numbers, recommended restaurants in the area and even a local map.
You can exchange keys by sending them by mail or arranging for them to be delivered by a neighbor/friend on the day of arrival. Just follow our checklist which covers all possible issues so you can focus on enjoying your house swap vacation.
4. Enjoy your house swap vacation
That’s it. Your house is ready for your guests and so is theirs for you. Now enjoy your house swap adventure, and don’t forget to leave behind for them a small thank you gift – it will be nice for you to come back to your home and find their gift to you ;-)
