Look For The Green Flag
Nicole Frank is one of the leading experts of the home exchange community. Nicole has been an avid home exchanger since childhood and has completed dozens exchanges around the world with her family. Nicole’s "Key to Home Exchange" appears weekly on RoofSwap.com with do’s and don’t regarding house swapping and tips and advice on a wide array of travel topics. Have a question for Nicole or want to share some insight of your own? Visit our Member Forum section and post your comments and questions
How can roofswappers trust another family to use their home respectfully? This is a scary idea for some folks considering vacation exchange. In the past I have written about "red flags". These are clues in a swapper's communication that exchanging with that family may be an unpleasant
experience. But what about the opposite situation? What are some positive signs that you have found a good family with whom to swap homes?
FULL DISCLOSURE
Something that might initially look like a "red flag" could actually be a "green flag". If the exchangers are up front about aspects of their home that might prevent some exchangers from even contacting them, that is a green flag indicating you are less likely to find an unpleasant surprise when you arrive at the swap home.
I had a nice note from a new exchanger named Karen thanking me for writing about home exchange. She included a link to her swap listing. Right in the headline, Karen describes her home as "modest". I think this is a great idea. Managing expectations about one's home means swappers are likely to
be pleasantly surprised, instead of disappointed.
PAST SUCCESSES
If you receive a swap offer that notes "experienced exchangers; references available", that is a good sign. Volunteering to provide references means the swappers feel confident about how they cared for other exchange homes.
POUND WISE, NOT PENNY FOOLISH
Some swap clubs offer both free and paid memberships. An exchanger who has provided a credit card for the swap club to verify, and made the commitment of paying the generally-reasonable cost of a membership shows a commitment to swapping.
Hospitality in a potential swap partner is also a good sign. Does the family offer "perks" like offering passes to local attractions or making their car available?
DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
Home exchange is inherently democratic. Your home is worth exactly what my home is worth if I want to vacation at your place, and you at mine. An exchanger with a stunning home should treat those whose homes are more modest in a respectful way. The absence of any suggestion that the homes are of different financial or intrinsic value is a green flag.
CONSISTENCY
Do the terms of the swap stay constant? An agreement is an agreement. While aspects of one's life can change, a commitment to an exchange family should be sacrosanct, except under the most extreme of circumstances. To put this in practical terms, I followed through on a non-simultaneous swap just a few weeks after my beloved mother passed away. I had to find another place to stay, but I met my commitment to my swap partners.
RELAX
Having said that one should always meet one's swap commitments, I will also note that exchange partners who have a flexible attitude also send up green flags. We recently found out that the cat we recently adopted is about to become a mother. This affects the family with whom we are roofswapping over Memorial Day weekend because the kittens will be ensconced on our enclose terrace until they are weaned. When I asked our swap partner if he would mind dining in the eat-in kitchen instead of the terrace/ [removed][removed] dining room his reply was "no worries". I really [removed][removed] appreciated his flexible attitude.
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
Get a sense of the kinds of swap offers folks are sending before you commit. Themes will start to emerge after you have fielded a few requests to exchange homes. You will start to notice when the tone of the offer email is particularly enticing. There are many more green flags in home exchange as red flags. You will quickly start to pick up on both types of cues, and chart a successful course to the perfect roofswap as a result.
