A member's tips
Joel Israelsohn from London is an experienced home exchanger. Read his thoughts on what goes into a successful exchange experience.
Click here to view Joel’s listing
Get an email dialogue going with your potential exchange partner. Explain that you need to feel comfortable about whoever may be living in your home. Ask them to tell you about their lifestyle, work, other interests and what they hope to get out of the exchange. Give them similar information about yourself. After a few emails passing back and forth, you’ll have a good idea if they’re the sort of people you’d like to have staying in your home. Pick up the phone and have a chat. If at any stage you don’t feel comfortable about proceeding with the exchange, just say so.
Ask as many questions as necessary in order to get a clear idea of what’s on offer from them – their home, the neighbourhood and the city. Give them the equivalent information about your place. Exchange as many photos as you can (including photos of the people you’re corresponding with; it helps to picture who’ll be living in your space). Suggest that if they have friends or family in your area who can view your home, they should do so in order to increase their confidence factor.
Be entirely frank with them and say that you expect the same candour from them. It’s in everyone’s interests to minimise disappointment or nasty surprises through misinformation.
By the time you feel you know the people you’re dealing with and have exchanged photos, you’ll have a pretty good idea of the standard of accommodation on offer. Assuming that the quality of each party’s offering is roughly comparable, you should relax in the knowledge that each will respect the other’s living space. Neither party is likely to wilfully mistreat the other’s property. Store especially personal/valuable items in a space that they’ll not have access to.
The welcome is very important. If you’re not there to welcome the arriving party, someone needs to be at home to receive them and take time to settle them into the home and the neighbourhood. A detailed set of guidance notes should be left with them, with emergency contact numbers and a section on “what to do if…”
Keep arrangements simple; for example, each party continues to pay the bills for gas, electricity, water etc at their own property. Phone arrangements (including Internet access) need to be worked out to suit the requirements.
Stay in email contact whilst the exchange is in progress. It’s fun to hear how they’re getting along.