- The Observer,
- Sunday January 28 2001
If you really want to make your house earn its keep, why not use it to pay for your holiday accommodation - by swapping with another homeowner?
Home exchange provides an inexpensive but interesting overseas holiday and gives you a feel for how the locals live. But you also have peace of mind because your own house is looked after and occupied.
There are about six large UK agencies specialising in exchanges, the oldest of which is Intervac, started in the Fifties as an exchange organisation for teachers - who had long holidays but modest salaries. Most rely on the internet to attract exchangers from all over the world: owners register their properties and then individually email or write to each other with offers of exchanges.
Some large agencies devoted solely to holiday exchanges will have links with similar operations in other countries. They charge between £40 and £120 to register, after which they publicise extensive details and photographs of your property to other members worldwide and give you internet or printed information on houses overseas which are up for exchange. Bigger agencies also give information or deals on flights, insurance and legal support.
'The key thing is guidance,' says Rhona Nayar, who runs Intervac. 'People who undertake these holidays are usually in their forties or older, and may need help ranging from how to send emails to what they should leave in their own home when they go away. Bigger agencies offer this.'
Intervac has around 1,000 UK properties registered, with a further 12,000 around the world. 'Europe and the US are still the most popular, but there are more exotic places. A property in Nepal [pictured below] has been registered, and we're beginning to see some from eastern European countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic,' she says.
Smaller online-only agencies, such as Home Exchange Network, offer listings only. For £9.95 you can list your house for a year, with basic details and a contact email address. For £29.95 you can have a dedicated web-page with photos and more information. Further activity is left up to individuals.
From Auld Reekie to a whole new world
Swapping homes has worked well for Marion Blythman, a retired teacher trainer in Edinburgh, who has exchanged her three-bedroom house through Home Base Holidays on more than 20 occasions for holidays across Europe and the Americas.
One swap was with the New York home of actor Farley Grainger, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers On A Train . In the coming year she is going to Rome, Colorado and Mexico for exchange holidays.
'I decided I wanted to do all of these things but couldn't afford to in the conventional way, so tried swapping. It's worked extremely well, because it also makes the holiday and what you get out of it much more worthwhile. You get to know the area and now I've made one or two friends from re-exchanging with them.
'My house is working for me when I do this. You spend a lot of money on your property and your car, so using it this way makes it more efficient. But in the end it's down to the type of person. You cannot be proprietorial with this arrangement. There's got to be a relationship of trust with the people with whom you exchange. I never lock anything away, and leave the house pretty much as I live in it, but I have the security of someone being here while I am away.'
What happens next?
Once your house is on an agency site or brochure, this is how the process works:
1. You scour the entries and contact those whose properties and locations you prefer. Most people contact 20 or more initially, usually by email, to gauge interest. Describe your family (to give your potential exchanger a feel of what sort of house you require) and give details of your home, neighbourhood, amenities and public transport including nearest airport.
2. Try to exchange with people in like circumstances - retired people's homes are rarely geared up for families with toddlers, for example.
3. When you find definite exchangers, provide them with the maximum number of photos of your home and ensure you and they have all the information required.
4. Check that your home insurance covers non-paying exchange partners. Most insurers say your home is at less risk of burglary when occupied, so do not charge extra.
5. Car insurers are often less co-operative, especially if your exchange partners are from the US, where motor accident litigation is commonplace.
6. Agree in advance how costs such as phone bills and minor repairs will be covered in your home and the one you are to stay in. Make clear what possessions are out of bounds - or lock them away. Some exchange partners will look after pets, with advance notice.
7. Sign a formal agreement. The bigger agencies now have their own model contracts.
8. Before your holiday, prepare a bible of how things work in your house and your car. Remember: US videotapes don't play in most UK recorders.
Where to start
Intervac International 01225 892208
Home Link 01344 842642
Home Base 020 8886 8752
Home Exchange Network
