First, I want to be upfront in that I own two home exchange sites. However, for this  question, I will answer it as an experienced home exchanger rather than an owner. We have completed 14 home exchanges over the past 10 years including a longer term one year exchange to Australia, several 3 to 22 day exchanges to the USA, Canada and Europe and a weekend exchange to a nearby city. ... http://www.squidoo.com/homeexchangetravel Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:45:51 -0600 FeedCreator 1.7.2 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:26:45 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/homeexchangetravel First, I want to be upfront in that I own two home exchange sites. However, for this  question, I will answer it as an experienced home exchanger rather than an owner. We have completed 14 home exchanges over the past 10 years including a longer term one year exchange to Australia, several 3 to 22 day exchanges to the USA, Canada and Europe and a weekend exchange to a nearby city.  Is it safe? How do you trust complete strangers to live in your home? Response, "How do your exchange partners know that they can trust you in their home? Each home exchange that we completed was unique. A bond of trust is built up before the exchange takes place through emails,exchanging of photos and information about yourr home and area, phone calls and through letters. In every exchange, our partners homes were very different and much more luxurious than our home. However, we never had a complaint that our home was too small or ordinary. We have found that vacationers exchange homes to be closer to a particular vacation spot. A home is really accommodation that one doesn't pay for.< From our own experiences we have never had a theft, never had our home wrecked and honestly have never heard of anyone else experiencing either.Yes it is true that I broke a drinking glass while emptying our exchange partners dishwasher and my wife missed watering a plant that shriveled and was replaced. At our home we have had two drinking glasses broken during exchanges and one teflon frying pan scratched, but in every case money was left behind to cover the cost. The great news is that we have stayed in New York for 12 days, San Francisco for a week and in the Netherlands for 22 days. Our total accommodation cost was zero. Can I save money traveling on a home exchange? Yes.  Depending where you travel, one night at a modest hotel can be well over $100 a night plus taxes, hotel surcharges, parking and meals.  -  Imagine the savings on a 2 week home exchange vacation.  Instead of a  paying for a hotel, swap homes and stay free. Saving money is not the only benefit of a home exchange. A house offers a  family  more space, more conveniences and more freedom. Plus you can experience  an area as a local, not a tourist.  Can I exchange homes within my own region or county? Exchanges within ones own region and country is the fastest growing use of home exchange What is the length of a typical exchange? Whatever works for you.  Global offers weekend  exchanges, short term swaps from 1 to 3 weeks and longer term swaps of several months to a year or more.   Why would someone want to come to my house or area? Over the many years that we have worked with exchangers, we have come to appreciate that one can not predict why someone would want an exchange to a particular area. We have had members from remote areas find exchanges from people who loved fishing and hunting.  We also have had members in Hawaii that exchanged homes with exchange partners that didn't even go to the beach and yes even members from a warm climate that just wanted to experience living for a week or two in snow.   Many Global members are open to traveling to new places, so don't let your area be a limitation to you finding a home swap. If your home is in an out of the way area or not tourist oriented, we encourage you to send out heaps of inquiries, and put a bit of effort into explaining about your home, neighborhood and area. As Global is network of several home exchange clubs, we suggest you take advantage of the worldwide membership offered  and send our lots of inquiries to support your listing.   Who can answer my listing?   As Global is an open club, your listing or advertisement may be contacted by an unlimited amount of people open to an exchange, singles, seniors and families, upwards of 30,000 possible home exchangers seeking exchangers, whether they are Global members, members of our European and North American based partner clubs or members of any other world wide home exchange service that visits one of our three websites.   Do I need to have extra insurance? Check that your homeowner's insurance will be valid while your exchange partners live in your home. Make it very clear to your agent that they are your non-paying guests. Most insurance companies will recognize that your home is at lower risk from burglary when it is occupied, but your insurance cover may be invalid if you omit to notify the company before your exchange holiday.  We understand that most insurance covers exchange partners as invited guests in your home and offers coverage as such.. Besides saving money, what are some other benefits from swapping homes? Many travelers join Global thinking the biggest benefit will be the money they save. This is most certainly realized with savings of hundreds to thousands of dollars on hotels, vehicles and meals.  After swapping homes most will say that the greatest benefits are experiencing an area like a local, not a tourist and having the comfort of being in a multi room home rather than a cramped hotel room.  Families with children love the spaciousness of an exchange house. May I exchange my rental apartment or rental house? Yes.  We suggest you contact the owner of the apartment or house you are renting to get any permissions necessary.   Do I have to swap my car as well? Swapping cars is entirely up to you. From our own personal experience in swapping cars as part of an exchange we recommend you and your house swap partner sign a car exchange agreement. Can I exchange pets? Some members are quite happy to look after pets for their partners, but don't feel an obligation to offer these services if you are worried about the responsibility. Likewise, don't burden your guests unless you are sure they are happy with the arrangement. In all likelihood your partners will use your home as a base while making daily, and often overnight sightseeing trips, and may not want to be tied down with pet care. Communicate everything at these initial stages of making arrangements. Each member listing notes whether there are pets in the house, whether pets are welcome as part of the exchange and whether pet care is required.  We have two small dogs.  We have taken them on exchanges with us as part of our exchange agreement, left them with friends or in a kennel when our exchange partner didn't want them in their home and have looked after our exchange partners cats while staying in their home. Who is responsible for cleaning the house? It really is a personal choice.   Sometimes our members arrange for their home to be cleaned by a service, other times you clean the house before you leave.   A good rule is to leave the house exactly as you found it, and to take care of the home as you expect your partner to take care of yours. Who looks after the house plants and yard? Plant care - if your guests agree to water your plants for you, stick to simple requests. Unless you are setting up a long-term exchange, plants will survive without fertilizers, foods and supplements until you return.  We have asked our exchange partners to water our house plants and reciprocated the same for our partners house plants. From our experience, watering plants isn't a huge bother. Yard and garden care - few people want to spend hours of their vacation tending someone else's yard. This is one instance where the homeowner should definitely arrange for outside yard and pool care so as not the burden their guests.  This past year we hired a lawn care service to cut our lawn and asked a neighbor to water our outside plants when needed while were away on exchange.  The cost was small, $35  and appreciated by our house swap partners. Global Home Exchange and Vacation Rentals Global Pacific Vacation Homes Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:26:45 -0600