The Home Exchanger

Declining a home swap offer

One of the most common complaints I hear is that many people don't respond to their home swap offers. Sometimes, a message will go astray. Other times, people will be rude. But, most of the time, people don't like saying no.

So, here's an example of what to write in response to a home exchange offer you don't want to accept:

Hi Jan and Lillemor,

Thanks very much for your offer. Your house looks lovely and we would love to swap with you another time. But, this trip we're hoping for something in Southern Sweden or Copenhagen. So, we have to decline your generous offer this time. I wish you lots of luck finding something good.

Best Regards,

Josh and Jessica

There were a few reasons we declined the offer. For one, we'd prefer to be in the city while the home was 20 kilometers north of Stockholm.  But, the main reason was in fact the geographical one.

The point is that I complimented the prospective house swap partner and declined their offer in the most polite way I could think of. That way, it makes it clear they should move on to someone else, but they won't be dispirited.  And if you can't think of anything nice to write, a simple no thanks is better than no reply at all.

Loyal customers return

One of the great things about our business is the loyal customers. We just got a renewal this evening from a member that had last been a member in 1999. They have a different house, live in a different town, but the same area of Washington and they're back with Intervac looking to find a home swap somewhere in the world.

Family searches for roots on Ireland home swap

The Boston Globe has published an informative account of a family's recent trip to Ireland. It shows that home exchanging is the means to a vacation and what you do once you're there is still your choice. You can make the opportunities afforded to you by the home swap itself the centerpiece of your vacation or just enjoy a typical vacation of sightseeing.

For the family featured in this Boston Globe story, they swapped homes and searched for their roots in Ireland.

Reviewing The Holiday movie

I recenty saw The Holiday and was pleased to see home swapping reaching the mainstream. The movie certainly captured what I consider the greatest benefit of home exchanging; the opportunity to have a real travel experience by living and interacting with real locals from another part of the world. It's a credit to the director that despite the fact she has never actually conducted a house swap, she was able to capture this so well.

As the owner of a house exchange service, I certainly would have like to have seen more about the actual logistics of the swap itself. I think the transferring of the house keys, trading of the cars, leaving of welcome notes and gifts could have provided good comedy fodder. There was some funny interplay between Jude Law and Cameron Diaz capturing her inability to find anything in her new home at first that played on the actual home exchange. I would have liked to have seen more of this.

But, I can't complain. This movie is bringing a great form of travel to many who have never heard of it before. Most will probably not be open to the idea of a stranger living in their house, but many will, and for that we are thankful.