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ACTUAL EXPERIENCE with homeexchange.com


MEXLC

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We've done over 10 exchanges using this site over the years. About half of the people we've swapped with have actually come to Ajijic but for those that did, we had absolutely no problems. Most people left our house in better shape than we left it.

We've traded for several locations in Mexico, Guatemala,  a few in the US and Canada and 3 apartments one summer in Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

Of there was a small negative it was that we never had an even exchange. By that I mean we traded a large house for a small apartment and in one case a tiny duplex outside of London. In those cases however we found a place where we wanted to be and at a time we wanted to travel.

It takes a lot of time to work out an exchange if you are the initiator. You must send inquires to many possible owners. In our London exchange I probably sent out 100 inquires for England, Scotlant, Ireland and Spain. We needed a specific 10 day period one May prior to meeting up with other couples in Lucca Italy.

If you want to travel this site provides a great opportunity to locate a place that allows you to experience home living as opposed to a costly hotel. Often a car is possible but in the end everything is negotiable.

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We have done 2 exchanges, both simultaneous through Homeexchange. One in Seattle and another for an incredible ocean front condo in Conchas Chinas just south of PV. Our home was very well taken care of. We have 2 set up for next year. One in the San Juan Islands in Washington State and another in a small village in Italy. Both non simultaneous. We will no longer do simultaneous as we have 2 dogs. This winter we are going to the beach with the dogs while a couple will be in our home.

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Thank you for sharing.  

Joyful, is it difficult to find home exchanges that welcome well behaved dogs?

Question in general regarding planning in advance.  I gather that some wait with little time, and others plan months ahead to secure an exchange.  How far (approx) would you recommend beginning a search? 

John Shrall said it takes a lot of work (emails etc to locate an exchange).  Did you find that to be the case?

 

***We are thinking of mixing RV-ing with Exchanges, to remain in traveling mod with some breaks in that travel.

We are considering both Exchange and Renting of our home. The first: A place to enjoy in one interesting location to break up the travel may be pleasant.

 

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You'd have to try it but I suspect asking to bring any sort of animal to a home exchange house would be a deal breaker. Many times the owners of the exchange property will ask if you'd look after their animal. We had that situation with an exchange in Guatemala. We traveled with friends who offered to take that responsibility. If it was just us I would have punted the exchange.

The more flexible you are the easier the process is. If on the other hand you're looking for a specific location and time it gets a lot more difficult. In England for example, trying to locate an exchange in May was tough because vacations occur during the summer months when kids are out of school. I happened to find a retired couple that was willing to make the swap.

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8 hours ago, John Shrall said:

You'd have to try it but I suspect asking to bring any sort of animal to a home exchange house would be a deal breaker. Many times the owners of the exchange property will ask if you'd look after their animal. We had that situation with an exchange in Guatemala. We traveled with friends who offered to take that responsibility. If it was just us I would have punted the exchange.

The more flexible you are the easier the process is. If on the other hand you're looking for a specific location and time it gets a lot more difficult. In England for example, trying to locate an exchange in May was tough because vacations occur during the summer months when kids are out of school. I happened to find a retired couple that was willing to make the swap.

We have never been turned down when asking to bring our 2 small dogs. We have also offered to take care of dogs. There is a couple coming at stay in our home this March with their medium size dog, during this time we will stay at a condo at the beach  with our dogs. We will stay at their home in the San Juan Islands, Washington in July when we go for a wedding. Our dogs will stay home with a sitter.  One of the filters on Homeexchange is if pets are allowed. However, asking is also okay.

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Yes, we did notice that there was a preference to check in the search engine, for those permitting dogs.  Actually there were many that did, and would probably appreciate being able to visit here with their pooches.  Those filters are nice... They even have one if the owner doesn't want smokers.  We may do the home exchange route in the future.  Thanks for the feedback.  Right now we have decided for short trips to leave a friend to watch over, and for long we will probably be seeking a renter. 

 

 

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