Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Home swap request: lovely English seaside for 2 weeks in Sydney

Would you like to stay in this lovely English seaside town? Just 30mins from Canterbury!

Do you live in Sydney? Then how about arranging an exchange with a stylish 3 bedroom apartment in the pretty coastal town of Westgate-on-Sea. This lovely seaside town is only one hour from central London and half an hour to historic city of Canterbury. Dover is also only half an hour away for daytrips to France.

When: 2-3 weeks during March 2014

Where:  Sydney

 Click here to view full details of this exchange offer...

 

Good photos to make your home swap offer stand out

Good quality photos can be one of the best ways to make your home swap offer stand out.

We've seen it numerous times where what is clearly a lovely home has been let down by photos displaying lots of clutter, dimly lit photos or worse... no photos at all!

The good news is that you don't need to be professional photographer or have expensive equipment to take good photos of your home - just grab your point and shoot and follow the simple guidelines shown below.

 

General Tips and Tricks

• Turn off the camera's date/time stamp.
• Don't use a flash when photographing windows or glass surfaces.
• Don't tilt the camera. Photographing a house or a room or a piece of furniture straight-on generally works best.

Tips for Shooting Interiors

• Tidy up the house. Put away clothes in the bedrooms, clean off countertops in the kitchen, and fold the towels in the bathrooms. Generally, clear surfaces of clutter and remember - less is often more.
• If possible shoot in natural light without the flash. Choose the time of day when the sun illuminates the room. However make sure your photos are not too dark - if you have to use your flash try to choose an angle that avoids harsh shadows.
• Select the best possible portion of a room to photograph.
• If your camera allows, try setting the lens to a wide angle to frame as much of the room as possible.

Tips for Shooting Exteriors

• Frame your home so that you include some extra space around it. This gives the building context.
• Try to keep the sun behind you. Whenever possible, utilize softer early morning or late afternoon light.
• If you have a garden you could try to take photos just after it rains - this can make your blooms look rich and bright. To recreate this effect, you can water everything well.

Send us your photos

If you are still unhappy with your photos please do send them to us at [email protected] and we will use our photo editing software to try to bring out the best in your photos before uploading them to your home swap listing.

Home exchange requests from Edinburgh Fringe performers

Many Home Base Holidays members arrange home swaps when attending major cultural festivals or sporting events as conventional accommodation options can be in short supply or prohibitively expensive at such times. With festivals like the Edinburgh Fringe (late July to late August), many of the performers are also looking for exchanges in the city.

Below are a few of the recent requests for the Edinburgh Fringe:

Sineu, Balearic Islands, Spain

"Two story very spacious detached town house in a village in the centre of Mallorca. The house has a small pool, a sauna, small garden and terrace.

Large open fully equipped kitchen. The house has recently been renovated, maintaining its traditional character from Mallorca, with exposed beams and stone walls."

View this home exchange offer...

 

Brighton, England

"We are a couple in our mid-thirties with a 15 month-old boy. One of us works for an environmental charity and the other is an actor, performing and teaching improvised comedy. This will be the first time we've swapped houses. We'll be in Edinburgh to perform in the Fringe and keen to find somebody in the city who would like to spend August in Brighton. It would be 3 of us plus, if there's a second bedroom, one set of grandparents to help with childcare during the Fringe.

Our home is an attractive Victorian terrace about 10 minutes walk from the sea, 15 to The Lanes, a 100 yards from the lovely Queens Park, in an area with more pubs and real ale than you can shake a stick at. We've been living in Brighton for 10 years, and love the city and surrounding Sussex."

View this home exchange offer...

 

Barcelona, Spain

"Hello! We're a theatre company based in Barcelona. This August we'll be in the Fringe and we're looking for a flat (for four adults) where we can sleep, work and rest after the long and hard days at the festival. We need a flat from 31th July until 28th August. If the whole period is not possible we can talk about two weeks or another possibility!

We have a very nice, light and quiet two bedroom flat in Barcelona. It's located in a great and typical neighbourhood in Barcelona, called Poble Sec, where there are not many tourists. The street below is a pedestrian street full of bars and restaurants with terraces, but the flat is not noisy. It's close to the city centre, you can walk or catch the metro (only 3 stops).

It's very near to Plaza Espana and the mountain of Montjuic (you can walk in the parks, go to the magic fountains and museums), only 5 minutes walk to our house!"

View this home exchange offer...

 

York, England

"We are bringing a show to the Fringe in the second half of August. We are looking for accommodation for more of our team, all sensible adults, house-trained and adaptable.

Cosy semi, near tranquil garden square, footpath and steps to York centre and all historic attractions, 10 minutes York station and National railway museum. Buses to Yorkshire coast and countryside. York is a tourist city with plenty of culture and music for all tastes."

View this home exchange offer...

Done a home swap? Will you answer some questions on your home exchange experiences for a journalism student?

Martha writes:

'I’m a third year Journalism student from the University of Sheffield. I’m writing a feature about home exchange for a finance magazine aimed at the middle class that I’m producing for my course. Home exchanging will be presented as a great idea to cut down the cost of holidays in these tough economic times.

I’m hoping to include some real life stories from Home Base Holidays members who have done home swaps, and hear more about how the process works'.

If you can help her out (brief answers are fine), Martha would really appreciate it (we'll also give your current exchange offer extra publicity in Home Swappers Newsletter and on the blog). Please email your responses to [email protected] and your message will be forwarded to Martha. With your permission, we can also provide Martha with a link to your listing so she can copy a photo of your home to illustrate her article. if you are willing to participate in a longer over the phone interview please let us know so Martha can arrange a convenient time to call you. Thank you.

Martha's questions:

1. What attracted you to the home exchange idea?
2. Where did you hear the idea?
3. How many home exchanges have you done and where was your favourite/most interesting place you’ve been?
4. Please tell us a little more about this holiday.
5. Have you encountered any problems during a home exchange?
6. What would you say to people who may feel strange going and living in someone’s house?
7. How do you feel about people living in your house?
8. How do you prepare for someone coming to live in your house?
9. Why do you do home exchange?
10. Do you think this is a good option for people who are suffering financially but would still like to have a break?
11. How do you compare it to the cost of a standard packaged holiday (paying for flights and accommodation)?
12. Would you recommend this holidaying idea to other people? Why?
13. Are there any negatives to the home exchange scheme?

Thank you.

A sad farewell to a very long time home exchange member

'Sorry and sad to tell you that my husband Bill - one of your greatest fans! - died suddenly in February so, although we much enjoyed our home exchange holidays all over the world, I will never try to replicate the experience without him.  So, please will you take us off your mailing list in the near future. Many thanks for all your help in past years, Grace'

The names are changed in the quote above but this is a sad message we received this week from a very long term Home Base Holidays member.

When running a personal service as we do at Home Base Holidays, we get to know many of our members who have been arranging home swaps for many years (some as far back as 1985 when we first started!). It is inevitable that some members will need to curtail their home swapping travel for various reasons. Often, as members grow older, illness can take its toll, and sadly, we occasionally hear that a long term member has passed away. With such members, who we have often chatted to on the phone or had email conversations with on various aspects of swapping homes over the years, it feels a loss of someone in our home exchange 'family'.

Fancy a home swap to an 1847 railway station in Northumberland?

Very recently a Home Base Holidays member wrote when renewing her membership:

'My daughter and I would like to visit Cambridge before she decides on a university.'

What a good idea! We have seen several times that members use home swaps when visiting children at university (ideal especially at busy periods like graduation times when hotels may be fully booked early) and, of course, expensive compared to a free home to stay in on a home swap (handy when bringing younger members of the family too).

It helps, of course, if you live in a home in a desirable area - or your home is special in some way as is the case with this member. Here is a quote from her home exchange offer:

'We live in the beautiful county of Northumberland and have recently built a one bedroom self contained apartment, The Waiting Rooms, in the south wing of our 1847 Railway Station; previously Warkworth station and Station Master's house but now our private residence. Trains still pass us on the East Coast Main Line, as well as specially chartered steam trains occasionally ie The Northern Belle.

We are based a mile outside Warkworth village on the east coast surrounded by rural farmland, bus service one minute from house, hourly service. Alnmouth train station which can take you into Newcastle or Edinburgh is a 10 minute drive away.'