Home exchange is supposed to be democratic. In theory, my home is exactly equal to yours, as long as both of us want to visit the other person's area. This seems to work relatively often. Back when I first got married we both moved in to my 1-bedroom apartment. We traded it for huge, luxurious properties, like the 5,000 square foot rambler on top of a mountain in Virginia, or the villa in Southern France. Those property owners didn't mind that our place, at around 700 square feet, could politely be described as "cozy".
Of course, that apartment, small as it was, had real estate's three most important attributes: location, location, location. Our swap partners overlooked the fact that we had not renovated, and the need for swap parties larger than two to use the sofabed in the living room. In exchange, they had our sweeping river views, proximity to amazing restaurants, shopping and museums, easy access to public transit and (we thought) tasteful yet comfortable decor.
Having been on the size-deficient side of the home exchange equation, I was surprised to find myself having a very non-home exchange thought recently when I received two different swap offers. What went through my mind was "I can do better than this."
That isn't a nice thing to think, and it isn't a very "home-exchangery" thought either. But really. If a person's home is tiny, shoddy, with hideous furniture, and located in a dangerous area, it is incumbent on the swapper to address at least one or two of those factors before creating a swap listing.
Can someone really change problems like these without springing for a whole new home? Absolutely.
First of all, the scattershot approach to swap offers can backfire. I make it clear right in my listing headline and text how many bedrooms and bathrooms I need to accommodate our family. I also specify two continents we are not interested in visiting. When I get an offer for a small home in an area I make it clear that I do not want it goes right into my "bad" folder. So the first suggestion is to match your offers to the swap family. Don't just send an offer to every single family in your target location. A person who cannot take the time to read, and respect, the wishes of their swap partners will never be someone I will exchange with, even if they move to a huge home in the exact location I want to visit.
We sometimes get offers for little-known areas of places we have lived. It is interesting to see how these destinations are described to presumably naive swappers. Someone took the time to read my listing and saw that I am interested in the California wine country. She decided to tailor her offer by saying her home town is in that wine region. In reality, it is nestled among oil refineries, which used to blow up or spill toxic chemicals quite frequently when I worked just north of their town.
I was really turned off to have someone try to deceive me about something so basic as their location. So another important aspect of home exchange is simple honesty. Don't say your pig in a poke is a champion truffle hunter in a skin-rejuvenating mud bath.
How would someone like this better approach their poor location? They could be honest that it is an hour's drive from their home to the wine area I prefer, but agree to throw the use of their car into the deal to make it convenient for me to get to the area I prefer.
The truthful yet pot-sweetening approach is also helpful for unsafe areas. I used to live in a Victorian townhouse across the street from a housing project. It wasn't the safest area in the world, which I made sure to tell potential swap partners. I did emphasize the fact that we had a garage (rare in the city where we lived) and could throw in the use of our car. We had more offers than we could possibly manage, and all of them were from people who were clear on what we had to offer.
That was the first home I ever bought, and I managed to purchase it at the age of 24 when I was just starting out in my career. Needless to say, it wasn't renovated or fancy.
If your house is tiny, would a sofebed or air bed increase the number of people who could comfortably sleep there? Aerobed makes a variety of easy-to-use, comfortable guest beds starting at under $100.
Someone who turns to home exchange due to a constricted budget can do a lot to present their home in its best light without spending a fortune. Get your swap career off on the right foot, even if it means you don't eat out while on vacation. You don't need to, you're in a home exchange house where you can easily cook or heat up local delicacies.
The most important thing you can do is remove clutter. A clean, neat, modest home is much more pleasant for the average home exchanger than a luxurious sty. Then take that eating out budget and invest a few hundred dollars in some interior paint, fabric slip-covers and kitchen cabinet hardware. With those few, inexpensive do-it-yourself changes and a thorough cleaning, your home will shine and you will be ready to swap, no matter what your budget.
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