About Home Swapping

Homeswapping is a growing industry (if you’d like to call it that). The number of people who are discovering the advantages of staying in another person’s home for their holidays is increasing every day. Basically that is what Homeswapping is, you stay in someone else’s home for an agreed length of time and they stay in your home.

Some of the many advantages to Homeswapping are:

1. You are able to stay longer than if you had to pay peak holiday time accommodation rates;
2. Which means you can go away on more holidays than you could before;
3. You have a comfortable home to come back to every day, or even just veg out in on a “rest day”;
4. Your home is safer than if you had gone on holidays and left it vacant;
5. You don’t have to arrange for anyone to collect your mail, your junk mail or even cancel your paper delivery;
6. Your pet can be looked after if you swap with a fellow pet lover;
7. Accommodation costs are gone;
8. Car hire costs are gone in some situations as well;
9. The kids get a whole new set of toys to borrow with while on holiday;
10. You can cook with more than just the basics provided in a serviced apartment;
11. You don’t need to buy food that you won’t be fully using (oil, salt, flour etc);
12. You feel as if you have had a really relaxing holiday because you haven’t been rushed off your feet to fit it all into the 5 night package.

If you have any questions, just click on the “FAQ” tab in the navigation menu and read through them. If you still need to know more information, just send it in an email to helen@topmarkshomeswap.com.au

To become a member of TopMarks HomeSwap you need to click on the “Join as a Member” sub-menu tab under the “Becoming a Member” tab in the navigation menu. This is a detailed form about your home and the area in which you live, it should take about 5 minutes to complete. After completing it online – and attaching a photo (see “How to….”) -just press the send button. This will send it to Helen at TopMarks HomeSwap who will review your application to ensure that the attractions you have listed are the actual distances from your home and to check on your Teachers Registration status in your state. Your home will become part of the listings on www.topmarkshomeswap.com.au within 3 working days.

Questions & Answers about Home Swapping

1. Can I swap my holiday home?
2. Can I swap my caravan?
3. How long can we swap for?
4. What about “Weekend swaps”?
5. What are “Multi way swaps”?
6. What are “One way swaps”?
7. Do people swap pets?
8. Do people swap cars?
9. Will my home insurance be valid?
10. What about my car insurance?
11. What about the safety of my possessions?
12. What if the house we swap into isn’t very clean?
13. What should I say when I want to arrange a swap?
14. On a long exchange, who pays the bills?
15. What about Internet access and phone costs while we are on a swap?
16. How can I be sure of having a really great home swap experience?
17. If we exchange cars, how do we get from the airport?
18. What if my swap partner cancels at the last minute?

 

 

 

1. Can I swap my holiday home?  

   Yes, go for it. If you are lucky enough to have a holiday home which you love, then I am sure there are others who would love to use it too. Additional listings cost just $30.00 per year, but if you only want to list your holiday home then it is only $45.00 for each year of membership.

2. Can I swap my caravan?  

   Sure can. If your caravan is permanently in a great place – which it probably is otherwise you wouldn’t go there yourself – then by all means list it for swapping. You may need to check the conditions for your Caravan Park on how many days a year they allow visitors to use your van.

3. How long can we swap for?  

   As long or as short as you agree to with your swap partner. Some are weekend swaps (as described below) and some are for Long Service Leave. Just imagine being able to spend 2 weeks in 4 different locations for your long service leave. Then having 4 different sets of swappers keeping your home safe and secure for that length of time. It is possible.

4. What about “Weekend swaps”?  

   This could be used to cater for special events. For example: We live between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. We would like to go to Bundaberg for the weekend to see the Turtle hatchings. There may be a family in Bundaberg who may wish to come to our home to go to a concert in Brisbane or to the Amusement Parks on the Gold Coast as a birthday treat. Perhaps. (I dream of all the possibilities that HomeSwapping is opening up for us.) Get the idea?

5. What are “Multi way swaps”?  

   This is designed for 3 or maybe 4 different swap groups. For example: Melbourne wants to go to Perth, Perth wants to go to Cairns and Cairns wants to go to Melbourne. This kind of swap can be facilitated by TopMarks HomeSwap. This is something unique to TopMarks HomeSwap.

6. What are “One way swaps”?  

   Kind of like house sitting. For example: The Top End empties for June /July (click on the “Calendar” tab in the navigation menu to get all the Australian school holidays) and many teachers are looking for people to keep their homes safe and secure as well as their pets (remember, this is just an example). A Brisbane family may like to go to the Top End, but the Top End family are going to Bali. This would be a one way swap, as the Brisbane home would be empty (unless of course this is part of a multi way swap as described above). The possibilities of swapping are endless with TopMarks HomeSwap assisting with all coordinating!

7. Do people swap pets?  

   Sometimes do and sometimes don’t. Just make sure you fill in that section on your registration form, and then everyone will be clear on that. Some people like to take their pets with them too. As it is part of a listing, then you can check it out easily. If you find a listing that has pets and you don’t want to look after them, just mention it as part of your negotiations with them.

8. Do people swap cars?  

   Again, some do and some don’t. This can be a more complicated part of swapping. It is also a section on the registration form that needs to be filled in. Your comprehensive car insurance needs to be investigated to ensure a guest driver is covered etc. Have a look at the Car Swap Agreement Form (click on the “Sample Forms” tab in the navigation menu) for further details.

9. Will my home insurance be valid?  

   Sure. Most policies cover guests for 30 days. You need to check with your particular company. Give them a scenario when you call. You also need to discuss some scenarios and the excess costs with your swap partner. For example: if the house is struck by lightning and the modem blows, who is responsible (as this is a scenario that could forseeably occur when the homeowner was home, I would put the onus on the actual homeowner, not the guest). Another example: ball breaks window, is covered by insurance, guest pays excess. You will probably need to inform your insurance company that non-paying guests will be staying at your home and therefore keeping it safer than if it was unoccupied.

10. What about my car insurance?  

    You need to check with your insurance company about the ability of a guest to drive your vehicle. You also need to check your restrictions and excess levels and convey these to your swap partner. These need to be written into your Car Swap Agreement, see “Sample Forms”.

11. What about the safety of my possessions?  

    This swap agreement is based on trust. It is only available to Teachers and their families, as we already have a trust thing going, so I should hope that your possessions would be as safe as when you were at home. If you have super valuable things that would just break your heart to lose in some way, then lock them away or leave them with a friend. In your correspondence with your swap partner, discuss what will be out of bounds. While someone is in your home, you are in theirs, so the mutual respect of property and trust with possessions should be occurring. You may like to arrange for a friend to pop over to check on your home and to check on anything your swap partner may need answers to.

12. What if the house we swap into isn’t very clean?  

    It really should be and if not, must be reported to TopMarks HomeSwap so that we can take appropriate action. Agreed, not all members of society have the same standards of cleanliness, but I should think that based on the fact that this is a trust arrangement between teachers, there will be a similarity in the standard. I guess if the situation arises that the house is hygienically uninhabitable, then you would need to contact TopMarks HomeSwap and a professional house cleaner will be arranged ASAP. The swap partner will also be contacted and asked to pay the fee.

13. What should I say when I want to arrange a swap?  

    You should introduce yourself with your first name only, then quote your membership number, then state the dates you would like to swap for. This is enough information for a first contact. The person will then either reply in the negative, or suggest a different date or agree to negotiate a swap.

14. On a long exchange, who pays the bills?  

    This will be part of the negotiations between you and your swap partner. It is not set in concrete, but TopMarks HomeSwap will guide you both to help ensure fairness if you have any problems.

15. What about Internet access and phone costs while we are on a swap?  

    Again, not set in concrete, but TopMarks HomeSwap can guide you through the negotiation process. These are then written into the HomeSwap Agreement.

16. How can I be sure of having a really great home swap experience?  

    TopMarks HomeSwap gives no absolute guarantees for anything, but we can guide you and advise you on every step. Putting everything that you and your swap partner have agreed to in writing is a great way to prevent misunderstandings. Being open and upfront about everything will help to make it a problem free exchange.

17. If we exchange cars, how do we get from the airport?  

    This will be negotiated, but maybe you could both get a friend to pick up your HomeSwap partners and drive them to their HomeSwap address. If this is not possible, send very clear instructions about public transport or airport shuttles etc. You could also leave a message on the message board telling your exchange partner exactly where your car will be in the car park having previously mailed them a spare key. Refer to the "How to..." section for more ideas.

18. What if my swap partner cancels at the last minute?  

    This is pretty unlikely and would probably only be due to serious illness or death in the family. Any TopMarks HomeSwap member known to have broken a contractual agreement to HomeSwap will be barred from being a member again. Most airlines have insurance from $9.00 that covers cancellations. Refer to the "Helpful links" page.