Home exchanges have become increasingly popular over the last few months thanks to the so-called ‘credit crunch’, leaving many looking for budget holidays.

Home swapping is almost exactly as the name suggests – you swap your home for someone else either in the same country or abroad. Short of travel expenses, there is little extra money needed for the holiday, which can be as long or as short as you like.

The first step is to prepare your home. This is a great time to declutter and give your house a spring clean. It is also a good motivator to get all those small DIY jobs done. Next, you’ll need to prepare some photos of your house for the internet. It is useful to take photos of the outside of the house, and most of the rooms. You will probably also need to prepare some blurb about your house for the exchange. Don’t lie, however focus on the positives – is it near a park? Good transport links? Tourist attractions nearby? You might also need to include what sort of house or area you would like to swap for, and for what period of time.

Once you ad is uploaded you can either wait for offers to come through, or you can search through the list of holiday home exchanges to see if there is anything you like.

There is always the fear of having strangers in your home however most home swappers will leave things the way they found them. Some swappers have also been known to fix small things such as leaky taps whilst staying during the house swap. Although there is no real legal protection in home swapping, there is a sense of mutual responsibility.

MoneyTowers top tips for Home Swappers:

• Leave out a first meal for your swappers

• Offer to pay for any breakages which may happen
• Leave the house in the way that you found it
• If you have pets, make sure you state this on your ad, particularly they will need looking after whilst you swap
• Agree in advance what rooms/areas are off-limits to swapees
• If you are swapping your holiday home, make sure you mention this in your ad. There is an unspoken rule that unless otherwise specified, the swaps are for your primary residence
• Speak to your home insurance company before the swap – normally they are pleased to have a property occupied.
• State the smoking policy
• Agree on internet and phone usage beforehand
• Leave a spare set of keys with a neighbour or friend

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