Home Base Holidays: helping arrange Home Exchange Vacations for over 25 years!

 www.homebase-hols.com                                                                                     February 2012 (issue 82)

Home Swap London Featured Home Exchange

London, England      


Large Victorian London townhouse in fashionable area next to Notting Hill. Recently renovated by modernist architect into exceptional 6 bedroom family home.

Exchange request: Skiing winter, Beach summer, Open to offers

 

Click here to view full home swap listing

 

More home swap offers

Home Exchange IrelandHome Swap SpainHome Swap New HampshireHome Swap Spain

Love Home Swap
"More than a dozen exchanges completed successfully from 2003 to 2011. In two of these our house facilitated a proposal of marriage - something in the water?"



Even more choice for Home Base Holidays members!  

Join Canadian based Global Home Exchange for just $1 

 

A very warm welcome to new members who recently joined Home Base Holidays at the special discount rate promoted to Global Home Exchange members. We hope you find many exciting home exchange opportunities.  

 

In turn, we are delighted to extend the $1 Global membership offer to all current Home Base Holidays members. Contact us for details on how to take up this offer. If you aren't a current Home Base Holidays member, join or renew and then get in touch for information on joining Global for $1.

 

Click here for more details on the $1 offer...

Under 6 months to go to the Olympics! 

 

Olympic Home Swap It's time to plan your home swap for the Olympics and Paralympics this summer. Home Base Holidays is a long established London based service and offers the largest choice of exchange offers during this period.

 

Visit our dedicated Olympics offers page for a sample of the many tempting offers available plus details on how to find more Olympic offers. Note to members: if your exchange offer within easy reach of the Olympic Park or other events venues isn't on the special Olympics list, please let us know and we'll add it (also let us know if you have already arranged an exchange and your offer will be taken off the list).

 

Home exchange during the London 2012 Olympics 

Cut out expensive hotels and you can save thousands on your vacations

Join Home Base Holidays!
 
Join Home Base Holidays 
(only �29 for 1 year)
 
 
"As new members we would like to express our appreciation for the professionalism and ease of use of your site. We are very impressed"


Home exchanges and house sitters - tips for newcomers 

Trip report: member with purpose built houseboat in Pembrokeshire, Wales   

 

Houseboat home swap 

"We have enjoyed over 20 home exchanges in the past six years and although initially we were a bit anxious, we now set off without a backward glance. As well as exchanges, we have welcomed house sitters from the Home Base Holidays site and have met some lovely people who we would never have come across during our everyday lives. (Our dogs have been so well cared for, they sometimes look a little disappointed when we return!)

 

 

 

I would advise newcomers, worried about using house sitters, to invite them the afternoon before departure. That way, you can show them the ropes, introduce them to your animals at leisure and enjoy a supper together. When you leave, the next morning, you will have peace of mind and maybe formed the basis of a new friendship." 

Christine Long, Abergavenny, Wales

 


Household insurance during a home swap  

 

Inform your household insurance company well in advance of home exchange dates (make it clear your home will be lived in by non-paying guests, not rented to strangers). Although most insurance companies acknowledge that a live in home is safer than one left unoccupied, and most members don't report problems with household insurance, every few months a UK member does encounter a problem.  

 

Recently, Graham Dickens, a very experienced exchanger who lives in Maidenhead, Berkshire, reported that his home insurance through the Post Office wouldn't be valid during the period of an exchange. Happily, after some research, Graham found a replacement:  

 

"A local insurance broker used her knowledge of the market to arrange cover through Zurich, at a very competitive price."  

 

We hope that this will be useful to other Home Base Holidays members. Unfortunately, with insurance issues, not all members receive the same responses from the same companies making it very difficult to recommend particular insurance companies. Do let us know if you have had very good (or very bad) experiences with an insurance company as this is useful information to share with other members.


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Newsletter Contributions:
We are always pleased to hear from members and subscribers and to receive contributions for the newsletter and blog - short reports on your exchange experiences, tips you feel would be useful to those new to the idea of home swapping and any questions you have on home exchange.
 
Copyright:
All Home Swappers content is copyright and cannot be used in any form without written permission from Home Base Holidays. However, please feel free to forward the newsletter (in full) to friends and colleagues who may be interested in home exchange (use the Forward Email link below the newsletter).
Happy Home Swapping in 2012!

Home Base Holidays | 7 Park Avenue | London | N13 5PG | Tel: +44 (0) 20 8886 8752 |  [email protected]