Hope these "secrets" about home exchange help you. Many go deeper than the ones in the home exchange guide we wrote, which all our members already have. Enjoy! 


1. The faster you close a home exchange, the better.


After our personal home exchange experiences, we’ve realized that the faster you close a home exchange, the better. 


If you get a home exchange offer and you really want to do it, reply quickly, agree on dates, fill in the agreement and close it. If you wait a couple of days to reply the first message or leave it open for the future with an answer like “Let's be in contact again in 2-3 months and agree on dates then", you may lose the exchange. 

 

It’s not necessary to be pushy, but when the opportunity arrives, if you’re interested, negotiate and close it fast! 



2. Upload photos of your surroundings.


Since launching Behomm, we've noticed that members who upload images of the interesting places in their sorroundings in addition to their home photos receive more exchange offers.

 

If you live in a city, upload the charming bar around the corner or the nicest street in your neighborhood. If you live out of a city, show your landscapes, the nearest beach, your town’s streets. Some people are lazy about reading… But we all look at photos! 


Another tip: members that upload their portrait and family photos receive more exchange offers. They increase trust. We all like to see the faces of potential home exchange partners.



3. Use the agreement, even if you are an experienced exchanger.

 

Recently a very experienced member told us "I always close my home exchanges with an agreement and with this last one I didn't and I regret it." These members had a misunderstanding about dates. They solved it, but they would have avoided it with the agreement. 

 

Using the agreement is a must. You'll avoid misunderstandings. 


The Behomm agreement form is a very helpful tool, as it lists all the things you should agree upon with your guests. Find it at the bottom menu of our members' private area. 


4. Buy air tickets after your guests' air flight approval, not before.

 
Even if you closed an exchange using the agreement, before buying your air tickets, first send to your home exchange guests the flight details you found, and wait for their approval that the dates, arrival and departure times are fine with them. Then buy your air tickets. 


5. Cleaning.

 
Cleaning is the most common problem of home exchange, not security (insurance companies often advise that your house is safer from theft and vandalism with people living inside than it is empty). Cleaning habits vary among countries. Make sure to leave your home very clean, and your guests home as clean as you found it. 


You can also agree to exchange the cleaning of homes upon departure. This might mean that when you arrive you will find your exchange home clean, but when you leave you won't have to clean it. Remember, though, this must always be arranged and agreed upon in advance.


6. Anything is possible, just negotiate it.

 
We remember the odd feelings and questions we had before doing our first home exchange. We asked an experienced exchanger: "Can we home exchange in different dates?" His reply was short and very useful: "Everything is possible in home exchange, just negotiate it with the other party." Exchanges can include bikes, opera season tickets, mothers-in-law... Anything is possible, just negotiate it.

 

 

7. Don't miss the best part, meet your guests.


Recently members Teresa and Daniel from Barcelona wrote us, excited, once back from a New York exchange: "Best of all, certainly not the fact of exchanging homes, it's meeting people, what they do, how they live, and all their world, an amazing experience." 

 

Some home exchangers never meet their guests... They miss the best part of doing home exchange! 


Welcome the enrichment that cultural exchange gives you: interesting people you can learn from and laugh with... The people you exchange with may become friends.

 


8. The spirit of home exchange.

 
The spirit... the attitude when doing home exchange is not about saving money. It’s about treating your home exchange partners as your guests. Be as kind and as generous as possible.

 

We love how member Alex Trochut, an illustrator who lives in New York and Barcelona, explained the exchange experience to the journalist of The New York Times: “It goes way beyond sharing a home — you share your lives, the Behomm experience is very opposite of renting, because you feel entitled to things when you pay for them. This is about giving and not receiving.”


9. Warning: Behomm is addictive!

 

Many members have told us that when they want to relax they log in to Behomm and enjoy looking at the inspiring homes as when they look at a magazine :-) 

 

Also, and primarily, what’s really addictive is the feeling after a home exchange.

You’ll reaffirm your faith in human beings, you enjoyed life without paying any money on accommodation and people have shared what they had... You’ll feel a better world is possible! 


Happy Behomm exchanges!