WEBVTT - How House Swapping Works 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:16.360 from house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.080 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:24.000 Charles W. Chuck Bryant. This is stuff you should know. Um, 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.840 Extreme Home Makeover Edition. Tip of the hat to you 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.360 as well. Just gave you a literal tip of my cap. Yeah, 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:32.720 you don't see people do that enough anymore. Tip of 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:34.479 the hat, Tip of the hat to you. Top of 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.080 the Day, Top of the Morning, Bluck of the Irish. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:41.560 Let's let's let's do this, okay, Chuck, Um, this is 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:43.760 going to be one of the worst ones we've ever done. Now, 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.200 it's gonna be so great. I don't think you're right. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.639 All right, we'll see. Um well, I guess we'll leave 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.080 it to everyone to decide. Well, because then people say 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.360 that was great, and people say it sucked. Yeah, whatever, 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:57.720 and we'll be no, no further along than we are now. 0:00:57.840 --> 0:00:59.520 We have no idea. Yeah, it's just you and me 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.520 and Jerry in a little tiny room and it were 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.360 just completely isolated, totally out of touch with reality, complete 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:11.360 so chuck, um, I guess we'll get this stinker started. Huh, 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.920 that sounds good to me. Do you remember um? Back 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:17.039 in two thousand and six, there was a twenty six 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.080 year old guy from Montreal and named Kyle McDonald. I 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.520 don't remember him, you will in a second. He did 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:26.880 one of the coolest Internet undertakings of all time. Facebook, No, 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:32.120 my Space, No, it's not a business. He started he 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.200 had a red paper clip and he decided that he 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.960 wanted to trade it until he got a house. That 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.520 was great, it was awesome. Where did he end up? 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:43.520 He ended up getting a house in a place called Kipling, Winnipeg. 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.800 He really got a house. Yeah, in less than a year, 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.760 and in fourteen trades, he went from a red paper 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.280 clip to a pen that looked like a fish, so 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.440 on and so forth until he ended up with He 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:01.680 traded an afternoon with Alice Cooper or a kiss snow globe, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:05.920 and that's when everything opened up. Uh. Corbin Burnston from 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:10.200 l A Law remember him. He turned out to be 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:14.080 a huge collector of snow globes and he wanted the 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.760 snow globe, so he offered trade the snow globe for 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.079 a paid part in a movie he was directing, and 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:23.960 the people of Kipling, Winnipeg said, that's it for us. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.440 We've been waiting, this is what we want. We will 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:31.880 trade you a farmhouse in our city for that part 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:35.200 in that Corbyn Burnson movie. Well, who like the mayor 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:38.360 of that town, the town together. I'm sure led by 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.880 the mayor, but the town got a part in the movie. 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.000 I don't know. I don't know who got a part 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:47.840 in the movie. The question didn't come up. Well, where 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:50.240 it falls apart was the guy went to Kipling, he 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.560 accepted the house because he wanted to make the trade, 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:54.680 and he turned around and sold it. He's like, I'm 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.320 not living here, you're kidding. I remember the people of 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.679 of Kipling, saskatch I wanted, I say Winnipeg, I don't know, 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:05.320 says catch a one. Um. They were not pleased. You 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.760 know where it fell apart from me, Corbin Burnson, terrible, Corbin. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.320 If you're listening to this, I apologize for Chuck. I 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.840 loved you in Major League. He was he was a 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.320 spectacular jerk, but he wasn't over the top. He did 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:23.280 he nailed it. Yeah, Um, Chuck, that guy swapped a 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.280 red paper clip for a house but that is in 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:29.560 no way, shape or form related to our topic today. 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:32.480 How swapping that has the word swap in it. That's 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:36.960 a nice lead in, Josh. House swapping is more like um, swinging, 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:42.320 but with houses rather than spouses. Yes, Josh, it has 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.560 actually been around since the mid nineteen fifties, and swinging 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:52.160 it's been growing like crazy about travelers do this now 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.640 and they say it's growing at about fift a year, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.760 which I mean, you do the math, buddy, In like 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:59.280 six or eight years, looks like we'll I'll be house 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:03.720 swapping okay, I want'll be saying hotels anymore. Um, I 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.640 don't think that's true. I mean, yes, mathematically that does 0:04:07.720 --> 0:04:12.920 make sense. Um, But the the problem is people like 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.800 me are kind of high strong. You wouldn't not be 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.320 a good house swapper. No, it's not so much the 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.760 person in my house. I generally trust people, you know, 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.600 and I trust my instincts. I'm not gonna there's some 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.960 some thrill kill colt who loves a good blood orgy 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:30.920 is not going to I'm not gonna lend my house 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:35.120 to some group like that, right, Um, But I wouldn't 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.520 feel comfortable in someone else's house. Oh really, see that's 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.760 probably the opposite of what most people's redicines has to 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.720 do with. I think it goes both ways, man, Yeah, 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.520 I like all swapping. Yeah, it goes both ways. And 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.400 I can tell you the one that I would really 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:56.760 really not feel comfortable with really is the hospitality exchange. Yeah. 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.360 Let's let's go ahead and talk about the three ways 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:01.719 that you can do this. And if you've seen the 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.640 movie The Holiday, I have seen house swapping in action. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:09.760 Was Eva Mendez in there. She was not wait, Queen Latifa, 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.760 she was not Oh I'm thinking of last Holiday. Yes, 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:17.920 The Holiday starred Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet. She did 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.039 not appear naked in this one. But the movie The 0:05:20.040 --> 0:05:23.680 Holiday and Jack Black and the very fetching Jude Law, 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:30.400 Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslett swapped houses for holiday, and um, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:36.839 romantic high jinks ensued obviously with Cameron of course, with 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.480 Jude Law and Kate wins It with Jack Black and 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.200 l a to London or I'm sorry English country cottage 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.760 type of thing. So that was house swapping in action, 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.560 and what they did was called a traditional exchange. Yeah, 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:54.480 and that's when you play your vacation at the same 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:56.360 time and say I'll stay in your place, you stay 0:05:56.360 --> 0:05:59.600 in my place. Yes, there's also chuck that I think 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.360 the trude was far and away the most common and 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.960 frequent type and appealing because, um, you you all you 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.799 have to do is own a house. That's it. Well, 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:10.880 you own a house in a place where somebody would 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:15.800 want to go. Yeah, there's there's different ways around that. 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:18.400 If you're in Mobile, Alabama and you want to swap 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:20.800 apartments with someone in New York, you might not get 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.680 a lot of action. Maybe not, But what if the 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:27.360 person in New York who's swapping has family and mobile 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:32.080 funeral gotta go down a mobile But by god, I'm 0:06:32.120 --> 0:06:34.080 not going to spend a dime while I'm down there, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:36.599 how swapping it is, Yeah, I'm not gonna pay forty 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.000 five dollars for that day's in you know, it's said. 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:40.880 I was reading them one of the articles that this 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.400 article on our site was based on, and um they 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.640 made that point like, sure, if you live in in 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.839 Manhattan or Rio, you're not gonna have any trouble whatsoever. 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.680 But um, they said, you can still have a successful 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.440 swap if you're able to convince somebody who has a 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.640 house where you want to go of the in charms 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:05.520 of Toledo or Tulsa. Then my hometown is an example. 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:07.440 Well at the place you wouldn't want to go. Yeah, 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:09.320 I think all you need to say is Tony Paco's 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:14.280 and people would be all over it exactly clean or yeah. Um. 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:19.040 So the traditional exchange is one. Non simultaneous swap is another. 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:21.720 This is the rich person swap. You take it. Yes, 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.160 when you have a like a vacation house and you 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:26.320 don't necessarily have to plan your vacation with air as 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.800 you can just say take my place in uh in 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:34.120 Worcester and I'll take your place in Rio. Yes. Rio 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.680 is the hot spot right now, is um. You could 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:41.760 also do non non simultaneous swap where you maybe you're 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.120 not at home and somebody's using your home but you're 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:47.200 not using there's at the same time, but you're banking 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.000 a credit to be able to use their's in the future. Oh, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.440 so I have business in Rio, so you can stay 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:55.520 in my house in Atlanta and I'll take you up 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.000 at a future date to stay at your house in Rio, 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.000 exactly because my company's for me to go to Rio 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.800 this time. So I don't have to worry about it, okay, um. 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:07.960 And then there's the one that I would find extremely uncomfortable. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.960 Do people really do this, Yes they do, and I'll 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:15.800 describe some of them momentarily. But the hospitality exchange, it 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.280 doesn't matter whether I'm the host or the guest, I 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:22.040 would feel really uncomfortable. Like my mom was always this 0:08:22.240 --> 0:08:25.000 very very generous person, and she always wanted to bring 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.960 home like a single friend or something at the hospital 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.440 she worked with for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and my sister 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.960 where all my sister and I were always like, we 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:37.760 don't know this person. Now our holiday is awkward. Like, yes, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:41.680 we're helping a stranger, but at what costs? You know? 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.319 So I've always been like that. I've just I've never 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:47.480 liked hanging out with people I didn't know on a 0:08:47.600 --> 0:08:53.400 really intimate Yeah, but I mean like, guy can hang 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.079 out with anybody in a bar or whatever. If someone's 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.199 houses in play or is the setting, it changes every thing. 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:02.600 It's just uncomfortable for you. But I'll tell you who 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.120 is into that, the two point two million members of 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:12.040 surfing dot com. Oh those people. Yeah, So I don't 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.400 even know if you said for sure, what a hospitality 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.840 exchange is that's when you live with each other. Yeah, 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:19.319 that's when you say you can come and stay in 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.679 my place and while I'm here, be here too, and 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.880 then I'll just come visit you someday while you're there 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:27.680 and we'll just be uncomfortable. But what if they it 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.440 doesn't go well in the first round and you hate 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.400 each other. I don't know. I think it was it 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:37.440 was free, so maybe you could send a friend, uh 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.680 remer play like I don't like you, but I have 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:44.320 a friend who would love you well. They do say, though, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.880 to be fair, that it's not necessarily like you're in 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.120 a little one room apartment with these people. It works 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:53.160 better if you have a large house with maybe a 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:56.440 private guest house or some area where you don't have 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.800 to necessarily be with each other all the time, So 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:01.000 that makes a little more sense. Still, not into it 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:06.320 if you are into sharing your town with strangers, like 0:10:06.679 --> 0:10:09.360 let's go see this or let's go to the world 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.440 of coke right exactly If you can't possibly get to 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.040 the world of coke often enough, hospitality swaps are the 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:20.240 one for you. I love showing people Atlanta that I know. Yeah, 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.760 that's one of my favorite things. Is to to delight 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.120 people with the charms of my hometown, because there are 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:30.560 many charms in Atlanta, but strangers. I mean, I feel 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:32.079 was a friend of a friend that was a stranger, 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:34.880 I would certainly do that too, but not I would 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.320 never log on to a website and just say just 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:39.600 come and visit me. I'll show you around Atlanta. All right. 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.560 So we've clearly established now that hospitality exchanges are the 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.760 worst idea ever devised by humankind, or that we're just 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:49.840 two big jerks, one of the two. So let's stick 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:52.800 to the traditional exchanges where you don't meet them, they 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.600 don't meet you. You just use one another's houses. That's 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.120 what how It wasn't that movie. So according to Um 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:04.040 the Time article house swapping as well, written by a Russo, 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:09.880 specifically Francine Russo, Um, most of the people about is 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.360 an estimate, have already house swapped. So most people who 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.760 are involved in house swapping I've done it before. They're 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:21.920 usually professionals, business people, doctors. It's not a couchsurf situation. No. Again, 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.440 there is CouchSurfing dot com, and I would advise people 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.640 to go check that out if you're into hospitality exchanges. 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.480 Either as a guest or host. Check out CouchSurfing dot com. 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.800 It's pretty cool. Um. But with the traditional house swap, 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.440 let's talk about the details, Chuck, Like, what are you 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:40.760 going to do? Like, let's say you live in um, yes, 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:43.920 and I live in Mobile, Alabama, and you're you have 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.200 a dead relative in Mobile and have to go there. Well, 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:48.680 I'm depressed all of a sudden. But what I would 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.840 do is fight through that depression first, and then you 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.400 and I would start exchanging emails with one another where 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:59.160 we start to outline specifics of what this is going 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.120 to entail. Because on the surface it seems easy, like, hey, 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.080 you just swap houses, but there's a lot of you know, 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.920 small details. You might have a car that you want 0:12:07.200 --> 0:12:09.480 to have use of, so what you know, you can 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.680 use my car. You might have house plants or pets. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.040 You might have mail that you want picked up. You 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:19.560 might have your refrigerator only opens if you if you 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.000 hike up the left side first and pull the door open. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:24.120 There might be a little tricks to your house. You 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:27.080 gotta jigger the dead bolt from the inside if you 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.200 want to leave the house. So you gotta get all 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:31.480 those little details out in the open, so you know 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:34.200 what you're dealing with. You're also going to be leaving 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:37.280 the keys of your car, the keys to your boat, 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:40.839 the keys to your a t v s. Everything, Like 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:45.040 you're giving these people your life. Um, if you are 0:12:45.080 --> 0:12:48.480 a friendly sort or a suspicious sort, and you have neighbors, 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.400 friends and relatives that live in the area who will 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.319 listen to your commands, you may command them to drop 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.400 by and introduce themselves, maybe to act as tour guides, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.680 maybe to just say hi, maybe to just give even 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:04.040 more advice find out if everything's going on, Like you 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:08.400 were switching lives with people for a minute a week. Well, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:13.800 in the movie The Holiday, the reason that Cameron met 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.360 Jude Law was because that was Kate Winslet's brother. Okay, 0:13:17.520 --> 0:13:19.520 so you are sort of switching lives. And the reason 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:23.200 Jack Black was there because I think I can't remember, 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.480 but it was Jack Black. He was there. He was 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.320 the neighbor or something and he knew where somehow. So yeah, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.240 I was reading another article that this article was based on. 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.960 I think it was in Budget Travel, um, and the 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.680 woman who was talking about house swapping was saying that, Um, 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.640 she she and her I think mother were staying in 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:44.240 this Paris flat and they were living Francois life, like 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.880 they were eating at his favorite beast rode down the street, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.120 and they were like fixing his leaky sink and talking 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.520 to his neighbors outside, you know, his flat, that kind 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.160 of stuff. So you can expect, like, if you're if 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.960 you kind of keep to yourself, you're probably not gonna 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.400 house swap in the first place. But if you if 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.360 you're looking to come out of your shell trade houses 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.199 with somebody, well, and they say, that's another great reason 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:09.839 to do this, if you're if you want a more immersive, 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:15.040 non touristy experience. I've never even rented an apartment from someone, 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.160 but I'm keen to go to a foreign country and 0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.400 live in a neighborhood apartment rather than a hotel. Like 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.280 I like hotels for a minute, but at at the hospitality, 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.200 all the fakeness, it's all it's all rings faults to me. Oh, 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:32.120 you're crazy all the way from me. It just is 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.840 so fake to me. I I but you know it's fake. 0:14:34.880 --> 0:14:36.800 You know that people are paid to be nice too. 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:38.800 It's not like I think that they actually like me 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:43.000 or anything like that. I don't care, right I'm at 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.200 the hotel. I don't share, no trust me. I love 0:14:45.240 --> 0:14:46.760 hotels a little bit because I didn't get to stay 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.920 in them as a child. We didn't what we were 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.120 poor teachers and we can't. That's funny that you bring 0:14:53.200 --> 0:14:56.160 up teachers, Chuck, because this whole thing, the whole thing 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.680 was started in ninety three by a group of teachers 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:03.960 who founded Inner Vack International Vacations so that they could 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:08.520 cheaply swap or make sense rental places or they have 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:10.840 to make ends. Me that that makes total sense. So 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:13.200 that's where house swapping actually came from his teachers. I 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:17.240 didn't know that. Now you do, Uh, what's another good 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.480 reason to how swap? Josh? Or what's something you can 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.320 do forget good reasons? What's something else you can do 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:24.720 to be a good house swapper? What can you offer? Um? 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.600 You would also, well, you want to treat this like 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.800 it's you want to treat the other person's house like 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.600 you are hoping they're treating your house. Well, yeah, right, 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:35.800 So let's say you break a dish. You would leave 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:37.960 a note and say I broke this dish, I'm very sorry. 0:15:38.200 --> 0:15:40.800 Here are all the pieces, but here's also money to 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.840 write here's also money to replace it, and if it's more, 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:46.480 let me know and I'll send you the difference or whatever. 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:48.720 Or better yet, just replace something if if you can 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:52.720 replace it. If you can't, sure, um you it's probably 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:54.960 still a good idea to leave a note, unless it's 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:59.720 just something that they're never gonna right exactly. Um. You 0:16:00.200 --> 0:16:03.360 will probably also want to restock the fridge when you leave. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.600 You want to clean up. Um, you want to If 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.720 the car catches on fire, you're gonna want to pick 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.920 up the phone and say your car is on fire. Yeah, 0:16:11.960 --> 0:16:15.160 a big, big oops. You should probably let them know. Um, 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:19.280 And it's nice to leave a little parting gift, sure right. Um. 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.200 You also uh want to take care of their pets 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:24.040 if they've asked you to take care of their pets, 0:16:24.040 --> 0:16:26.640 bringing the mail. These kind of things are usually worked 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.880 out ahead of time, though. Yeah, they say it's a 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:31.040 good idea a lot of times to having a letter 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.320 of agreement that's not a legal document, but it just 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.120 kind of outlines expectations for each other because in the end, 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.000 what you want is just a positive experience. You don't 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.360 want to come home and say my plants are dead 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.640 or my dog is uh dead. Gosh, if I wasn't 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.360 gonna say that, I was gonna say hungry, but dead 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.600 from hunger. Dead from hunger. Uh. So you want to 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:55.960 have reasonable expectations, and apparently these uh websites who run 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.280 these places say that it generally works out pretty well 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:03.240 and the the biggest problems that usually have are differing 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:07.719 expectations that aren't outlined really specifically, right, um, usually a 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:13.040 differing expectation of or differing definition of cleanliness. Yeah, that's 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.760 the same. You ever go on Yelp and read hotel recommendations, 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.240 It's awful people are I mean, that's something's got to 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.720 really be wrong with a hotel for me to to 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.600 log into a website and complain. But you should see 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.680 the stuff. People complain about the quality of the chocolate 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:33.439 left on their pillow, and their expectations are so ramped 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.720 up for some of these folks. It's just it's the 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.200 same with hotels. Yeah, I just call those people hard 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.720 to please, whether your house swapping or or just vacationing. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:45.960 But not only that, they like I would consider myself 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.280 hard to please. But I don't see ever really going 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:54.160 on to a site and posting a complaint it's more 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.199 just like, well, you failed to please me, so I 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.199 won't be back. But all that's going on in my 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.879 head or I'm saying it to human, she's like, mm hmmm. 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.880 I did do one Yelp post about a nameless restaurant 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.040 here in Atlanta that served me a raw hamburger, like 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:13.520 purple raw meat inside it was disgusting. Which one I'm 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:15.800 not gonna tell you. I'll tell you after. And I 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.560 did write a yelping for you, because all they basically 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:21.000 did was say, oh, I'm really sorry that your burger 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:22.920 would have killed you if you would have eaten it. Well, 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.760 we won't charge you for it. And I said, oh, okay, 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:28.760 how about like a three piece of cheese cake or something? 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:34.000 And I complained in the name they they got in 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.480 touch with me, though. The restaurant did from the Yelp 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.479 review and said, we're so sorry, this is not our policy. 0:18:39.480 --> 0:18:43.159 Would like to offer you a gift card for an 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:45.560 under cooked hamber It was only twenty five bucks. I 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.639 thought was kind of lame. It was a nice place, 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:51.920 oh was it. Okay you're eating hamburgers and five star 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:53.919 restaurants now, well, but it was one of those you know, 0:18:53.960 --> 0:19:00.840 sixteen dollar hamburgers. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, um, Chuck, Josh. 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.199 We talked about some common complaints. We also mentioned the 0:19:04.320 --> 0:19:07.879 letter of agreement, right, yes, not a legal contract. Like 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.800 you said, there's a couple of points that most people 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:13.560 would make on a letter of agreement. Um, it's where 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:17.040 you're saying you do this, I'll do this, or I'm 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:19.080 gonna do this, and you're not gonna do that, and 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.199 you just have it spelled out so that everybody's on 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:23.600 the same page. Right. So what are some of the 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.400 points in the letters of agreement? William Sapphire would call them. 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:29.800 Like a hotel, you would want to know like the 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.280 phone and internet deal if if all of a sudden 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.120 you have a big long distance spill. Um, you want 0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.720 to get that pre range ahead of time. Now that's covered. Uh. 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.040 You want to outline who can stay there, just like 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.600 a hotel. Hotels say you can't have twenty of your 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:45.680 friends in a room, and you can say I don't 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.320 want twenty of your friends in my house, right, especially 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:52.640 if they're a thrill kill colt into blood orgies that yes. Uh. 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.920 You also want to talk about what will happen if 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:58.159 something is damaged or broken down. Do you want to 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:00.919 know immediately? You do not want to know? You have 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:05.600 them called Jack Black, the neighbor what sure? Um? And 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:09.760 uh also that you want to disclose whether or not 0:20:09.800 --> 0:20:14.680 you have homeowners or renters or auto insurance. Yeah, because 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:16.800 the cool thing is is you can let somebody take 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.360 your car because as far as the um auto insurance 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.760 companies concerned, that's your friend and your friends covered by 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:27.760 your insurance. Well maybe not always right, Well, yeah, I 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:29.880 think as long as you're covered, yeah, as long as 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.919 you yeah, well, I think one article I read it 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:34.960 didn't spell out car insurance, but it did say that 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.679 a lot of insurance companies, if you're gonna do the 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.000 house swap, you should check with your homeowners insurance and 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:43.440 just make sure everything because some of them have little caveats. 0:20:43.520 --> 0:20:45.760 That is a great point. That is a very very 0:20:45.840 --> 0:20:47.879 good point. And you should probably also do that with 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:54.280 your car insurance just to be safe. Right, um chuck gosh. 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:56.920 So we mentioned inter back, right, that was the one 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.800 that was that started all this in ninety three. There's 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:02.879 also a place called home Link that's big, and then 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:06.040 there's tons of other sites. I went on inter back today. 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.480 They have this place at Table Mountains, South Africa, because 0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:10.080 it was one of the most beautiful homes I've ever 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:14.680 seen in my entire life. Pool everything just mod really 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.800 sweet house. So they do have cool houses and apparently 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:21.359 they have about ten thousand listings. Are you gonna go there? No? 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.119 Did you offer up your place? No? I was just 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.400 checking it out, you know, I'm want to do um. 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:30.159 But apparently everywhere from like Craigslist for free to like 0:21:30.280 --> 0:21:33.080 these high end sites that charge you about a hundred 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:35.680 bucks to be a member to list your house. Yeah, 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.159