I have to admit that these ping pong poms are getting me a little worried. Many are saying things that I feel we will be repeating in a years time.

For this reason we are looking at maybe doing a house swap. Has anybody had any experience of this or even how to go about it

No experience but thinking about it, various sites including....

http://intervac-online.com/uk/home/house-swap.htm

http://www.uk.homelinkint.org/index.jsp

What part of the UK are you looking for? I know of a lovely 4-bed home with large gardens in quiet cul-de-sac and more trees that you could shake a, er, stick at! Very similar to Sassfras except we have the beautiful Thelwall Viaduct as opposed to the Mt Dandenong Tourist Route just down the road. Sound appealing?

You still not made you're mind up?

Now thats interesting, wonder if its possible to do a house swap for a year or even 6 months. Id jump at a chance to "try out" England again after being here in US for 20
Rob

When we were still living in England, a teacher at our local village school did a house and job, pet and car exchange with an Aussie teacher for one year - actually the Aussie is an award-winning children's book author, Nette Hilton.

http://www.penguin.com.au/authors/au...rId=0000000869

Their families naturally went along as well and it worked out beautifully and they all loved the experience. It was organised through some sort of Commonwealth Teacher Exchange.

Perhaps if any expats are retired or semi-retired an international house swap could work out very well indeed. I know that there are already vacation home exchanges and agencies online but I don't know how many people do it on a longer term basis?

It might be fun too to arrange 'house swaps' among BE members to get a cheap vacation in a different area of the US

hello WoodyinOz- we made contact in Oz - I think you lived in dandenongs and were originally from Andover UK.

We all lived in Warrandyte - now moved back and very happy to be home in Hampshire - its 100000% better than Oz - so much more to do here than Melb/Victoria.

Getb back whilst you can is my advice!!!

got tons to post but no time this weekend!

I don't recognise your login is it Caroline???

Yes I am from Sassafras and love it here.... but still feel that it's not quite for us! I hear so many negatives about the UK I am very confused.

We are definitely going back next year as O/H Dad is starting to feel old. We are not wanting to say that it is for good yet! I think that decision is far to hard to be made from the other side of the world. Luckily we have citizenship as do the girls. Long as they don't split up and live in opposite sides of the planet later in life :scared:

Yes, its an execellent exp. We have done several swaps and they are well worth it, there is a yearly fee of approx 95 pounds.

ive organised a house swap for a year for 2yrs time. so long as the mortgage can be covered i will go ahead then. i have a friend who, every year house swaPS FOR a couple of months all over the world, but mainly oz cos she loves it but over 45 so cant get citizenship, i thought this will be a good way to get it out of system and get the best of both worlds.
the website she uses is brilliant.
what you do is put in all details pic of house etc, then you can stipulate other things eg "please walk my dog, feed hamster etc." you can also agree to swap cars which she always does. on the website you put in the dates you want to travel, then look at other peoples dates to find a match.
now for the crap bit ive forgot the address so will give her an email for her so i can post web address on here for everyone

Been here the same time and am aiming to spend a year there in '08. Never thought of swapping homes. Does that mean we swap mortgages too? What about families...

Have you thought of going back for a short spell just to see if you made the right decision to stay??

Cheers

Do we swap mortgages, house hold bills etc??

Is there any complications with regards to insurance?

I guess for me that hard thing would be not having my personal stuff with me for a year and it maybe very unsettling for the children if they don't have their own rooms so to speak.
I think that I will look a little further into this. As janj said a house swap with other BE members could be the go. This could benefit both parties and give us an insight to the other side of the world without the major expense.

HP would love to swap although your place is a little far North for us, mind you the boys could job swap Your O/H could join the many out on their bikes on a Sunday morning. Personally I think that they are nuts and why must they ride 2 abreast and put everybody in danger... sorry I have began to hate cyclists since coming here I am sure that the only reason the bikes should be used is for easy transport to the pub

Have a look at your mortgage (if you one) details, about renting the property out, you may need to tell them.

there's negatives everywhere - maybe some of them seem amplified over here as we're al crammed closer together. I keep an eye on the Aussie news and just this morning there's been a murder in small Tasmanian town, there's a stalker been charged, road rage stabbing story, car-jacking......

There is still so much good about the UK (despite the prevalence of dog poo! ) and if you having any niggly doubts then a house swap should save you loads of money if nothing else!

The thing in Melbourne at the moment is a young adult who is sexually assaulting 90 year old women :scared: The humiliation for them must be horrendous. Crime is every where but the thing that makes me nervous is the way the kids behave in the UK! This is something that is not apparent here apart from the rare cases of bullying. Maybe that is just due to where we live, I don't know.