Families opting for house-swapping concept
WITHIN a week of the launch of South Africa’s first dedicated house-swapping website, almost 60 households from Port Elizabeth, Durban, Cape Town and other areas have signed up.
Knysna couple Donald and Sarah Curtis decided to start the website after noticing that South Africans interested in the concept were using international sites.
Curtis said they launched the site purely for personal reasons.
“It was because we personally would love to enjoy all of the benefits. The idea came from my wife Sarah, who is from Germany, who asked me two years ago already, ‘why don’t people in SA house swap?’ Why indeed? It’s time we caught up with the rest of the world and started staying for free on holiday.”
He said although they already had homes in Perth, Australia, Mozambique and the US on their site, the majority are homes in South Africa.
“Our site welcomes overseas listings, but we’re focused on facilitating swaps by and between South Africans within South Africa.
“Our next step is to expand to our northern neighbours and get people from Namibia, Botswana, Zim and Mozambique into the equation.”
The couple tested the concept on Facebook last month, before officially launching last Friday.
“We timed our launch for August to give people the perfect timing to get on board and to get everything in place for the upcoming summer holiday season in December.”
According to Curtis, it is free to list a home and to search and view all of the other homes that are available on the website, www.houseswap.co.za .
“If you find a home that you are interested in swapping with, then you can purchase a membership [R425 for six months or R750 for 12 months] which then gives you unlimited access to the website’s internal messaging system so that you can connect with your potential house swap partner.
“We do not disclose our members’ exact locations or contact information on the site to protect their privacy,’’ Curtis said.
“Members can then exchange e-mails and, depending on their choices, telephone and video calls. They then decide if they would like to swap and details of when and how.
“There are different swap options such as “stay in your house while you stay in mine” or arranging for different dates – “you stay in my holiday house when I am not there and I will stay in yours another time”.
The when, where and with who is totally up to each member and the house swap partner they choose. They do security checks to ensure people list their own properties.
“House swapping is a win-win situation. You get to stay like a local in a fully equipped house, all the while enjoying the comfort, convenience and experience of a real home.”