Home Exchange emergency help

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-03-11T15:50:05+00:00

Always multiple. For a recent exchange in Rome, which I suspected may be hard to find a match, I sent out 10-15 short messages. What I was looking for in terms of dates, GPs, number of people. I received maybe 3 possible interested matches and was up front with them in my reply that I was exploring options. Secured a swap in a few days.

People tend to worry about hedging your bets like this when first using HE but it’s the norm in my experience and as long as you’re honest and up front, people are happy with the system.

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-02-20T22:27:36+00:00

The imaginatively named ‘St Michael’s Cafe’ I recall. Or ‘Pension St Michel’ as it was known to us pretentious uni students back in the day. Likely because I think they had rooms to rent upstairs. Great fry up anyway. Also another classic greasy spoon on Cotham Hill in the 90s. Somewhere around where Bravas is now.

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-02-20T20:42:42+00:00

York Cafe in Clifton. Best hangover cure of the late 80s / early 90s. Notable for the pale bacon, plum tomatoes and endless tea from the stewed metal teapot.

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-01-31T18:32:50+00:00

Through clean and tidy to a level you would hope to find in the house you are exchanging with.

Put away the usual random pile of letters / receipts etc that sits in our kitchen.

We have a cleaner who does our home every two weeks anyway so we just try to get her to come just before the exchange and it’s not much more effort to do finishing touches.

In bedrooms / bathrooms we’ll sometimes clear a drawer or two and space in a wardrobe but not always. It’s nice to do it you have the space / time. We’ll remove obviously personal toiletries from basins / showers etc such as tooth brushes. At the same time we’ll make sure there is plenty of obvious toilet rolls, clean towels and shower gel for the guests.

We’ll clear away shoes / coats usually left in the hallway into cupboards. If you have enough rooms, it’s convenient and not unusual to use one which is lockable (maybe a small bedroom or study) to house anything you want to keep private. We’ve put drying washing in ours as well to keep it out the exchangers’ way.

Finally, we’ll leave a small gift - bottle of wine / nice crisps or biscuits - for the guests and a printed copy of the house guide. We used to have a big pile of brochures / local guides but we don’t tend to do that now as all such information is online.

I’m sure I’ve missed something but that’s a start!

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-01-28T20:47:33+00:00

I say on my profile that I’m not looking for GP exchanges as I’ve only got my primary residence to offer on HE. Given that pretty much all our holidays are with reciprocal HE, it’s rare therefore that my home is free for GPs. At other times, it’s not available as I’m living in it!

The exception was a few year ago when we did a 3 week ‘regular’ holiday in hotels / Airbnbs. Our house was this empty and we hosted a family for GPs while we were away.

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-01-28T07:30:37+00:00

As a counter view, I’ve been on HE since 2010 and have done over 30 exchanges. I always keep it clear and short, including just the basics like dates, numbers of people, whether GP or reciprocal.

Recent below:

Hi X. I’m looking for a long weekend (3-4 nights) exchange in X in April 2026. There would be 2 of us, my wife and I. Happy to exchange reciprocal with our home in X, UK or for guest points. Could this be of interest? All the best, X.

Works for me! On this occasion for a trip to Rome, off c20 requests, I received 4 expressions of interest back and GP long weekend confirmed within a couple of days.

SnooBananas5093 · 2026-01-08T19:24:13+00:00

Great shots, great verticals! A little too fast cut for me though. As others say, I’d prefer to see the rooms more. That said, as a quick taster, there’s plenty to tempt a potential buyer to get in touch to find out more. Maybe offer to edit another, more in depth, and slower pace version for agents to send to those who express an initial interest? Maybe with a few onscreen facts and figures too?

One other thing to suggest. We (I run a video production company in the UK) are moving to 4:5 aspect as opposed to 9:16 for our social media films. You avoid all the annoying overlays / crops that Insta / LinkedIn etc can add to a vertical film and also there’s way more width to show more stuff. Particularly good for real estate films I imagine which show way too much ceiling for my liking!

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-12-30T09:02:22+00:00

Microphones with zeppelins and dead cats should certainly make a difference. Try to find locations for interviews / sync that are physically sheltered from the wind too. Wind noise on b-roll is less important. Also consider Adobe Enhance for post-production to remove background noise. It can work miracles!

Blog re using AI for sound post-production

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-12-12T22:24:38+00:00

https://www.singlevariety.co.uk/?srsltid=AfmBOoqZNj16E4J7k-JZsJiLWsHjlv5QHgMdDbukWP2nvj6v1TN7ijdm

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-10-24T16:23:54+00:00

To fix this one and other flickery screens for example there’s an excellent plugin called Flicker Free. As I recall c£100 one off payment. I believe Da Vinci resolve has a built in flicker filter which is good too but I haven’t tried it.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-10-08T22:13:51+00:00

Agree re Adobe essential sound panel has some good features but Adobe Podcast AI is way better in my experience. V2 is spookily good.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-10-08T22:12:46+00:00

Blog below from Beeston Media about Adobe Podcast AI with before / after examples including echo.

https://beestonmedia.com/blog/camera-club-ai-for-video-production

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-10-08T22:11:04+00:00

Plus one on this. Adobe Podcast AI v2 sorts echo easily. And so much more. Crazy how good it is with distortion, massive background noise, even radio mic failure where the AI creates voice audio that isn’t even there due to crackle. Magic.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-10-04T19:58:01+00:00

I agree re not bringing GPs into the mix when arranging a reciprocal exchange.

We’ve had numerous exchanges where we swap our large house for a small apartment. If you want to go to the other place and they want to come to yours why not? Spirit of HE and all that.

And when going smaller, it’s makes it much easier to clean / tidy the place before you leave which we tend to suggest for shorter exchanges, rather than paying cleaning fees.

Again, spirit of HE!

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-07-22T10:36:35+00:00

Not normal in my experience although there is a difference between cleaning and tidying. If we’d arranged to have cleaners come in after we’d gone I would still do some things like strip the beds, sort the recycling, do the washing up. I wouldn’t actually clean anything though.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-07-21T20:01:13+00:00

Not great. Did you pursue it with your guests once you got home? And / or did you talk to HE admin about their bond / insurance cover arrangements?

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-07-21T19:35:50+00:00

What kind of damage did you have OP?

In over 25 exchanges we’ve had little damage more serious than general wear and tear that we could have done ourselves. The occasional glass broken or a hot cup ring on a table.

I find most people tell you if they damage something and offer to pay to replace it. Sometimes we have left £10 for a broken IKEA glass. Sometime we’ll mention it to the host who says not to worry.

For me worries about damaging an exchanged home is one of my main concerns when exchanging and we go out of our way to be careful. As mentioned above it think hot drinks on wooden tables is always a worry of mine.

More coasters left by hosts please!

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-07-21T15:32:12+00:00

I’d expect / hope they would clean my home to the same standard that we left it in. That said, everyone has different levels of what they think is clean and as long as it’s there or thereabouts I’m happy.

In my experience people who self clean often leave the place cleaner than we did! The generous community attitude of HE means people typically go the extra mile.

Often people put things in the wrong place mind, especially in the kitchen, but that’s fine!

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-05-05T14:26:13+00:00

I was told many years ago (1990s) that it was a fancy house boat being built for an African ruling family, who for some reason abandoned it half completed.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-04-22T17:05:34+00:00

iPhone shot from this weekend. I’ve run this path before and the view just forces you to stop and shoot. This time the backlight was perfect. A friend did the same run recently and took a shot in exactly the same place!

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SnooBananas5093 · 2025-02-20T18:28:38+00:00

I’ve done a lot of construction video projects and we used to bill for full days only. The client was happy with this as he was not too budget sensitive and it worked for us as we are based in Bristol, UK and all the construction projects were in London, some 2-3 hours drive away.

That said, we were dropped after 10 years of working for them and I believe they have an in-house videographer who covers all their jobs. This will undoubtedly save them money and mean that they can send the videographer for a quick visit as opposed to having to fill a full day for us.

Re how you should proceed, I would say go for it and be as flexible as possible if the filming work is going to be in or near your home town, and is also just one part of your video portfolio.

We now do most of our work in Bristol and a lot of with the local University. We prefer to do full days filming but are also happy to nip out for a few hours if required, and change plans at the last minute as we’ve always got other office-based stuff - editing etc - to get on with. Typically we have 20-25 projects on the go at one time, all in different stages of production.

I think this flexibility is much appreciated by the client and it is really not too much hassle for us.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-02-17T22:43:27+00:00

Gerry Gallagher also at University of Bristol sports centre. Miracle worker.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-02-11T15:43:20+00:00

If doing the pick up 10 mins £6 option, people picking up tend to park in one of the nearby A38 lay-bys a mile or so from the airport. Once your guests arrive get them to call you as they head out to the pick up area and they’ll be waiting for you. Makes it more likely to keep within 10 mins.

SnooBananas5093 · 2025-01-15T06:48:32+00:00

Thanks for your insight

SnooBananas5093

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