Home exchangers of the world unite!

Here at Homeforhome, (because we`re nice), we want to give you some tips and advice in creating a selection of photos that will help you receive more home exchange offers.

We know what it`s like. You`ve spent the time uploading your profile, and you just want to get through the process and hurry up and get home exchanging. And then you realize that you need to go and take photos of your house.

Which means finding your camera. Finding the cable. Cleaning. Tidying. Waiting until there`s some decent day light.

But it really is worth it. A good photo can give someone a real taste of all the great things about your home, and why you love living there. Which raises YOUR stakes in the home exchange system.

So firstly, let`s assume that it`s all clean and tidy and ready for action. A few “do`s” and “don`t”s.

The “Don`t”s

1) Try to avoid dark photos where you can`t see much of the house. It will give other users the impression that the house is badly lit, uncomfortable, or not very welcoming. People will just have a negative sensation and won`t feel very excited by your offer.

2) By all means you can include photos that include people. However, it is important to focus on the house. People are thinking of the space in which they will able to spend their precious holidays. The home needs to be the focus. And let`s be honest. Photos of dark rooms with a bright light shining on a young child, or a mug-shot of the owner are not likely to attract many exchange proposals.

3) Photos of you scuba diving, or dressed up in 16th century fencing costume are fine for your profile picture (each to their own!), but when it comes to photos of the home people will be put off if you don`t have some serious photos. Generally, people are a little suspicious and want to know that their prospective exchange partners are serious. If you don`t have proper photos up, then the other user does not have much to go on.

4) Don`t put up pre-saved photos that you have in your image bank. *That*pink flower or *that* sunset. It`s frustrating for other users. It`s actually worth the wait of getting your own photos up there.

5) Don´t put a photo that is larger than 3mb because it won´t load. All photos have to be 3mb or less.

The “Do”s

1) Take plenty of photos of the rooms of the house, the garden, and if you like photos of local interest points.

2) Try to stand back, for example in the door way, or stand outside of a window looking into the room in order to be able to capture a good section of the room.

3) The rule of thirds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds Imagine that the image is divided into three equal parts horizontally, and three equal parts vertically. Try put the natural lines or sections of the photo along these imaginary lines.

4) Make sure that you rotate the images first on your computer before uploading them, as you won`t be able to rotate them once they`re up on the site.

So. Compulsive hoarding disorder. Let´s have a little lookie at what Wikipedia has to say about it.

“Compulsive hoarding (or pathological hoarding) is the acquisition of, and failure to use or discard, such a large number of seemingly useless possessions that it causes significant clutter and impairment to basic living activities such as mobility, cooking, cleaning, showering or sleeping. A person who engages in compulsive hoarding is commonly said to be a “pack rat”, in reference to that animal’s apparent fondness for material objects.”

Aha! It´s a recognised condition. I knew it wasn´t just me. This feeling… is a good feeling. (As for the whole “pack rat” thing, that wasn´t so easy on the ears.)

But let´s not get bogged down in aetiology. The more pertinent issue here is how we can deal with this when we do a home exchange. Or - even better - how home exchange can deal with this problem FOR us.

The idea of having someone in your home can work wonders for bringing out in you that religious zeal to make your nest sparkling and neat as a button. It gives us the perfect excuse to do that decade over-due spring-clean.

Seeing your house through the eyes of a visitor often encourages us to put to rights everything that we´ve wanted to get done for the past few months. (Years….decades. However it may be for you. I´m apparently a “pack rat” so I´m not judging anyone here.)

But pack rats or not, there is an element of exposure that comes with doing a home exchange. This is a brilliant way for us to animate ourselves into getting everything into the state we want it to be in. It can imbue within us a greater strive to make our living space, our environment - our HABITAT - look the best it can.

For me this would involve getting rid of the piles of newspapers and the empty water bottles that are taking over my life right now. But for most normal people, it´s a great motivation to finally getting around to doing all the things you´ve been meaning to, but have struggled to find that last push of motivation.

Home exchange. There´s a world of hidden benefits.