Seeking house swap: Staunton, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Blacksburg, and/or Roanoke vicinity for sometime between July 31 – August 9, 2026. Offering: House w/ cats a short drive or ferry ride to San Francisco and Oakland!
Do you like traveling? Would you like to visit San Francisco and pay $0 for lodging or rental car?
If so, I’m exploring the possibility of a house swapping arrangement! At this stage, I’m only putting my feelers out to see what is possible. I’m not going to buy airline tickets or make any other solid plans until I’m sure we have a solid arrangement for a place to stay and a car to drive.
ABOUT US: We are a couple in our fifties with a well-behaved 12-year-old child. We are all quiet, clean, and respectful of other people’s space, and we seek the same in our house-swapping compadres!
WHAT I’M SEEKING: A place to stay in western Virginia: Staunton would be ideal, but we’re open to the Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Blacksburg, and/or Roanoke areas. We can’t stay in any other region of Virginia.
The only dates we can make this work are between July 31 and August 9, 2026. We’d like to stay a full week if possible. We would prefer to have the house to ourselves, but we are also open to you hosting us in your home while you’re still there. We’d need two bedrooms and 1 full bath, but we can make 1 bedroom plus a sofa work; or 1 bedroom with enough beds to sleep 3. We’d need access to a full kitchen to cook meals.
We’re also seeking to use your reliable vehicle in good condition for the duration of our stay. We would be putting a few hundred miles on it while we explore Virginia. We’re happy to fill it up with gas and/or wash it before returning it to you.
We’d return each evening to your house, so we’re happy to feed and play with cats, feed fish, water plants, bring in mail / packages, and take trash in and out. Since we will be out exploring every day from early morning to late evening, we will probably not be a good fit for dog sitting, or other animals that require a lot of attention during the day. We will leave your house as tidy and clean as we found it.
WHAT I CAN OFFER: A simultaneous swap of our adorable 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, vintage-1925 bungalow in a beautiful, safe, walkable neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area. We’re a short drive or ferry ride to both San Francisco and Oakland. If a simultaneous swap won’t work, we could potentially host you in our home on different dates, though we’d have to be there at the same time.
Our house is less than a ten minute walk from a beach and a business / shopping district with shops, restaurants, cafés, and a twice-weekly farmer’s market. Tons of parks, hikes, and walking trails nearby. We’re also a 1.5-hour drive from Napa and Sonoma wine countries. We have a fully equipped kitchen, W/D, and a private backyard with a patio and a grill. We have 2 vehicles you’re welcome to use in our absence. All we ask is that you fill them up with gas before leaving.
PLEASE BE ADVISED: We have FOUR cats! As of this writing, they are all healthy and low maintenance. One of them is 15, though, so we’d only ask you to keep an eye on her overall well-being. Aside from that, all we’d ask is that you feed them twice per day, and scoop their litter boxes once per day. They’re fine being left alone during the day. They are wary of strangers and are likely to hide from you. They are not aggressive.
Aside from that, we’d only ask you bring in our mail and packages, and take out the garbage on garbage day. No plant or lawn watering will be necessary.
DM me if you are interested. Thank you!! :)