how hard is it to find a host family without having an agency?

Hello,

I think there are many more families than au pairs in search in general, but the offer-demand changes depending on the season. In that sense an agency saves time if you are struggling choosing among many options and if you don't know how to filter the best match for you.

I have never used an agency and I don't think they wouldl do better work than I do when it comes to interview the au pairs and so on. But the initial search is very exhausting and consumes lots of time for us the families, so I understand the people who don't have that time and don't mind paying that extra cost. On my side I consider the cost a bit high so I prefer to try myself.

Good luck!