Comments on: Home Swap/Home Exchange Facts

By: Jill Singer

Jill Singer — Thu, 05 May 2011 06:37:05 +0000

I have found good house swapping program.Our Home Exchange(http://www.thevacationexchange.com) Program Offers the Easiest & Most Flexible Way to Arrange a home Swap. We have more than 1,500 holiday exchange homes in every vacation area in the United States and Internationally.

By: Ursula

Ursula — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:55:01 +0000

Hi Hannah,
For anybody who likes to give Home Exchange a try, I suggest to look at several home exchange sites and get “a feel” for them before deciding which one to choose. Many of the experienced home exchangers are members with more than one club. That’s because some Home Exchange Clubs have many listings in a particular area, let’s say, in Europe. Others have a great selection of American listings.
As far as finding other home exchangers with kids and their accommodation needs, our Home Exchange Network, http://www.JewettStreet.com, offers a unique search function called “Have Kids will Travel”. With one click you can find other families in a particular area. By the way, membership with JewettStreet.com is still free, no strings attached.
Happy Home Exchanging!

By: hannahgrace

hannahgrace — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:57:26 +0000

Hi Lois! Thanks for visiting! Thanks for clearing some things up. I did see some websites that separated Home Swaps and Vacation Rentals. Been enjoying browsing through Home Base Holidays day dreaming of the time my home will look respectable enough to swap! ^_^

And Hi Exchange Queen, I do apologize but your comment got lost and I only read it now. I sure will check out your new site!

By: Vacation Rentals by Travelogger

Vacation Rentals by Travelogger — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:08:00 +0000

[...] a large family on vacation can post problems when it comes to lodging. One solution would be to swap homes with other people. Hannah has already actually written something about this. An alternative to home [...]

By: Exchange Queen

Exchange Queen — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:13:12 +0000

Hi Hannah,
I run a site called Know Your Trade (http://www.knowyourtrade.com) that rates and reviews all the home exchange sites. Since we have examined all the clubs thoroughly, we know that most of the legitimate home exchange sites do separate rentals and exchanges and offer a search option so either option will be listed exclusively. Some clubs do not allow rental options, but many do. As long as there is a way to sort out the two, that is ok in my book.
As to the open dates and destinations, I agree with Lois. We have found that many people, especially as Lois points out, those who are retired, are very flexible. Many look at home exchange as an adventure and are truly open to all destinations at any time, with enough notice.
Take a look at http://www.knowyourtrade.com for information about ALL home exchange clubs. We are unaffiliated and unbiased.

By: Lois

Lois — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:38:40 +0000

Hi Hannah

Glad to see you have discovered home exchange but you, like many people researching the idea for the first time, are probably more than a little confused about home exchange sites that include a large number of commercial rental offers along with home exchange offers. It’s not a problem to have both types of listing on one site – but they must be totally separate so that those only interested in home exchange don’t have to waste time suggesting swaps to those only interested in letting properties.

On our own site (Home Base Holidays, est. in London in 1985), we include a limited number of non-commercial rental offers, i.e. rental is chosen as an additional option, along with home exchange, by a small number of second home owners who often let their properties to fellow members at special reduced rates. This means our private, members only site is not particularly attractive to commercial renters who can find plenty of free or rental specific sites that will reach many more potential tenants.

As for being open on dates and destinations – many genuine home exchangers are very open and flexible, especially retired people who don’t need to fit their exchanges around work or school holidays. So please don’t dismiss them all as some how suspicious just because they don’t list particular destinations or have set dates.

Hope you will visit my home exchange blog:

http://homeexchangetravel.blogs.com

I’m always looking for new home exchange related topics to cover so, if you have any questions or points to make about your experiences, I’d love to hear from you.

Cheers!