House swapping?

Darleen,

My sister and her husband are pros at this. They live just outside LA. They just completed a one-month house swap with a couple in Paris. They pay about $100 a year to be "listed." Then they can reach out to other folks who are "subscribers." There are many groups you can enroll with - do a search on the web and investigate the companies.

They had use of the apartment in Paris and 2 cars. Likewise, the Parisian family had access to their house and cars! We went and visited them in Paris and they were really enjoying "living" in Paris for a month, rather than feeling like they were on a vacation!

They did do an inventory before they left; they put all"extremely valuables" in off-site storage; They had neighbors as "ambassadors," (and as watchdogs I'm sure!). It went great and they're looking forward to their next house-swap!

Ciao,
Ron

We are interested in doing a house swap, too, and are currently looking at the various house swapping websites, taking pictures of our house and gathering information on our community highlights. However, I see the biggest obstacle for us is that probably 95% of people in other countries only want to exchange with families from LA, NYC or Florida. I wish I could find out which exchange website has the highest rate of exchanges and the highest satisfaction rating, but I doubt that any such data exists. We've never done a house swap per se, but last year for our trip to Italy, I was very worried about leaving our sick old collie (and cat and puppy). My husband, through channels at work, heard of a family who wanted to come to town for a wedding and family reunion, but couldn't find a large enough rental house for less than $2500 a week. So we traded high maintenance animal care for a free house and everyone came out a winner. I knew my collie was fine staying in his own home and the other family saved thousands of dollars. We had friends who checked in on them and were available to help if needed. I love the idea of trading homes in order to afford more travel, plus the experience of seeing how another family really lives. We also considered the idea of exchanging cars (as many do on the exchange websites), but our State Farm insurance agent thought that would be risky. So we're not going to list our car. It'll be interesting to see if any one wants to come to Bend, Oregon in December 2009!

I have thought about this before - can anyone suggest any companies that are reputable for this? Thanks

Terry....promote the skiing at Mount Bachelor (cheaper than Vail, Whistler, etc), the sunshine (300 days a year they tell me), the mountain scenery, and the ocean. Maybe check with some local car rental firms to see if you can get a good deal, and promote that...plus the low price of gas (compared to Europe). Give them some ideas for an overnight in Portland.

I have been a member of Home Exchange International for 3 years. They have been around for 40 years or so.

I would not recommend joining then looking for an international exchange until you have tried some domestic ones. There are a lot of things you need to think about when doing exchanges and only now am I considering international.

We have done 3 exchanges and doing one hosting and one more exchange this year. We have been to Philadelphia, Vancouver Island (I don't count that as "International"), Seattle and the coast of NC.

It is a great experience and, interestingly enough, you are not likely to ever meet the people you exchange with.

We have done four house swaps and are hoping for another next summer. We've used intervac.com and homelink.org. There are other companies you can find through google, and almost all let you see their listings (but not the contact info) for free. I suggest you take a look. Don't count on finding a swap in Italy, however. Too many Americans seeking, and too few Italians wanting to come to the U.S. We also found that many Italian listings aren't bona fide exchange offers. What the listers really want is to rent their vacation home to you.
So here are my tips:
Be pro-active. Don't wait for people to contact you.
Scrutinize the location carefully. An island or a remote mountain region might not be great for a month.
Get lots of pictures.
If you're not fixed on Italy, you might be more successful. One of our best trips included a month in Denmark, which was our 5th choice of countries. You can e-mail me if you have more questions.