Has anyone here ever tried swapping houses with European or other strangers?
My husband and I would like to try it (we have a great waterview victorian on the New England coast) but we're not really familiar with the process and are afraid of what might go wrong.

Try a search for past threads, probably home exchange would be a good phrase to search for. Several of us have had great experiences. There are several organizations that host postings for potential exchangers, I like HomeLink best.

I'd recommend that for your first exchange, you swap with an experienced family and follow their lead as far as sharing info, writing up instructions for your appliances, meeting neighbors, etc. Lots and lots of detailed communication is essential!

There is currently a program on Channel 4 (british TV) about home-swapping, seems to be very popular among those who have become used to the idea. Paste this URL into your browser to see information on the program....http://www.channel4.com/life/microsi..._feature1.html

DonnaD44
I, too, have been curious about House Swapping and if you're interested in Santa Fe, I'd be interested in a "waterview victorian onthe New England coast" -- I'm looking for WATER for next summer!!! Maybe this is an option if you are interested in other than Europe.

DonnaD44- If you are interested in swapping a house, I was emailed by a man who has a condo on the Costa Del Sol in Spain....He was looking for waterfont property in a swap with his condo..

Is you list your email addy, I can forward you his name...He lives in Canada and seemed to be super nice....

Hey, maybe we should have a house exchange section on this site, so interested Fodorites could work out exchanges. I'm 30 miles south of San Francisco. Anyone tenatively interested in exchanging here?

I think it would be a great idea to start a home exchange with Fodorites, since we're such a wonderful bunch of people, and I feel I could trust them. I'm living on the harbor in Sydney Australia, rated the #1 city in the world (and I've found this to be true) Actually Santa Fe sounds very interesting! Serena

In addition to locations, home exchanges must match in terms of dates, accommodations (primarily beds), pets' care, etc.

Yes, the Fodorites are wonderful people (mostly) but so are the thousands of experienced exchangers in the databases at places like HomeLink, which has been doing this for decades.

Thanks everyone for your enthusiastic posts. Seems there's lots of interest in this topic and I think maybe Fodor might want to consider a forum dedicated to the subject. Santa Fe? Why not? Costa do Sol? Sounds good too.
Serena, my husband and I will be in Santa Fe Oct. 21-26, perhaps we can have a more serious conversation about future swaps.

Try this link http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34439580

I wouldn't dream of swapping my primary home (who would want my 16-year-old's bedroom?), but we have swapped our house in France a couple of times and it has been a fabulous experience. I've never advertised on the major sites and don't intend to pay the big bucks to do so because it's not a priority for me, but when we have done it, it was a very positive vacation. The SlowTrav site has a good venue for this now.