Hi Faux,
I loved your thread on Vienna and really appreciate this one too. We live in a northern suburb of Denver, CO. We're about an hour from the ski resorts, and an hour and fifteen minutes from Rocky Mountain National Park. Just off the top of your head, is our location something that you think many Europeans would be interested in? We have never considered a home exchange before, but it would really help lower the costs of traveling since hotels and B&Bs really add up when you travel for a few weeks.

Potential Home Exchangers...those interested should try checking out some swapping websites. Homelink.org let's you look around the site as a visitor and see where people want to visit. You may suprised! Lots of people who swap have a wide variety of interests and like FauxSteMarie stated, you ca definateley "sell" your home and location. Throwing in car exchanges and tickets to local events can help too. It doesn't hurt to try. Most of these websites are under $100 to join for a year. That is a small investment for a possibly huge payback of lodging and car usage. Have fun.

Of course, Denver is a saleable location. I have exchanged myself in that area a couple of times (in Silverthorne and between Denver and Colorado Springs. Any location is saleable.

To the lady with a transitional neighborhood home in DC: Well, I don't think I would want your home if I were a European, but some Europeans might. As PatrickLondon said, you do not need to disclose everything up front, but some of it will come out in all the emails you will have once a deal is cut.

Your listing could read, "Nice condo in big city neighborhood near subway. Access to everything, etc." You don't write a doctoral dissertation on your house when you list it. LOL.

In Vienna I was in a transitional neighborhood (translation: there were lots of Turks and other immigrants in my neighborhood). It was fine. While I might not have wanted to LIVE there, it was fine for sightseeing. After all, I was just sleeping in the place, showering, etc. I wasn't hosting a wedding there.

Both the place near Denver and the place near DC would be great swap locations. As Faux points out, it is not necessary to disclose everything in your listing, but I would definitely tell the truth about your neighborhood in the discussions that follow with the exchanger. Perhaps when you are in discussion, you could point them to the crime statistics that you mention in your post.

As for home exchange clubs to join, that is what www.knowyourtrade.com does well. Many of our visitors are amazed by the number of home exchange clubs out there. While the press seems to favor the "big three" (Intervac, Homelink, and HomeExchange.com), there are many other clubs out there that might be worth taking a look at. Some are smaller, but offer very personal service. Some are new, with very advanced map based searches. Some are open - non-members can contact members, others closed. It is really worth browsing through and looking at the features of the clubs. Many people join more than one to increase the possibility of an exchange.

I try hard to spread the word about home exchange,through www.knowyourtrade.com as do other people like Faux. She does a wonderful job on this forum keeping people informed. After all, the more home exchangers there are, the more places we home exchangers have to explore!

I don't know about all those smaller clubs with personal service. The key for me is the number of members. If a service has thousands of members, your chances of getting a swap are better than if there are only a few hundred. Many experienced exchangers belong to more than one club. When I first started doing this (before the internet in 1990) there were only two services: Homelink and Intervac. I couldn't make up my mind which was better, so I joined both of them. I have gotten exchanges through both of them. For example, Vienna this year was from Intervac. Brisbane, Australia, next year is from Homelink. I even got one through an AOL message board one time near Austin, Texas. When I answer questions on this, my first question is always, "Where do YOU live?" Anyone anywhere can be an exchange possibility. A deal does not have to come through a club.

By the way, I am an agent for Intervac. That means I can get you a discount if you want to join Intervac. It does mean that, if I sign up 5 members, I would get a free membership, but that is all. I am saying this up front, so you know what the deal is. If you want to join Intervac, however, I have a code that would give you the discount. I have no similar deal with Homelink, but I endorse that service as well (especially because it is much more active in Australia and New Zealand than Intervac is).

I have been referring people to these two services for years. While I have heard good things about some of the other services, I just do not feel the need to sign up for more than the two I have dealt with for years. You only need one swap a year for the most part and it is not economic to sign up with more services.

Anyone interested in this wonderful way of vacationing should investigate all the services and ask questions.

If you want to enroll with Intervac and want the code for the discount, you can email me at [email protected]. I haven't signed anyone up yet. Ha! I do have some brochures for Intervac and could mail one to anyone who is interested, but everything is online.

For those living outside major tourist areas, be creative when listing your house. Talk about opportunities for swimming, golf and tennis if that is all you have (and almost everyone has those). Swimming, golf and tennis is all that some people want.

mark

Having stumbled upon your posts (FauxSteMarie & lnicodemus) while searching for low cost accommodations for an upcoming vacation, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the knowyourtrade.com website. You folks certainly did a great service putting up this directory! Excellent data base, tons of info, entertaining blog, useful forum, downloadable forms and “How To” manual, literally everything I needed to know about exchanging homes. I do have one question: are all these club sites legit? I noticed that you had one site, Jewettstreet?, as a site of the month. Membership there is free. There are also several other free membership sites listed. My question is if Jewettstreet is so great and it’s free, why pay to join other clubs? I guess that’s two questions…

Because the other services have larger data bases. Homelink and Intervac were the original services. I am not going to bad mouth any home exchange service because I don't know them all. I do know that the woman who runs Jewett Street seems like a nice person. I have belonged to Homelink and Intervac since 1990 and see no reason to change. The key is joining a service with lots of members. The new guys on the block just do not have the same number of members. The more members you have, the more possibilities.

I just paid my Homelink dues for 2007-2008 today, in fact. I paid the dues ($90 for an online membership; I see no reason to order the books anymore) even though I already have a deal for the summer of 2008 in Australia. If it breaks down (always a possibility until tickets are purchased) or people want to contact me for 2009 or a second deal in 2008, they can.

As a seasoned exchangers ( 20 ) I suggest that the most upsetting thing (other then a dirty place) would be if your partners have hidden facts about their property in order to "sell" their location.
Happened to us only once - there was a construction site right under their window; the noise during the day was really bad.
One is always taking a chance no matter how many questions you ask. On the other hand, same goes for hotels, restaurants, and other travel adventures.

The landlord in my Vienna apartment building was renovating a unit on the floor below ours. We had noise for the first 10 days, but it wasn't unbearable. I don't think my home exchangers knew about the timing of the renovation. I was told about it before I got to Vienna, but just before the exchange.

Suppose my next door neighbor decided to have a new roof put on while my home exchangers were here. I live in a townhouse, by the way. Some things you cannot control or predict.

danon, by the way, where do you live?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Craig's List as a great way to exchange houses. We've done a month in Paris, two weeks in Provence, and three weeks in Mendocino all from Craig's List (under House Swaps) and it's free. And, yes, I live in the Bay Area so it's pretty easy for me to find a swap, but I think Craig's List is terrific.

Great info - thanks so much!

I just checked Craig's list, guys, and there are home exchange requests on it but most of the requests seem to be for specific places (e.g., Saskatoon wants to exchange with Paris). If your needs are specific, I always recommend a rental. You will be successful as a home exchanger if you have an expansive idea of where you could be content vacation. Specific rigid desires only rarely result in a swap in my experience.

Excellent post Faux, thank you very much. Living in Sydney, I've always wondered if the seasons would be a problem, we like to go to the Northern Hemisphere in their summer, which of course is our winter. However, next year we are looking at going in December. I also guess that March & September are also options. It makes our pool attractive.

Fred,

Thanks for the compliments!

As to your questions, I do agree with Faux as to the fact that the larger the numbers the more chance of a match. However, I also think that many of the smaller clubs offer,as I said earlier, great service as well as advanced features. If enough people join (maybe not as the primary club, but as an additional club) these small clubs will be able to grow and offer nmot only great service and features, but many listings too.

Jewett Street is a great example of a small club, with steadily increasing numbers, that has tons to offer exchangers. 1st Home Exchange is growing by leaps and bounds. Home For Swap, another new club, has great features and has recently been featured in a tv documentary. There are many other clubs that have a lot to recommend them.

Keep visiting http://www.knowyourtrade.com for all the latest home exchange news!

Thanks for the info, Faux. Very helpful! I saw that you & lnicodemus posted the ten home exchange clubs with the greatest number of listings on your site (knowyourtrade.com). Before I join homeexchange.com (your #1 pick) are there any other things I should consider?

Sarvowinner, if you are interested in swapping for July or September 2008 with Washington, DC, please contact me. I have an exchange in Brisbane for August and am willing to go to Sydney before or after the swap in Brisbane for up to a month. It can be less than a month because I will already be in Brisbane in August. I am trying to work a back to back swap somewhere either in Australia or New Zealand.

You can email me at [email protected]

Faux, is this cool? I have a great studio loft on the east edge of North Beach, Downtown San Francisco. I need to spend a month in London in February, 2008 in or near Davies Mews (near Bond Street Underground exit). I’m a computer consultant with references. I’d like to trade my place for your London pad. Also I would be willing to trade my place for a bunk in January (last two weeks) in a skiing area around Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy or Germany for a couple of weeks before February first. My loft has a weekly cleaning service and can accommodate two comfortably. Contact: [email protected] (thanks again for knowyourtrade.com)

You could put that add up on one of the home exchange services' websites where it might get the exposure you want, BUT your desires are too specific to have a good shot at what you want. I am not saying that you might not get exactly what you want, but it is unlikely. Generally, to have a good shot at a deal, you need to have an expansive idea of where you want to be satisfied traveling AND a bit of flexibility in your dates.

If people have specific needs (say to be in Tuscany for a week for a wedding), they are well advised to rent.

Anyone living in or near London should get plenty of offers but perhaps not offers to meet specific needs.