Your Favorite Home Exchange Club?
Sep 4th, 2001, 10:47 PM
#2
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Homelink International. It has been around for over 30 years, and it has the largest number of European subscribers. Lots of listings in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, too. You can look at listings on line at homelink.org (as a visitor) and you can join on-line. Prior to any actual exchange and as a safety feature, you and your exchange family each execute an agreement. This is faxed to the Homelink rep for each country. If either party fails to meet up to the agreement, they get dropped from the listings. Homelink has worked beautifully for us, and we look forward to more exchanges in the future. It's a good thing.
Sep 5th, 2001, 04:30 PM
#3
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HomeExchange.com (two E's in the middle) is the best, in my opinion, because it acknowledges that an exchange is more than simply a business deal: it's important that you know and trust the people who are staying in your home. This website (which is free, unlike many others) includes descriptions of the home, the neighborhood, and the people.
Sep 5th, 2001, 04:34 PM
#4
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I have done 22 home exchanges in Europe, Canada and the US. I use both HomeLink and Intervac because they are the only services that have large enough data bases to increase your chances of getting a deal. <BR> <BR>There are lots of smaller services parading around with much smaller membership. In my experience, HomeLink and Intervac are the only worthwhile players.
Sep 5th, 2001, 04:46 PM
#5
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Just wanted to clarify that usually the agreement is signed after many direct comunications with your potential exchange family. It's just an added level of security. When we registered with Intervac we received a lot of offers too, but at the time they did not have the on-line capability that Homelink does. Maybe they have caught up by now?
Sep 5th, 2001, 04:58 PM
#6
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I have gotten deals from both Intervac and HomeLink. I never sign a formal agreement--unless the other people want it. I don't believe in doing them because they are legally unenforceable. <BR> <BR>Home exchanges are based on mutual goodwill. One advantage is that you make a lot of contacts with the locals that way. I cannot begin to tell you how my Berlin trip was enhanced that way, especially with one of my home exchange family's friend. She took me to so many places I would never have seen without her. <BR> <BR>Feel free to email me about this if you have questions. I have written about this wonderful way of vacationing in newspapers, the internet, etc. I have had so many wonderful experiences and it costs so little. I highly recommend this method of traveling.
Sep 5th, 2001, 06:28 PM
#7
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While I agree that home exchanging is a wonderful example of good will, there will be some exchange families that will ask to sign an agreement. Our French exchange family, who was exchanging for the first time and was coming all the way to Hawaii wanted to. Of course this is not an issue for the courts and would not ever be litigated, but if the exchange falls short of what was represented, there is a mechanism within the club's policy. The membership fee I also feel cuts down on the number of people who may not be as serious to following through. But I am sure there are many ways of doing it. <BR> <BR>When exchanging, you have to feel good about it. In our experience, we have made friendships first, so when the exchanges actually happened, we have felt very comfortable.
Sep 6th, 2001, 08:52 PM
#10
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HomeLink now costs $106. Intervac costs $99. I just enrolled in both for 2002 this evening. There is an extra fee if you want to include a photo of your house which I do not because I have never found it necessary. <BR> <BR>The only major problem I've run into is different standards of cleanliness. I want to emphasize that only Intervac and HomeLink have large enough data bases to make it realistic to expect that you will get a deal. Please note that most experienced exchangers have their deals no later than January 15th, so, if you want to do this, you have to enroll NOW and not wait for spring and think you are going to get something. By then it will probably be too late. <BR> <BR>You do have to be flexible about destination. Most deals are done for the summer months.
