How to keep your house key safe - We purchased a lock box from the local hardware store. The ones the realtors use. We locked it on our fence and keep an extra key to the house in it. When we just change the code on the lock box after someone has accessed the key. Works great and comes in handy.

Great website/service! I may list my Manhattan apartment. Thanks for the report!

Very interesting! Thanks for the report Dayle; I'd like to try home exchange one day.

We just did our fourth home exchange on Craigslist. We swapped our Bay Area home for a beautiful 2-bedroom apartment in the 5th arr. in Paris for 6 weeks. It was wonderful. I was so spoiled by it that I might not go back to Paris if I couldn't stay in the same place. She felt the same about our house. Very happy experience, as were the three other exchanges we've done (2 in France one in Mendocino) on Craigslist.

..neighbors did a very successful swat through intervac. On her return she asked the cleaning lady how she found the house. She assured my neighbor that it was great- much cleaner than when she was home.

Nancy .. very interesting. I too would want to swap for a flat in the 5th arr. Where on craigslist did you find the exchange possibility?

Gekko,

I'm not a craigslist user, so can't say how the listings are there, but I can tell you that listings for Paris on homeexchange.com seem to be far more than anywhere else!

I'm confused, Dayle. What do you mean they are far more? Since they are exchanges they don't cost "anything", right? I've never seen a price listed on an exchange offer.

I think he means that there are a lot more home/apartments from Paris listed on the homeexchange website as compared to other exchange websites.

Oh. Duh! Why did I think "a lot more" referred to price and not number. Sorry.

Patrick,

Sorry! I was just revisiting this old thread while I try to navigate the new format. Yes, I meant far more listings for Paris than anywhere else. At least it seems that way! Made me wonder if the people who started the site are French.

Hope you're doing well. Did you go to Maui yet?

We have kicked around this idea some, lots of Europeans come to this area to see Mesa Verde NP. The trouble is trying to do simultaneous exchange. Still thinking on that one. Glad you had such a great experience. We love San Francisco and would love to do a trade during Sept or Oct [ its our best season and SF's too].
Deb

I have exchanged about 15 times in Europe, 2 times in Australia, once in NZ. The rest of my exchanges have been within the US and Canada. I have done 37 and my next will be in Finland next summer.

Keys can be mailed or handed off at airports if you are both in the airport at the same time.

Of the 37 exchanges I did, in two cases (French and Germans) my house was not as it should be. The Germans were a piece of work. They said they had a car. They did but it didn't work. Their house was not clean as well. The French people just left a mess here. I should have known because their house wsa more "lived in" than mine was.

OK, that leaves 35 exchanges were there were no cleanliness problems. I have had a few broken dishes but no draining of the liquor cabinet or stolen items. Quite frankly, most exchangers do not look at private stuff. They are busy touring--not doing detective work in your house. For those who have valuable jewelry I recommend safe deposit boxes.

I did two exchanges in Australia and NZ last summer. The second house in Australia was not as nice as the first one, but it was more centrally located. The house in NZ was an older home and had an indifferent heating system. Remember you are exchanging homes and not everyone has a palace. They have homes. It didn't matter to me about this and that because I was having a blast seeing things I could never have afforded to do otherwise and I had a washer and dryer in each home--meaning less schlepping of clothing from home. I was away 9 weeks and got sick of my clothes by the end of the trip, but no one but me knew I was beating the same few outfits to death. You can really travel light when you have a washer and/or dryer.

Obviously, with 37 home exchanges behind me, I like it. I come from the school that he who goes farthest for the least amount of money wins. I have had some of my best experiences in places almost no Americans go. I exchange cars as well (your insurance covers them and theirs covers you). Anyone damaging a car pays the deductible. There is a risk of insurance going up if someone has an accident in your car. It doesn't usually happen, but you do want to work out who pays what if it does before you swap. If you don't want to exchange your car, don't, but, if you take that position, fewer people will swap with you.

I belong to both Homelink and Intervac. I joined them in 1990 and have renewed my membership each year. I know there are a lot of other home exchange services but, since I have had no experience with them, I cannot comment on which one is better, etc. I know what works for me. Both Homelink and Intervac were in the home swap business before the internet (when we all got large telephone bills working on our deals). Email makes everything run very smoothly now.

Just revisiting this thread after a long while and wanted to respond to Gekko on where to find the home exchanges in Paris on Craigslist. I look in two places on Craigslist under "House Swaps"--on the Paris list and on the San Francisco Bay Area list. I have also listed my house in the past and gotten exchanges that way.

Where did you end up exchanging as a result of your listing on Craigslist? I just turned down another exchange today in Santa Barbara, CA. Person contacted me through Homelink.

Whatever works for you is fine, but my impression is that Craigslist just does not result in as many offers. However, ONE offer YOU WANT is all you need. Again, whatever works.

I've done four house swaps through Craigslist: two in Paris, one in Provence, and one in Mendocino...all were for a month or more. My home is in the Bay Area so it's fairly easy to have a number of choices.

Whatever works for you is fine. I am glad you enjoy home exchanging. I started doing it in 1990 and I have no intention of ever stopping. It is such a wonderful way to travel.