Home Exchange - I've Heard The Term A Lot, But What Is Home Exchange?

By Anne Pottinger Anne Pottinger
Level: Platinum

The author, Anne Pottinger, has been promoting and writing about budget travel and home exchange for years. She is the owner of ExchangeHomes.com and also ...

Home exchange, simply explained, is a non-commercial agreement between two families or individuals to stay in each other's home during a vacation. You stay in your partner's home and visa versa. No money changes hands in the form of rent, thus, with all accommodation costs eliminated it is a very affordable form of vacationing.

The concept began in the Scandinavian countries of Europe in the 1950's when school teachers saw it as a very affordable means of vacationing, and in the intervening years the idea has developed and spread throughout the world. Today, hundreds of thousands of people use home swapping as their primary means of vacationing while dozens of clubs and companies have likewise sprung up, listing databases of interested swappers.

Over the years, this form of vacationing has developed from its initial simplistic form of swapping the family home, to people with second homes (usually a vacation property,) offering these as their exchange collateral. This has the immediate advantage of added flexibility with the vacations not needing to take place at simultaneous times.

Second homes are often offered in addition to the main family home, thus providing two alternatives to a likely exchange partner. My company has several members with multiple properties, one that immediately springs to mind lists three homes in his membership, an apartment in a Culver City high rise, a single family home in Brentwood and a forty acre ranch in Santa Barbara. He even goes further than a straight swap utilizing one home, encouraging people to work all three of his homes into an exchange.

Receive a free copy of the home exchange 'bible' Home Exchange Academy (sells for $17.)

Now you know what a home exchange is, come take a look at our listings. ExchangeHomes.com has been continually in business since 1986 and we have listings from all over the world. Currently, all new members will receive a free copy of Home Exchange Academy, a much acclaimed ebook written by a veteran home exchanger.

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Article Submitted On: November 02, 2010

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