Home Exchange: Swap Homes Worldwide

By Beth Simmons

Home exchangers, Ed Kushins and his wife stay at an Italian Villa in Tuscany. Photo: Ed Kushins.
Home exchangers, Ed Kushins and his wife stay at an Italian Villa in Tuscany. Photo: Ed Kushins.

Save money and get an intimate experience on your next vacation by staying in someone else’s home!

How about spending the weekend in southern California, a week in Tuscany, or longer in Australia?

All you need to do is buy your plane ticket because your room and board are covered! Here’s the catch: you have to return the favor by offering your home in exchange for theirs.

If you haven’t considered this travel opportunity before, it’s time to start.

Home exchanges are popular for their low coss, private living arrangements, and first-hand cultural experience by staying at a local’s residence.

The idea of switching homes with a stranger can make people cringe; however, this response is changing with businesses now specializing in house swapping. HomeExchange.com is a perfect example. This website has thousands of members located all over the world willing to trade their homes for yours.

Detailed Overviews of Rental Homes

Home Exchange members give a detailed overview of their homes in their listing. They include the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, classification of home, amenities, local attractions, pictures, number of people in their party, a written overview, and preferred destinations. This gives users great references during their search for the perfect match

Ed Kushins at his Hermosa Beach, CA home
Ed Kushins at his Hermosa Beach, CA home

All this easily accessible information has not always been so easy. Beginning in the early 1990s Home Exchange did everything by mail. Imagine life before email?! Members were mailed a print-out directory and after finding a potential exchange partner, they would reach out to them via mail. Today’s fast-paced Internet enables instantaneous communication, making this laborious process hard to visualize.

Ed Kushins, president of Home Exchange reveals his inspiration for the business: “I did a home exchange back in 1992 and enjoyed it so much. I had such a hard time finding someone having the service, so it started as a hobby and slowly I built it up. When the Internet came around, I saw it as a real opportunity to post the market of home exchanges and make it fast.”

There you have it. If you’re having concerns about trading your home, just think: this has been going on for decades! Kushins saw the opening for the service and decided to fill the void by starting an official business.

How Much Does Home Exchange Cost?

You can join Home Exchange for a yearly fee of $150 which allows unlimited exchanges and includes protection for its members (cancellation, non-conformity, and damage).

There are no additional payments needed to participate in a home exchange, essentially you are vacationing in someone’s home for free. There are no household requirements to join the Home Exchange network. Many apartments, condominiums, and even yachts are available.

Second Year Free

Dwight and kids in Boston Harbor
Dwight and kids in Boston Harbor

Home Exchange guarantees its members their second year free if they don’t find a home exchange partner during their first full year of membership. So if you thought no one would be interested in vacationing in your home, chances are you’re wrong, but just in case you’ll be guaranteed membership free of cost!

Kushins explains, “There are a few people for one reason or another that don’t get an exchange. Personally I think it was because they weren’t trying hard enough. You have to include a photo in a posting to be taken seriously.”

If you like the idea of Home Exchange but are uncomfortable with others staying in your home without you there, you can also participate in what is called a hospitality exchange.

These are listed on the website as well. Kushins clarifies the difference between the two vacation options, “A home exchange is when someone’s in your home while you stay in their home. Oftentimes you don’t even meet them. Hospitality exchanges are when you allow someone to stay in your home while you’re there as well.” Hospitality exchanges provide an opportunity for live-in tour guides of the area.

Several Exchanges  a Year

Ed and wife in Switzerland
Ed and wife in Switzerland

Ed Kushins and his wife do several home exchanges a year. “We probably do two to five a year. Just yesterday we finalized an exchange in London. We’ve also done exchanges in San Francisco, Colorado, Switzerland, Palm Springs, Ireland, and Paris, as well as a hospitality exchanges in Italy and Ireland. The place in Ireland was fantastic! A huge house and great hosts that showed us around the 10,000 square foot property.”

Just last month Kushins completed a hospitality exchange in Italy by reciprocating as host to the Italian villa owners in his Hermosa Beach, California home.

Dwight Zivo of Chicago has been a member of Home Exchange for three or four years now and shares memorable exchanges, “One time I took my kids and we started out in northern California by Santa Cruz. We drove all the way down to Hermosa, California. Another good experience was this past Father’s Day when I did a home exchange in Boston. We swapped cars, stayed in an old Victorian home, and went to a Red Sox game, which was pretty cool.”

If this interests you be sure to visit HomeExchange.com! Join the community of members and begin the hunt for an exciting vacation experience where you feel the comforts of home while you’re away!

TRY IT OUT! HomeExchange.com

READ MORE ABOUT HOME EXCHANGES ON GONOMAD:

Mobile Home Swap: A New Way to Vacation on Wheels

Vacation Home Exchanges- GoNOMAD MINI GUIDE

Home Swaps: A Great Way to Experience Other Countries

Airbnb.com: House Sharing with a Twist

Beth Simmons
Beth Simmons

Beth Simmons is a former editorial assistant with GoNOMAD and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Massachusetts.

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