Marketplace Morning Report
Available from Amazon.com

Jordan Goodman is the author of Everyone's Money Book, available at 888-201-6300. This is the third edition of the book. You can also visit his Web site at www.moneyanswers.com. He talks with us on Thursday mornings.

September 25, 2003

"House-Swapping Vacations"

If you are looking to go on a vacation, have a comfortable place to stay, and want to save hundreds of dollars on hotels, house-swapping may be just the ticket for you. The growth of house-swapping over the Internet has made what used to be quite difficult into a very easy way to go to glamorous locations at a fraction of the cost of hotels.

Here is how it works: You register your home at one of the major house-swapping Internet sites. Most of these sites have a small membership fee of about $35 to $50 a year. Some of the bigger sites include:

On the site, you put everything about your house, including pictures so potential swappers can see what they will be getting. You should not put your address on the initial listing to prevent any crazies from contacting you. List any specific attributes about your house or swapping preferences that might be issues, like pets, smoking or children.

Once you put your house on the home exchange site, you should look for homes that you would like to live in for a week or more, anywhere in the world. Once you’ve found one, you then start e-mailing the owner of the potential swapping house to work out all the details, like dates that might work for both of you. The more flexible you are on swap dates and places, the better the chance of meeting your match. Once you feel comfortable with the other person, then you can start exchanging addresses and phone numbers. You will probably have an extended e-mail correspondence with your swap-mate over all mundane details, like who will pay the utilities, if the use of the car and computer is included, and what is off-limits, like your house wine collection or your clothes.

Having someone in your house while you are in theirs usually works out well, but you have to check these people out as much as possible before you turn your house over to them. Perhaps, you can ask if they have swapped houses before and ask to speak to the other people they swapped with to see if there was any major damage done.

If you can work out all the details and trust the fellow swappers, this can be a great way to see exotic and expensive places like Paris, Tahiti, Las Vegas, or wherever else you want to go, having the comforts of home without big hotel bills.

For More Financial Tips From Jordan Goodman


Marketplace sponsors
MPR  Minnesota Public Radio  |  Search |  Comments © Copyright & Terms of Use  |  Privacy