Your place for mine

Fancy a far-flung holiday on the cheap, or to test a location prior to buying? Then try home swapping says Tom Bruce-Gardyne

With holidays in Mexico, Helsinki and all points in between, Marion Blythman leads a jet-set life. “I’ve travelled so much, the little girl next door thinks that I’m rich!” Her passport to the great beyond has been her Edinburgh town house, which she first swapped with a retired diplomat from Florida 15 years ago.

Home swaps began in the 1950s, when Dutch and Swiss teachers would exchange houses for the long summer vacations, and really took off with the internet boom. An estimated 80,000 occur each year, and the number is increasing.

Ed Kushins, co-founder of the big US-based agency HomeExchange.com, likens it to internet dating, which he claims is “now mainstream, and probably the most common or accepted way to meet someone”. Well, he was speaking from California. But his analogy is accurate, if you consider how it works.

To take part, all you need is a property of your own and a reliable network. Various agencies have between them amassed thousands of members from around the world. Non-members can browse in detail, but cannot access members’ contact details until they join the scheme and pay the annual subscription. At that point they also get their own listing with a few lines of desciption and a picture. When an interested party clicks on the image, more photos and details appear, usually including the homeowner’s preferred destinations and dates. According to Lois Sealey, who runs Home Base Holidays, the key to successful swapping is to be “proactive, open and flexible.”

If an initial contact stimulates interest, emails, letters and calls will follow. As with internet dating, this is all part of building trust in the other half before you commit. “There’s so much easy access to information, there needn’t be any surprises,” says Rhona Nayer of Intervac, another online agency. Janet Greco had one, though. Her first swap took her to Laguna Beach, LA, and a seafront apartment that looked great but turned out to be infested with fleas. But Greco is still swapping, and by all accounts disasters are rare.

Swaps often include cars (insurance permitting) and sometimes pets. Savings can be massive and allow for some far-flung holidays that might not have been contemplated before. Because they involve exchanging lifestyles, swaps can also be a great way to test the water before buying abroad or emigrating. But you do need the right attitude. Being non-proprietorial helps, says Blythman. “I have friends and relations who couldn’t bear anyone using their things.”

Pros
> Huge savings on accommodation, restaurants and car hire
> Swapping of lifestyles
> Living like a native, not a tourist
> Space and freedom (vs hotels)

and cons
> Increased planning
> Need for flexibility
> Possible need for compromise

Contacts
Networks are all web-based, though Intervac and HomeLink also publish directories. Searching the following sites will give a feel for the range of properties available, and by phoning you can judge the level of back-up offered. Subscriptions vary from £21 to £115.

Home Base Holidays
www.homebase-hols.com

Intervac
www.intervac.co.uk

HomeLink
www.homelink.org.uk

GTI Home Exchange (French-based)
www.gti-home-exchange.com

Home Exchange.com (US-based)
www.homeexchange.com