These days, vacationers are finding a new way to travel without the expense of renting a hotel room or vacation house -- they are swapping homes, says Cyberhomes contributor Kevin Max. By posting their home on sites like Digsville.com, HomeLink and HomeExchange.com, homeowners are finding other owners both in the U.S. and abroad who are willing to swap homes for short vacation stays. By allowing another homeowner to stay in your home, you get the experience of enjoying a vacation in another locale -- sometimes with the added bonus of a car, or even a housekeeper -- at a fraction of the price. For tips on how to swap your home, read Max's story.
Homes can be swapped for more than just a vacation -- some people swap homes permanently, avoiding the extra cost of a real estate commission. Earlier for the blog, I wrote how some homeowners -- frustrated with the sluggish real estate market -- are swapping houses instead of putting them up for sale.
Obviously, finding a homeowner who's willing to trade a home with yours for the long haul can be tough and the legal and financial logistics can be tricky, too. But over a year ago, I wrote about two New Jersey couples who did just that and were happy with their trade. The couples lived up the block from each other in the same New Jersey town -- one pair wanted to downsize and the other wanted to trade up. In the swap, the couple who owned the smaller home paid the other couple a sum of $150,000 to make up the difference in the value of their homes.
One reason the trade worked so well is that they were all neighbors. Said one of the homeowners, "I don't think there was any discord and there were no difficulties."
Of course, not every home swapper may be so luckily -- but wouldn't it be nice if finding and getting a new home were so simple?—Lauren Baier Kim