Review date: April 2014
singleshomeexchange.com
Year founded: unknown
$35/1.5 years
European based, partnered with Global Home Exchange (4homeex.com) a Canadian swap site
English only
2000 listings in 70+ countries
Searching: There is no map-based search option. Searching requires you to select a country and type in the name of a city, which means I can’t get counts for selected continents or even countries. There is no way to filter the search results further beyond geography, though there is an option to identify only people interested in visiting your city. As with other sites, this will exclude those open to anywhere.
Listings: Search results are displayed in a difficult to read list without many details. The individual listings are lacking in some key details like how many people will be traveling, amenities available, or a map showing the location of the property.
This site offers the following house swapping options:
- simultaneous or non-simultaneous house swap – this is the traditional model where two parties swap houses for an agreed upon set of dates. Non-simultaneous works best with second homes, but is also useful for people going on vacation and leaving their home empty. In this case each party picks different dates for the swap.
- vacation rental – the usual rental system applies here, and owners collect payment via this site.
Site design: The SHEI site design is old and it’s not clear that this site is particularly active, though they are responsive to email inquiries. Overall SHEI doesn’t have any bells or whistles, and there are no compelling reasons to join except the cheap price.