Below is a link to a sortable table with the most up-to-date information on active house swap websites. This includes links to the sites themselves, information on their specialty, price, number of listings, and a link to my review if one is available. This information was current as of July 2018.
The count of listings is verified by me when possible, and for a few sites represents an estimate based on multiple searches I ran where I could not find total numbers displayed. I now also include a column for “listings (claimed)” where I see a large discrepancy between the site’s listing claims and my actual listing counts.
Table of All house swap websites
I recommend selecting the specialty of interest as the primary filter to browse through these sites. For instance, if you want to look at only swap sites that focus on your country you can select the Category of “location” and then select your country from the Specialty column. Or if you want to see sites that are best for swapping all around the world, select the Category of “general”.
[…] even a car—without exchanging a cent (most sites charge an annual fee). That’s the premise of more than 70 home exchange websites, which allow homeowners (and renters, with permission from their landlords) to trade their homes […]
Here, here, Carolynn! I am so disgusted with the “new” Homeexchange.com I will be leaving when it is time for renewal in March. Like you, we lost our balloon, the arbitrary assignment of points creates a “system” that if you want to ‘exchange up’ you can’t without using up your ‘points’. Oh, if only Homeexchange.com bought Guest to Guest and kept its website platform. We are so very disappointed with the “new” Homeexchange.com. Definitely don’t recommend what was at one time the site with the most freedom and reasonable annual membership.
Hi, been with Home Exchange for 3 years and it was great – until this week. Now the website has changed out of all recognition.
After 15 exchanges:
My home is no longer on it and they don’t know when it will go back on.
My verification is no longer there, I have been verified 3 years.
I had a balloon and now they have changed to a points system and my balloon – free holiday – has gone.
They have, without consulting home owners, decided how many points a night each home is worth. This is horrific as it now seems to be a pay by points exchange! If someone has a house worth more points a night they may think its not worth contacting – yet the area may be spectacular and well worth extra points. Not sure it is even legal to value a property on a site like this without consulting the owner??????????????
My membership is up on 1st January and I am leaving.
Aloha
We have been using home exchange for a few years and really have had good luck. Their balloon system is also really great so far. We have used it, and hosted several times to earn ballons for our 2018 europe trip. Spaniards have seemed bit unfamiliar and/or reticent to accept ballons yet, but in italy, england and ireland it was easy to use balloons. Home exchange has been really good to us. It has reallt opened up travel to us, as accomodation and car is no longer a worry! We have also met some great considerate exchangers.
Thanks for the comment! It’s good to hear balloons are working well for you. Interesting that the acceptance rate varies by country within Europe. I think there was a lot of hesitance about the concept from lots of people when it was first launched so it’s good to hear people are getting comfortable with this new way of doing exchanges.
Thanks much for writing this, it is very helpful in navigating the search for a good home swap site. We are very new to this and will report back after trying a couple.
Thank you again.
Hi,
Having also done in excess of 100 swaps I just discovered this site and I will be posting views and thoughts
I would like to mention the somewhat immoral aspects of LovehomeSwap and Guest to Guest in that they both give away or lend points which they actually do not have the ownership of since they in fact represent nights of our (the hosts) lodgings.
LoveHome Swap gives or lends points for which they charge the visitors. They will lend upto 10000 points the equivalent of 60 nights in an average 150 points home. Depending on the country they will give away points as an incentive to join – I know of one where they gave 2500 points.
The only penalty if not paying back the points they lend is supposedly £250 if not repais in 2 years although whether they would or could pursue in case a lending client does not repay would seems unlikely.
Guest to Guest are even more gung hoe with our nights giving away points to get started so that in effect for my Paris apartment a client could be given freely upto the equivalent of 20 nights with no obligation other that showing an opeing on their own place. But as I found out by putting up a week at my place at short notice (unlikely to be requested) I could get the free points. In effect this means people can get a free holiday and simply not offer their place at all.
I have no evidence how many people abuse these free or given nights but what is clear is that it is a form of pyramid selling or giving since they are creating open days offered where there is no guaranteed return nights in place. The result is that more and more people are chasing fewer and fewer available places.
GuesttoGuest illustrate this by stating you may have to request 15 places to get a positive result.
In fact that is additionally highlighted by the number of places that put on their site no availability at all.
Peter
Hi,
I would like to add a point about Guest to Guest, it is not free since they charge a rate per booking based on the obliged insurance and deposit system.
If you are going to do a lot of swaps in a year this could work out the most expensive site even thought there is no joining fee.
The sites like Homelink, Homeexchange and Lovehomeswap only have a joining fee so that for example we did 11 Australia and New Zealand swaps in one year for their one time annual fee.
Yes Lovehomeswap try to rope you in for more but there is no need to sign up for their insurance.
To clarify, the Guest to Guest insurance and deposit are not mandatory. It’s up to the host whether they want to require those things. I always negotiate with my host before accepting an exchange, asking them to drop at least one of those since I consider them redundant. And to lower the other to the lowest level (if they aren’t willing to drop it) since I have a lot of very positive reviews so I think they should be able to trust me. So far I’ve always been successful in this negotiation. The problem with the Guest to Guest website is that it sets these as required as a default so the host must manually change them, and most people probably don’t even think about this.
Nonetheless, you’re right that an annual fee might be a better investment for people planning to do lots of swaps. Just be aware that those networks don’t necessarily offer insurance as a part of your membership fee, if something goes wrong. The Guest to Guest fees are providing insurance (that I don’t think is necessary most of the time) against theft, damage, and other issues that could come up during the home exchange.
This is a good point Peter, and I agree it’s possible for people to game these points systems. At least for their first stay. But on the other hand, if the system isn’t seeded with some points, there will never be swaps (for instance, the HomeExchange.com balloon system, which was recently launched, had to give out some balloons to get it started.) The trick is striking a balance between getting new people engaged and ensuring that people really do make their places available for swap. I haven’t yet seen evidence that there is a problem of less and less availability on Guest to Guest. If anything my success rate finding swaps on there has gone up over the past three years. But you’re right this is a potential problem. And I’m only one person so don’t take that as general data on their success rate.
I also want to point out that I haven’t found a network where you don’t have to put in at least 15 requests (on average) to find a positive result. Even if you’re willing to go anywhere at anytime, there are other factors that might make your home, in your city, not be a good fit for the family with whom you’re requesting a swap. If you know of a network that has a higher success rate for requests I think that would be of interest to everyone! Of course I’ve had the lucky experience of finding a match on my first request, but that’s not typical on any of the networks I use. And I find I have better odds on the points-based networks than the ones that do simultaneous/non-simultaneous swaps without points just because the later is far more restrictive by requiring the other person to want to visit my home/city.
I have done in excess of 100 exchanges since the early 90s. I absolutely love it. I think I have used almost every exchange site in that time. I agree with your assessment of Love Home Swap. You have to be clever not to be ripped off!
Their software blocks the exchange of contact details so they can do two things: try to sell you some product and/or force you to use the “accept” option (and boist their success data) just to soeak with your exchanger. Of course they dishonestly claim they block the exchange of this information “to protect you” but even they don’t try to explain that. I ALWAYS speak with an exchanger before agreeing an exchange and almost always do a Facetime or Skype tour of our houses. I have frequently learnt something this way that has completely changed my mind about progressing with the exchange: usually helping me decide NOT to exchange. Things like traffic or train noise, lack of privacy, shabbiness etc.
There are so many better sites than this one where you are in control, not the swap site. I resent being milked for product sales opportunities, being treated with contempt by their office staff and by having my access to exchangers controlled.
As your article says, the claims about listing numbers are a total fabrication. I did a search and had 78 results. With those 78, one house was listed 3 times and two twice. I had asked for specific dates and destination with a reverse search to my home town. Of the 78 “results” only 8 were actually matches. The rest wanted sometime, somewhere but not what I had searched for. The office staff told me this search tactic was aimed to provide me with “options”. lol.
My conclusion is that the site is not honest and the dash for your money outweighs any considerations of integrity or honesty.
[…] Table of House Swapping Websites […]
Well done for this work ! I am a relatively new swapper having joined lovehomeswap and homeexchange in January. My wife was unconvinced but ever since our first swap she is on board with the concept. I have swapped points and homes on LHS but not yet home exchange. I too get frustrated with slow responses and won’t deal with anyone who takes too long as it would make it stressful nearer the holiday. I presumed that LHS and HE were the big too but now I’m more educated and will check out these others like intervac and home link.
A very interesting compilation. Any way to see the entire spreadsheet and not just a screen shot?
To me one of the most valuable tools is a “reverse search.” I’ve been a member of Homelink since the days of the paper books and through the years this site has gotten worse on such searches. The current management doesn’t seem to be willing to incorporate a reverse search function. And, now’s my time to renew!! Any suggestions as to an exchange site that’s reputable and that incorporates a useful reverse search process?
Thanks,
That’s not a screen shot it’s a dynamic spreadsheet! Isn’t it working for you? See my individual reviews of the sites for more details on features they include though I didn’t consistently call out reverse searches on all of them.
I agree that the reverse search function is critical. I doubt I would pay to join any site that didn’t have this capability.
Homeexchange.com is a great site, I have been with them for awhile. There were new things they rolled out, and they did not work properly , but they have been trying to fix them. Now is working great just few weeks ago, I like the passport and earning balloon thing they recent rolled out. You should check this website out.
The best website in my personal opinion, easy to use, I do hate every time they roll out new thing it never works at first, then they fix it.
Thanks for the opinion Pete. I have some extensive reviews of HomeExchange.com on this site. Here’s the latest one: https://sharetraveler.com/homeexchange-com-review-may-2016/. And they are one of the sites I use personally. I agree sometimes things are rolled out before they work properly but overall the site has served my home exchange needs well.
[…] you for all of your research and excel spreadsheets! I have been going through your site and learning so much about various home exchange companies. I […]
Hello.
Found your article as I read a lot about exchanges (started in 2011, I’m at 15 now).
Maybe your listing could be a little updated. I don’t know all the websites but I’m on Guesttoguest and it has now more than 210,000 announcements.
I don’t see http://www.switchome.org/ in your list too, entirely free, specialized in France.
Take care,
Fecampois
Hi Fecampois, thanks for leaving the comment. I do need to update my listings and plan to do an annual review in the next month. You are right that I’m missing switchhome.org: I’ll add them in!
Dawn
Hello there, I’ve just come across your table of home exchange websites and wanted to thank you for including us in it. We are a very new company specialising in holiday and second home exchanges and we are finding it very difficult to kick start our database. We absolutely believe in our product and are sure that once we start to get a few members the snowball effect will kick in and before long we will have a database for holiday home owners to be proud to be a part of. Until we have built a decent database our £1 per year forever membership offer will remain available as we recognise the opportunities to exchange in the early days will be minimal. We remain committed to providing this service and are in it for the long haul, we charge because payment is part of our verification process and we are adamant that all properties on the site will be verified and bona fide. We’d love to get some feedback and look forward to hearing from you and/or any potential second home exchangers. Happy exchanging! Carol.
Happy to have found your site Carol! Best of luck growing the membership, this is definitely the most challenging task for new house swap websites. For those who don’t know, Carol is talking about MyHolidayHome.exchange, a site that launched in 2015. Click on her name to check out the site.
I’ve been clicking the links on your wonderful exchange table- such a great resource! Thanks for c ompiling all that info in one EZ place.
Which site is best for Americans looking to swap ( visit) Europe?
In other words it seems to make sense that what The Guardian website says is true: Find a site that has more available places you want to visit versus availability here thereby narrowing it down much easier!
Thanks for your wonderful insights!
ALso perhaps a site that would allow one to filter “no kids” since we are in our 50’s!
Hi Pam, glad you are finding the table useful! I just answered a reader’s question pretty similar to yours in a post that went up this week: https://sharetraveler.com/reader-question/. Check that out and let me know if it helps you select a site. I’d be interested to know which one(s) you end up joining since this is apparently a very common question. Also, FYI, many sites do allow you to filter for number of kids, however I find that most people don’t make “no kids” a requirement even if they have no kids, so it’s something you should set on your profile but probably not a good search requirement as it will eliminate homes you might find suitable.
Hi Amy
As an experienced exchanger I am amazed anyone would try to start a new site with so many already in existence and not even having an explanation as to what your differentiation is that could attract.
To me it looks almost like starting a search engine to compete with Google.
Surely even a lifetime offer of £1 is not going attract if there is not a large selection.
When I see all the already large number of small site that exist it seems amazing unless they are of local places or have some specialisation like millionaires together etc.
[…] I’d suggest you look through my table of all the home exchange sites here. […]
[…] I’d suggest you look through my table of all the home exchange sites here. […]
Thank you so much, Dawnzerly, for your fast and friendly response!
Your table is really a great help! What a job!
We will look at it carefully and follow your advice, and be very clear about the pet-care requirement.
Once again, thanks a million!
Andi
My husband and I live in a lovely 2-bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in a 1890’s building 2 blocks away from Central Park, in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
We have 3 cats, whom we adore. We could only exchange with people who have experience with cats and who really enjoys them.
Of course, we have neighbors who can come in case of an emergency.
We would like to leave New York City this summer. We are flexible about dates and about the place we go, provided it is a fairly quiet area with some nature around it or close by.
We would be delighted to take care of any pets (except for carnivorous reptiles).
Any ideas?
Thank you so much!
Andi
Hi Andi, this sounds like a very nice place. I bet you would not have a hard time finding someone to do a home exchange with cat lovers. First step is to pick a home exchange site to join. Hopefully my table can assist you in narrowing down the best options for you. Then list your house and either wait for offers to come in, or send out some inquiries. Be sure to state clearly the requirement that your guests care for your cats. This will help weed out the non-cat lovers early on. Best of luck!
Hi Andy,
I have joined 2 websites and currently I am doing an exchange in Philadelphia. My interest was finding someone in New York to do a simultaneous or non-simultaneous exchange, but so far I have not been lucky.
I have a wonderful 2 bedroom flat in Nice, South of France.
Would you be interested in an exchange? How can we get in touch?
I had a cat for 17 years and enjoy their company.
Maybe reply to my comment and let me know if you are still interested and I can tell you on which site you can find me.
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa,
I live in a small town outside of Philadelphia. It’s a 45 min car ride into center city or a similar time by public transportation into Philadelphia.
I like cats and would be happy to care for yours. My house is a three bedroom and the best part of it is that is’t on the Delaware River. When you walk out of my sliding glass doors and continue walking you will reach the river bank. We have a sea wall so it is safe from flooding. There is a gazebo at the edge of the wall and may be just the most peaceful place on earth. You can see downriver to Philadelphia.
You can walk to the train and be in New York in two hours.
I am open to any time frame. I am a clothing designer and my business is up to me to set my schedule.
Let me know if this is of interest to you. [email protected]
Hi! We’re in Los Angeles by the beach and looking for a one-year home swap in your area. We love cats. Let us know if you’re open to a long-term exchange 🙂
Hi Amy, you really should just join one or two of the sites in my spreadsheet. This website is not for people to use to find exchanges and I think you’ll have a lot more luck joining the networks that are dedicated to this.
Andi, I would love to exchange with you and look after your cats. Are you interested in an exchange with me in Sydney, Australia? If you are, I will give you my exchange details.
I love cats but sadly my last one died two years ago.
Thank you
Gara
Thanks for the list of home exchange web sites. I have tried searching some of the sites and have been very disappointed in the quality of data and search engines. I am trying to arrange a long swap of 3 to 5 months, but most sites do not collect duration data. Someone could post a date range of a year, but actually only be interested in a long weekend sometime in that time span! Any suggestions for finding a long swap?
Hi Dave, this is a good point actually. It would be a nice addition for sites to enable searches on length of swap so that people looking for longer term swaps (or just weekend exchanges) could filter on that. But for now I think you just have to send out a lot of inquiries and hope to find someone looking for the same thing. Sometimes people will say that they are looking for longer term swaps in the text of their profiles, but of course this isn’t very efficient for you. Unfortunately I don’t know of a better way to search. I would suggest that once you find a site (or two) to join, be clear in your profile that this is what you’re looking for. Hopefully that will increase your odds of success. And let me know if you find a better solution for this problem, I’m actually considering looking for something longer term next year and will need to work out a good search solution. And I’m sure there are others in the same boat.
In Intervac I see a filter for the duration of stay (in weeks)
I have been a member of Lovehomeswap for quite a few years now and have done over 20 successful exchanges, some of them damn awesome in fact. It is a terrific lifestyle.
I have had frustrations with the site, and today is not a good day. But I do have exchanges to South Africa (4), Morocco (3), Spain (2) and Malaysia (1 + 1 pending) in the pipeline for the rest of the year. Tentatively have exchanges into France and the UK lined up for June-August next year too. So that is not too bad.
The gripes I have are;
– I send out many enquiries and get back few replies indicating the accounts are inactive. A search function that allows you to prioritize active accounts where members have logged in within the past month (or whatever) would be wonderful. In addition, I would suggest a membership incentive for those who actually do log in and reply. Perhaps this could be a higher profile listing.
– It has some operational issues which can be tricky, especially if I am trying to confirm an exchange with a new user, and even more so if it is for a POINTS exchange. There is theoretical assistance available, but living in Indonesia I have never found this to be practical, fast or terribly useful.
– my today gripe is a received a confirmed exchange, which was great. However the other member has shown that they were actually in flight at the time of the confirmation, and the website has not been able to show why this was confirmed without the member actually doing so. The trip has now of course been cancelled, which is a pain in the lower regions usually used for sitting.
– I have received several requests for rental, which actually come via the site administration. After confirming availability and price I have never had a reply. This is a member based site, not a rental property listing, and I see that as inappropriate. Similarly we received a request to offer our home to a well know magazine for review of the site and its properties. Having agreed to this we seem to slip into a gap, and never heard about it again.
So for me this is a website with some gripes. But having said that, what an amazing opportunity to see the world.
Also there ´s another website which I´ve used called exchangeholidayhomes.com. Itś only for the exchange of second/holiday homes. I´ve done one exchange on there and have another one planned for May. Fabulous people to deal with.
Thanks Milly! I do have exchangeholidayhomes.com in my spreadsheet. They appear to be quite small, but if you have a second home I think it makes sense to take advantage of networks devoted to this as availability will be much better with the flexibility that comes with a second home. Glad that’s working out well for you and thanks for sharing the info on your successes with them!
I wnated to give you some feedback on homeexchange as you said you were interested in it since they updated their website.
I have to say that the new website looks great but thatś where it ends. The search filters are hit and miss. I don´t believe the messaging service is working properly at all.
Every single time I´ve tried to use it in the last couple of months there has been a new and different problem.
Today, for instance, it was the calendar where you enter your proposed exchange dates….just not working.
The live helpdesk try to be helpful but their hands are tied by a website that was rolled out before it was ready.
i have the impression that many (MANY) of the listings are out of date and are there just to make it look good.
I certainly won´t renew if it isn´t fixed pretty hot pronto!
Thanks for the update Milly. I have had similar problems with the new website recently, though I they did correct at least some of the problems I reported relatively quickly. But I agree with your concern about rolling out website changes before they are ready. Obviously this interface is the most important part of their business, so I hope HomeExchange.com can fix the issues so we can get back to using their site successfully for exchanges.
As for out of date listings – I’ve never seen any listings on there that aren’t paid accounts. Of course some people join and then never use their account, but I don’t think there’s a way for homeexchange.com to address that problem. I have not seen evidence that they leave up old unpaid listings to inflate the numbers. Can you clarify what you’re seeing?
Your problem with the website may be due to your browser. I have found bugs all over that site using Firefox (most current version. MS Edge has even more problems and I can only get full functionality with Chrome.
Love the article! Thanks for the information but I am interested in Lovehomeswap. Do you have any info on that site? Thank you
Hi Ivana, I do have info on LoveHomeSwap. Check out my reviews of all the home exchange websites: https://sharetraveler.com/home-exchange/list-of-website-reviews/. LoveHomeSwap is on there with a link to my review.
It’s definitely a scam site. Please don’t join it.
Hi Lorna, can you provide more info on why you say this? User input is very helpful for other folks trying to decide which site to join. But just saying a site is a scam without any details doesn’t help and frankly isn’t very useful. Did you have a bad experience? Or do you have some information about some bad practices of the site? Feel free to share your information privately with me via email if you don’t want to write it here.
Thank you for this great information. Well organized and useful. Have you considered doing something similar for room sharing vs. full on house swapping? Our website http://motostays.com is targeted specifically at motorcyclists and uses the pay-it-forward model. People with a common interest sharing their space, their stories and goodwill. We have also helped to build similar for pilots and considering others too – though motorcycles are our real passion. Obviously Couchsurfing.org and AirBnb are the big dogs but I am sure you could have an interesting list here too – things like WarmShowers.org too. Thx and keep up the great work. Tad
Hi Tad, thanks for the feedback. I like the motostays concept of hospitality lodging for common interest groups. A nice way to foster trust and community. I list hospitality lodging sites in my peer to peer travel spreadsheet, not in this home exchange one. So if you want to see room sharing and rentals, check out this link and filter on the “lodging” category.
great blog and nice article i am Umroh Bulan April 2015
Homelink is an excellent home exchange service. I have belonged since 1990. They rate members on the rate of response to exchange requests–which encourages people to respond even if just to say “no thanks”. They are stronger in the US than Intervac is. Intervac’s strength is in its European listings.
Homelink also has a lot of listings in Australia and New Zealand and I have done 3 multi exchange trips down under and am planning a 4th.
Insofar as Asia, Africa and Latin America is concerned, no home exchange service has a lot of listings in those locations. When I tried homeexchange.com, I tried it because they claim a lot of listings there. My experience was very negative–as you must know if you read my website. I spent a lot of time working the homeexchange.com site–which I never do for Intervac or Homelink. I got absolutely nothing for my efforts. Most of the listings in Africa, Asia, and Latin America either did not respond or were rentals. When a homee listi exchange site allows in too many rental, it becomes a rental site. I dropped homeexchange.com after one year because I found it worthless. Other experienced home exchangers have had similar experiences.
I have no opinion yet on homeforexchange.com. I am hoping to get something out of it but, as yet, I am not getting a lot of responses to email or inquiries, so I might not stay with the service after my membership is up. I signed up for 3 years, so the site will have plenty of time to prove itself–or not.
I am doing a complicated multi-home exchange trip in Europe this summer. Krakow-Warsaw-Brest-Minsk-Istanbul-Stockholm-maybe Rome at the end. Only Brest and Minsk do not involve a home exchange or home hospitality stay. Many retired people do back to back exchanges but not everyone is as nutty as I am.
For your readers, a Finnish home exchanger has set up a Home Exchange Discussion Group on Facebook. If you want to join, just search for “Home Exchange Discussion” and ask to join the group. The group has been invaded, of course, by many people promoting their home exchange services, but it is still a place for new people to get information.
Good luck with your site, Dawn and thanks for all the research you did. The only problem is that half of the home exchange websites will be gone in a year and will be replaced by others. I do tell people to look for home exchange sites that have listings where you want to go. I am tired of seeing people say the want places that have almost no listings. Remember, it is very tough in Asia, Africa and Latin America and you might want to consider other alternatives. I always will consider “anywhere”–which is why I have been successful.
I was a member of Homeexchange. como for 16 years and had many successful exchanges in Latin America and in Africa, I suppose it might affect where your home is located to get the response…
Thanks for your input Altecocker. I would welcome reviews of the exchange sites you use, as I agree it’s hard to really know them without joining and participating for a while. This is why my reviews focus on things that can be evaluated with just a few days of research:
1. How many members to they have and in what geographic distribution
2. What is the cost to use the site
3. Who are they affiliated with
4. How usable is the search engine and the listings
5. What other features do they offer.
My goal is to provide this overview so that people can more easily narrow down the list of sites they might want to join and/or test out.
If you look at my reviews which currently cover 38 of the existing home exchange sites (see menu above for quick list of all reviews, or menu to the right for the home swap website reviews category) you will see that I did review HomeLink and Intervac (and I belong to Intervac so I have a good amount of experience with that site).
I’m particularly interested in your review of HomeLink as they allow me access to very little information without joining. Let me know if you’d like to submit a review of this or any other sites.
Hi. We have been exchanging for about 30 years – starting with Intervac. We still use Intrrvav and we find it very good – interactive and proactive – with agents in each country looking after its members. We have had a very similar positive experience with Homelink which we joined after we became more interested in exchanges outside Europe. We have also been members of LoveHomeSwap for about 4 or 5 years and have absolutely nothing positive to say about this site. It is my own fault fit having stayed on the site for so long but I was promised better service, two years at a reduced rate etc. I have only had one successful exchange in the period ogf my membership. The LoveHomeSwap site is also proactive – unfortunately only in the form ofchasing/ harassing people to renew membership. I will not be renewing my membership this year.
Dear Anne Kelly, I was looking for info about home swapping and found the Share Traveler site and your comments and thought I would try a “cold call.” My husband and I are in the process of moving from Houston to La Jolla CA this summer. If we do not spend six months in CA this year, we can avoid CA state income tax. To do that, we have to be away about a month in the second half of the year. We have a very nice house in La Jolla, walking distance to beach and village. And we don’t really have a destination in mind for swapping…just some place interesting and comfortable. I don’t know where you live of what you are thinking but I thought, crazy as it seems, it might be worth a note.
Sorry, perhaps I did not review Homelink as requested. I have had a very successful and stress free engagement with this site and have made several exchanges through them. I receive several emails of interest in my home even when I don’t post many myself as I am generally open to offers that come in – as we are time and location flexible. When I have sought exchanges in a particular area I receive prompts from the sure suggesting properties that might be suitable. There is also an agent in my country so it feels like my needs are micro managed.
Kudos to you for trying this. The problem is that you can’t know what these sites offer–or don’t–without a lot of experience with each of the sites. You have to pay to use all of the good ones, so it would be financially ruinous to evaluate each and everyone in detail.
I have done 55 home exchanges (4 more planned in Europe in June-August 2014) I started in 1990. Homelink and Intervac are the places where the experienced people hang out.
I do have a website/blog with a lot of information on home exchanges: http://altecockertravels.weebly.com/
I highly recommend Homelink & Intervac–which have been around since the 1950’s. The sharing economy is not a new thing for many of us.
I agree with you that homeexchange.com claims more listings than it actually has. Due to its abysmal rate of response, many of us think that they leave discontinued listings up to reach their totals. If, for example, you email people who are no longer members, they are not going to get the email and you will not get a response. homeexchange.com also has way too many North Americans as opposed to Europeans to make it a consistent option for North Americans who want to go to Europe. Many of the members are totally new to home exchange and really do not know what they want.
Several months ago I joined homeforexchange.com on the recommendation of a friend. Thus far I have gotten nothing out of it–and poor response to email as opposed to Homelink & Intervac. I took out a 3 year membership and will have a good handle on whether it is worthwhile after a year. I did get one person who committed and then cancelled and that’s it.
Thanks for this .. i too have been swapping for years and done many exchanges.. not sure about 50 🙂 but certainly more than 20. I am about to re join intervac which i agree is reliable. I was planning to go for homeforexchange as it was recommended.. but will now take another look at Homelink. I have finally managed to extricate myself from lovehomeswap.. i did get a couple of great contacts but so loathed everything about the company and the site i am happy to be leaving. TODAY ;_)
Jenny, my wife and I have completed 16 home exchanges. We have used homeforexchange happily since 2008. It is Dutch based, the owner is very attentive to any queries. We have found it solid and reliable.
We enjoy three month exchanges, so are members of 7 home exchange web sites so as to find similar exchangers.
We were members of homeexchange.com from 2007 onward, but have let our subscription lapse due to a substantial price increase and slick marketing.
Thanks for the feedback Barry! I’d love your thoughts on the 7 sites you use. Feel free to leave comments directly on the reviews of each one (links can be found in this table) so others can benefit from your experience.
We would like to exchange for longer periods as well. We want to take our horses and dog and go to California for two months in the winter. We have a new home w/guest house in the Colorado ski country. How do we know if we can find someone who might want to ski for a few months from Central California?
Hi Jane, I think you need to start by researching which home exchange networks you want to join. Hopefully this table helps you with that project. You should do some test searches on any sites you are considering joining to see how many people have homes available in California and are looking for longer term swaps. There’s no way to be sure you will find a match until you join and send out requests, but for the potential savings and comfort of a home swap I think this is a small investment. Best of luck!
We are new to home sharing, but own a luxury beachfront (500′) on Pacific Ocean in southern Costa Rica.(Drake Bay)- an eco-tourism destination. It is accessible by boat only. (water taxis twice a day available). We would like a 3 month exchange for somewhere in the United States. What site would be best for us to join to locate someone who wants an adventure? We also provide a property manager that works onsite 6 days a week and helps with all aspects of living in luxury off the beaten path where the rainforest meets the sea. Any ideas?
Hi Linda, here’s my general answer to this question: How to Pick the Home Exchange Network that’s best for you. I wrote that up a few months ago because I don’t think there’s an obvious answer that is the same for everyone. But if you want to see my general recommendations you can also check out this post about best home exchange networks.
We own a home on Dauphin Island in the gulf coast. Maybe we could do a swap. We typically accept long term renters between September and March. Maybe we could do a long term swap instead. Our home “Shelly by the Sea” is listed on VRBO and Air bnb.
I have a second home in Sisters Oregon. I have been to Drake Bay CR, and enjoyed it. Let’s talk. I am up for a new adventure.
Sisters has great hiking, golfing, downhill skiing (45 minutes away), festivals all summer.
Come and visit Sisters Oregon.
Hi Linda, I would be interested in swapping with you in Costa Rica. We have a beautiful home in Bozeman, Montana in close proximity to hiking, skiing, fishing and lots of state and national park land.
Hi, this is a great resource – thanks for all the work and the info! I use home for exchange but the website changed around Sept 2017 and I think the lovely Dutch owner must have sold it to a larger American company. It’s nothing like the same and most people I know are thinking of changing when their present contract expires. I’d be very interested to know if you have different or more accurate information.
Thanks again
Likewise Barry, since the takeover/buyout the price has skyrocketed almost triple what we paid previously.
The previous owners were very good and we enjoyed our 6 years as members.
Although we did suffer from no answers to requests, quite frequently. I think when we ended our membership for every three emails I sent, I got one answer.
Robert Mac of Kingsley
Thanks for this feedback. I joined homeexchange.com years ago, with a gorgeous home in Santa Barbara and although I had a few wonderful exchanges, they were all people who solicited me. Never could pick a place that I wanted to visit and get a positive response. Sometimes no response so your above info makes sense of this. Plus prices doubled. I am considering both of the companies you and this website recommend. Thanks for the advice. Happy travels