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Hi- We've swapped homes about 8 times to places on the East coast, Canada and England and Germany.  We have used Intervac,  and Homelink International organizations to connect with people. We've exchanged with families with children and retired couples.   We have never had a serious problem.  When connecting through an organization you have access to more people who might be interested in exchanging.  Usually you have several months to send emails, photos, phone calls and information back and forth so you develop a sense of who the people are you will be exchanging with.

You will be in their home and they in yours so there is a mutual trust between you.  You can set some limits if necessary. Some people exchange cars as well, others don't.  We have never had a bad experience or a surprise that the home wasn't what we thought it would be.  Homelink also provides a map connection under each listing so you can find out how close the roads, trains and towns are.  There is also a contract available partners can sign but we usually don't use those. 

We do put away some items if we consider them particularly valuable especially if young children are coming.  People will be able to look in your closets and have freedom in your home to see everything so for me it is more of a desire to leave the home cleaner and more organized looking than it might be. It is a great motivator.  We have discovered different levels of what clean means to different families.

We've never had anything missing or broken.  Home exchanging has allowed us to travel and see places we couldn't afford otherwise. The major expenses are food and gas not a hotel room or car rental. It also allows you to feel more a part of the community.

We would highly recommend home exchanging to anyone!           Paula Carlson Corvallis

posted 2 years, 5 months ago
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