Seniors On The Go: Finding A Home Exchange

Arguably the least expensive accommodations you can find on a vacation are "free," in someone else's home. Instead of laying out cash, your "payment" is in providing reciprocal benefits in your own home. Although home exchange sounds enticing, however, you have to carefully consider the plusses and minuses. And as with the proverbial, "lunch," home exchange isn't truly "free," because you face a few cash costs and a few more non-cash costs. But it's still about as inexpensive as you can find.

The basic idea is simple. You arrange with another family to switch houses for the period of a vacation - you in their house, they in yours. Depending on circumstances and locations, the swap might also include a few extras, such as use of a car, access to local recreation facilities or clubs, and such.

Before you get involved in seeking a home exchange, carefully consider whether your own home is an attractive option for visitors. The main criterion is location: A beach house in Laguna or an apartment in downtown Boston is likely to generate more interest than a tract cottage in the Midwest. Jerry Seinfeld might quickly add, "Not that there's anything wrong with the Midwest," but you have to be realistic about your chances. And if you live in an area that isn't known as a visitor center, you have to be creative about how you present your home and its area.

You'll also find it helpful if you can offer a flexible schedule - about when you can make your house available, and for how long. Obviously, the ability to confirm to someone else's schedule is a big plus, compared with making someone else conform to yours.

Most home exchangers prefer to limit their guests' access to at least certain rooms and facilities. That means, perhaps, designating a private room (or section of the house) and installing a special lock that isn't on the same key as the rest of the house. Before you leave, you might want to move some particularly valuable and/or fragile items into that room. And, for the visitors, prepare a list of phone numbers and other emergency data - the same sort of stuff you find in a typical vacation rental.

Once you've decided to give it a try, you have several ways to search out a family with whom to make the exchange. As in so much of travel these days, you'll probably turn first to the Internet, where many sites specialize in home exchange. Some offer worldwide listings, others are specific to regions or niche markets.

Here's a sample of my "favorites" home-exchange list:

•Digsville, digsville.com/

•Evergreen Club, www.evergreenclub.com/

•Gayhometrade, www.gayhometrade.com/

•GlobalFreeloaders.com, www.globalfreeloaders.com/

•Home Base Holidays, www.homebase-hols.com/

•Home Exchange, www.homeexchange.com/

•HomeLink International: www.homelink.org/

•International Home Exchange Network, www.homexchange.com/

•Intervac Home Exchange, www.intervacus.com/

•Ridef, www.exchange-of-homes.com/

•Seniors Home Exchange, www.seniorshomeexchange.com/

•SwapandStay, www.swapandstay.com/

•Trading-Homes, www.trading-homes.com/

As usual with such lists, this is for your exploration, not a personal recommendation.

Of course, you can find exchange partners in other ways. A trade with a relative or friend is ideal, since you presumably know the locations and activities. You can also find classified ads in various travel publications; I've found quite a few in university alumni magazines.

You can also consider an alternative to straight home exchange. Several programs arrange reciprocal hospitality: You host the visitors in your home; they host you in theirs at different times. That approach, of course, entails a lot more personal involvement than a simple exchange of properties. But it also provides rewards that a simple exchange does not. I'll have more on reciprocal hospitality in a future column.

But many travelers find a straight exchange to be the ideal low-cost vacation option. If you're interested, give it a try.