Home exchanges, have you tried one yet for a cheap vacation?

Many websites are now devoted to helping people who want to exchange homes, almost anywhere in the world. The idea is that if you want to go to France, and someone in France wants to go where you live, you connect on the web and trade houses. Sounds easy, and perhaps it is.

I was born in New Zealand and am planning to go back there for a few weeks later this year. I  attempted to try to find someone to trade homes with. I paid for memberships to http://www.homeexchange.com/and www.homeforexchange.com, to the tune of about $90 for both for a year. I chose those particular websites because they both list a lot of homes in New Zealand. The memberships allow me to email the owners of homes that interest me, and also put my home on the websites so that others might see it and contact me if they want to come here. Being in Colorado, lots of people want to come here and ski in the winter, and as it is summer in New Zealand at that time, it works out well. 

However, I am pretty specific about where I want to go, because I want to be near the town we lived in when I was a kid.  I see many listings where people are very flexible and are open to suggestions.  I had a number of inquiries, but had trouble matching up both the time frame and the area I needed.  Most people had kids and had to come here during school holidays.  I wanted to go before the busy season. 

If you have a second home, then you may not necessarily need a simultaneous trade. It could be that you would vacation in France in May and the french family could use your second home in July. In my case, it would need to be at the same time, and it has the added advantage of giving me a housesitter and someone to feed my cats.  One potential trade sounded perfect, in the right area and right time frame, but her husband was allergic to cats.  We can't have allergic people in my house!  They would be miserable with my three cats.  Cat lovers only! 

Of course, there are lots of questions, as you don't know who the people are that would be staying in your home. Many sites have people who have exchanged a number of times, and some have reviews of the people and their homes. When I go back to New Zealand I am going to make it a point to meet some of the Kiwis I have contacted who might possibly trade homes with me at a later date. If you have traded homes before, do me a favor and comment on this post and let us know how it went for you (please?)

New Zealand photo courtesy of "the Irish Guy" on Flickr.com.  The Kitties are all mine!