ExchangeHomesBlog.com

Home Exchange BlogOver the 20+ years ExchangeHomes.com has been in business we have developed a community of people who cherish the experience of traveling both the world and in their own country, while living like a local.
On April 28th we set up a forum for that community, plus anyone else who is passing by […]

Home Exchange Blog
I checked some major world currencies against the dollar this morning. One US dollar buys the following: £0.498828 (British pound), CN$1.1227 (Canadian dollar), €0.73524 (Euro), AUS$1.19574 (Australian dollar).

These figures are effectively putting a stranglehold on Americans vacationing abroad. They add up the airfare, hotel or vacation rental charges, cost of a rental car […]

Home Exchange Blog
One question I’m frequently asked by people new to home swapping is, what checks do we run on our members. Of course, the answer is none. I then hasten to add that in return for a small membership fee, no home exchange organization can be expected to fork out quite significant amounts to […]

Home Exchange Blog
This is a follow-up to my earlier post warning home exchange members to be vigilant and check their spam folders for legitimate emails mis-routed by their ISP.
Last week ExchangeHomes.com discovered that none of our emails to members who access the Internet via Comcast were getting through, not even to their spam folders. Comcast […]

Home Exchange Blog
Many members of ExchangeHomes.com indicate in their listings that they would appreciate having their pets cared for by their exchange partners and that they are happy to reciprocate.
Before accepting this responsibility, home exchangers need to be fully aware of the task they are undertaking. Cats and similar small pets are usually fine, but […]

Home Exchange Blog
Occasionally I receive phone calls and emails informing me that we are displaying old, out of date listings. I inquire which listings they are referring to and, of course they are never out of date. Our programming hides all listings as a matter of course immediately they reach their expiration date.

In every case, […]

Home Exchange Blog
As more and more of the so called “home exchange” web sites bolster their listings by going hybrid, and accept out and out rentals, the few remaining true home exchange sites are losing out badly in the perceived numbers game. On paper, the companies that boast 10,000 and 15,000 listings appear to offer […]

Home Exchange Blog
I was so sorry last week to hear of the passing of one of our most devoted members. John P first joined ExchangeHomes.com in 1990 after he was widowed and was seeking a means of visiting his three adult children without being a burden upon them. He lived in Macon, Georgia, while his […]

Home Exchange Blog
What is with this new brand of shorthand that is being used in our home exchange postings?
“Sng.sty.cot w/sm.kit,2bd,2ba. 1hr2st.cap. Cls2mtns +se.lg.lks” is hard enough for me to decipher; imagine someone whose first language doesn’t happen to be English trying to fathom what the member is trying to say!
I’ve noticed this shorthand creeping into […]

Home Exchange Blog
These days when choosing your home exchange company, you must be aware of the two major differences between the clubs: either they operate with an open or closed system. Simply put, a club following an open system allows non-members to contact
their listed members, while a club following a closed system restricts contact to […]

Home Exchange Blog

ExchangeHomes.com recently conducted an email survey of our Senior Members - that is, members who confess to being 55 or older.
The results of that survey are documented below, and we found them to be immensely interesting. We were also touched by the number of kind remarks many of the members added at […]

Home Exchange Blog
ExchangeHomes.com is becoming increasingly concerned by the volume of emails that are simply not getting through to members. ISPs (Internet Service Providers) Spam filters, have become much too aggressive and inquiries sent to fellow members from the web site may have never got through. Or, members may have replied to contact emails but […]