What is a home exchange?
Exchanging homes with other travelers who live in places you’d like to visit is a great way to reduce the cost of travel without compromising on comfort and convenience.
In a home exchange, you agree to trade homes with someone who is interested in visiting the place where you live.
You may choose to have someone stay in your home at the same time you are staying in theirs, or you may prefer to stay with someone in their home during one trip and then host them in your home at another time. The latter type of home exchange is commonly called a “hospitality exchange.”
What are the rules of home exchange?
With home exchange, you can make your own rules, and any exchange that suits both parties is fair game.
Home exchanges can include not only houses and apartments, but also cars, recreational vehicles and boats. Home exchange trades don’t have to come out even in terms of length of visit, size or type of home, or other specific amenities. All that’s important is that both parties are satisfied with the trade.
No money changes hands because home exchange is purely a barter system. Home exchange can save you a bundle on the cost of hotel rooms and sometimes even rental cars if you and your home exchange partner also agree to trade cars.
Why are home exchanges a good option for people over 50?
- People over 50 travel more frequently than any other single age group, and they often have the freedom to take longer trips, which is ideal for home exchange.
- Having a longer stay in a home exchange with local people allows you to really experience the lifestyle and culture of a country.
- Home exchange participants often find that the friends and neighbors of their home exchange partners are happy to recommend the best local restaurants and shops in the area.
What are the options for older adults who want to try home exchange?
While there are many home exchange programs that offer to match interested travelers who want to swap homes, I only know of one that works exclusively with travelers over 50: Seniors Home Exchange.
The Seniors Home Exchange offers older travelers many advantages over other online home exchange programs, beginning with cost.
While many home exchange programs charge members $50-$150 for a single year, the cost to register with Seniors Home Exchange is only $65 for a three-year membership ($45 for AARP and CARP members) or $100 for a lifetime membership
The number of available homes varies depending on what different members choose to offer when, but the list frequently includes more than 1,500 homes in over 40 countries.
What do people say about home exchange?
In a poll of Seniors Home Exchange members:
- 29 percent estimated they saved between $500 and $1000 by exchanging homes instead of staying in hotels
- 36 percent said they saved between $1,000 and $2,000 with home exchange
- 32 percent estimated they saved more than $2,000 by using home exchange.
Satisfaction also ran high among home exchange members who were surveyed:
- 25 percent reported they were “satisfied”
- A whopping 75 percent of home exchange participants said they were “more than satisfied”
- 58 percent of Seniors Home Exchange members said they had made more than one exchange already
- 100 percent of those surveyed planned to make another home exchange
What should I consider when planning a home exchange?
The two things people contemplating a home exchange worry about most are:
- Protecting their privacy
- Making sure that the people staying in their home will take good care of their property.
According to Seniors Home Exchange, its members feel more comfortable making home exchanges with people in their own age group, because mature people tend to be more considerate and conscientious about the belongings of others.
Home exchange and privacy
Seniors Home Exchange only provides its directory to members as a reference to help them find other people like themselves who are interested in home exchange.
All arrangements are made privately by the two parties. You choose the people with whom you want to arrange a home exchange, and you are free to arrange as many or as few home exchanges as you like.
Anyone who registers for Seniors Home Exchange must supply an email address, because the home exchange service guarantees that all home exchange members can contact each other via email.
Planning a vacation? Try home exchange
When you’re planning your next vacation, and calculating the cost of accommodations, check out Seniors Home Exchange. You just might open the door to a thrifty and comfortable way to see the world.
