HomeForHome Home Exchange For Cheap Vacations
If the only thing holding you back from going on the vacation you really want to have is the cost of lodging, then this might be your solution. The idea behind HomeForHome.com is pretty simple: exchange houses for your vacation with someone wanting to visit your area.
The site calls this “home swapping” and that’s a pretty good term for it. If you want to go to Germany, for instance, and you live in Florida, you can hope to find someone in Germany who wants to swap houses for a vacation period.
Based in Barcelona, Spain, HomeForHome is owned by Grupo Intercom—the makers of InfoJobs and Softonic.
The site is free to sign up with and use and works in a way very similar to sites that find vacation rentals offered by the owner (rather than resort or hotel owners). Except with HomeForHome, you’ll need to enter your home’s details first.
Whether you live in a condo, a house, or whatever, you can set up a home exchange account and offer to swap it for someone else’s home at your vacation destination.
The site’s available homes are somewhat sparse, of course, with it being new, but there were still a fair number available to peruse. I checked out some availabilities in California and saw about thirty or so listed. Things like air conditioning, a computer, DVD player, Internet availability, dishwasher, and other amenities are included on the listings (if the owner chooses to do so) and pictures of the homes are also there.
Links to maps and other options are also available in the listings so you can see how close the home is to your actual destination. So if you’re going to DisneyWorld and you find a place in Boca Raton, Florida, you can see how close that is and whether it’s a match.
The site is available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Italian. Signup and use of the site is completely free and amenities for matching you with a swap include site-based messaging and searches allowing you to find someone interested in your area. So if your vacation is flexible, maybe someone in Italy wants to come to New York and you don’t mind if you end up there too.
If you’re open to the idea of swapping houses with someone for vacation, this site is definitely for you. You might also save on a pet sitter if your exchange partner is willing to care for your dog while you’re gone. So check out HomeForHome and see if you’d be interested in trying this unique vacation swap.
