Tuesday, January 12, 2016

The Anatomy of a Home Exchange



Imagine..... you are sitting in your home in Ontario when it's snowing outside and the thermometer is at -15C and you receive this letter.....

"Hi, We discovered your lovely home on HomeExchange.com. We are wondering whether you would be interested in an exchange for our home a few hundred meters from the beach in the south of France. Our area is easily accessible from Barcelona airport and many smaller regional airports. You will see many photos and description of our area on our listing. We hope that you will consider an exchange with us..."

Included in the letter is a link showing sun-drenched beaches, picturesque villages and vineyards ready for harvest.... How could they!  Needless to say, we obliged.....


"How did you know? We are real weaklings when it comes to France, especially when you show us sun-drenched beaches, vineyards and amazing scenery. All this when we are here in Canada with snow on the ground!

The bottom line: we are definitely interested - we notice you are planning an extensive trip through the Eastern US and Canada - We will try to fit into those plans as you begin to make them more definitive." 

This is typical of how a home exchange adventure starts.... If you are wondering how a home exchange starts and evolves, we suggest you stay in touch with this blog.  We will keep you posted week by week as we continue our discussions with our new-found friends and eventually end up on one of those sun-drenched beaches in the South of France.