Founded in 1992, the Home Exchange concept has been around for a while. But it was the release of the 2006 film The Holiday, starring Jude Law, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, that put the service on the map.
The idea is simple: list your home online so the Home Exchange community can view your property. Then you can start browsing all the profiles from users around the world to find the ideal place for you to do a potential house swap.
Home Exchange currently has more than 55,000 members in over 150 countries. To date, over one million exchanges have taken place using the website.
Users pay an annual fee (€95.40) to become a member. In return they can then use the service and stay in the home of their choice absolutely free. How many swaps they decide to do is entirely up to each user.
Berlin-based Krisztina Pinter has been a member of Home Exchange since 2008. She’s already done 14 swaps, from Canada to Israel, with her husband and two children since signing up six years ago.
“I saw the film The Holiday and then googled Home Exchange and found that it was a real website. My husband and I decided to give it a go to see what it was all about,” Pinter tells The Local.
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