Most home exchange agencies are online. Many started out offline as directories for teachers and academics and then became mainstream. Some offer two levels of membership: one for advertisers one for non-advertising members. Some home swap agencies are run as noticeboard sites, allowing visitors to browse and contact advertisers for free. Some agencies specialise in their own country and network with other agencies, including timeshare companies. |
| Exchange Homes |
Longstanding US-based agency, (started publishing home exchange directories in 1983, before migrating to the web) charges membership fees for access and advertising. |
| Global Home Exchange |
One of the biggest home exchange and holiday rental services, with a huge range of properties arranged in an easy-to-use & understand format. Plenty of flexibility for home owners to get their message across. Based in Canada. |
| Green Theme International |
UK-based home exchange site that has been around since the mid-nineties. Founder member of the First Home Exchange Alliance (FHEA). |
| Home Around the World |
Home-swap site for gay & lesbian travellers. |
| Homebase Holidays |
UK-based agency since 1985. Good selection of properties worldwide. Membership fee. |
| Home Exchange |
US-based agency with 6000+ listings. Free access for visitors, who contact advertisers directly. |
| Home Exchanges Worldwide |
Brighton-based noticeboard site with a wide selection of properties worldwide. |
| Homelink |
UK-based agency, definitely one of the best with over 1,250 members in over 50 countries. Intuitive map-based browsing and comprehensive property details. |
| International Home Exchange Network |
Florida-based. IHEN claims to be the first home exchange agency on the Internet. They are certainly one of the larger notice-board sites (charging home-owners to advertise). |
| Intervac |
UK-based home-exchange agency since 1953 (which makes them one of the oldest specialists in this field if not the oldest), featuring 12,000 properties. They charge for membership. |
| Mi Casa Su Casa |
First specialist Gay & Lesbian home exchange club to set up on the internet. US-based. Fee-based. |
| Runaway Exchange |
US-based home exchange site with only a small selection of properties. Notice-board site charging home-owners to advertise. |
| Swap & Stay |
New (April 06) home swap site for people who own holiday homes (Like The Vacation Exchange, below). The idea is you can swap time in your own holiday home for time in someone else's and it doesn't have to be synchronised. So if you have a week's hole in the rental bookings for your holiday home in Spain at high season, you can trade it (compare rental rates) for, say, two weeks low season in a villa in Bulgaria. |
| SwapHouse |
Italian-based, but multi-lingual, home exchange site with 5,000 members worldwide. |
| Vacation Exchange, The |
Mainly U.S. homes. Unlike other agencies, VE deal only in properties that are second-homes, and privately owned - not timeshared. This means that you don't have to arrange a simultaneous swap. You have to be a member to participate, and their other departure from the norm is that they get involved in the exchange and charge a small commission fee for helping to arrange it. |
| Vacation Homes Unlimited |
UK division of Exchange Homes (above). |
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