You need to think about home exchange details for any vacation house swap to be successful.

You want to be trusting, but you also need to protect yourself.  The first thing you need to think about is which exchange club to use.  You need to see what they specialize in, because most do specialize.  Do you need a club that caters to families, or seniors, or people with pets?

Home Exchange clubs are based in countries all over the world; they may list houses mostly their own country, but most have international listings as well.

If you have a certain country in mind to visit, try to get an idea of how many listings they have in your country of choice before you plunk down your money. (more…)