Homework: Trading Places
Home exchanges go upscale.
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The couple’s fears were allayed when their first trade landed them in a handsome mansion in Southern California, followed by a personal tour around the neighborhood in the homeowner’s private plane. Since then, the Selits’ home exchanges have earned them stays next to former President Nixon’s digs in St. Maarten and near the Bush family retreat in Ogunquit, Maine. "The only negative part is all the e-mail," she jokes. "We get hundreds of e-mails every week asking if our Central Park place is available."In addition to accumulating memories—perhaps of a
15th-century castle in Scotland, a villa in Provence, or maybe a
timbered chalet in the Austrian Alps—home swapping may also provide
participants with a few new friends. "We’ve been to so many places that, by this
point, the house and the people become more important than the country," says
Russell Johnson, an architect in West Los Angeles, who, along with his wife,
enjoys vacationing in homes that include pets. Johnson and his wife recall a
typically friendly Labrador in Provence. The homeowners gave the couple
instructions to feed the dog at six o’clock each morning—and only then. But sometimes, Johnson admits, even the best
intentions can go awry. "We couldn’t bring ourselves to deny the dog anything so
we just fed him all day."
HomeExchange, www.HomeExchange.com, 800.877.8723
