Home Exchange Newsletter - June 2009
Previous Versions
In this issue:
- Why Choose a Premium Membership when Basic is Free?
- 66 Practical Home Exchange Tips
- New Feature—No Thank You Reply
- IgoUgo.com's Recent Home Exchange Poll
- Summer Home Exchange Vacation
-
Our Regular Reminders
- Update your listing
- New e-mail address
- A word of caution
- Use our free flight search engine to save money
- Help us grow—tell a friend
- Home exchange stories
- Navigate 1st HomeExchange.com
- Unsubscribe from our newsletter
Why Choose a Premium Membership when Basic is Free?
1stHomeExchange.com offers two membership plans. A free membership plan (Basic) and a paid membership (Premium).
A question we are often asked is Why should I pay for a Premium membership when a Basic membership is free?
Our Basic (Free) membership is designed to maximize the benefits for our Premium members.
How? Only Premium members can contact other members.
It's human nature to select a free option when one is proposed. And our site isn't any different—many new members
select the Basic membership waiting to be
contacted rather than being pro-active and contacting other members.
This puts Premium members in a small and privileged group.
As a Premium member, if you are pro-active and e-mail other members with a proposal you are almost assured of
finding an exchange.
No other home exchange membership offers this type of benefit.
And the benefit to our Basic members? As a Basic member you may receive an interesting offer from a Premium
member and conclude an exchange without paying our registration fee. But honestly, the small registration fee
we charge is one of the best investments you can make to save thousands.
The choice is yours! Both our Basic and Premium memberships offer great benefits. Which one is best for you?
Our Premium membership allows you to get started right away - browse our listings and start e-mailing, no need
to wait for someone else to contact you. Or alternatively sit back and see what arrives in your Inbox with our
Basic membership. But don't wait too long to upgrade—it takes time to find, negotiate, and agree
to an exchange. And in the meantime you may be missing the perfect home exchange opportunity.
Membership Plan Overview
| Membership Plans | ||
| Premium | Basic | |
| Manage Your Home Exchange Listing(s) |  |
|
| Number of Home Exchange Listings | Unlimited | 1 |
| Number of Exchanges per Year | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Contact Other Members | Unlimited |  |
| Receive E-mails from Premium Members | |
|
| Number of Photos | Unlimited | 4 |
| Search Results | Displayed First | Displayed Last |
| Listing Promotion | |
|
| Save Search | |
|
| Exchange Documents | |
|
Money Saving Offer
And you'll be happy to read that our money saving offer continues.
Pay for a 12 month Premium membership at our already low price and get an additional 12 months for free.
That's the equivalent of a 50% savings.
With more than 17,000 members in over 130 countries our Premium membership is one of the best ways to save thousands of $$$ €€€ £££ on your next holiday.
Complete details on the Premium and Basic membership plans including FEES.
66 Practical Home Exchange Tips
We recently completed the most comprehensive set of vacation home exchange tips that we know of.
This as our complete guide to
finding, arranging, and enjoying a perfect home exchange holiday.
What kind of tips, will you find?
9. Reply to everyone.
Take a moment to send a simple "No thanks".
17. A picture is worth a thousand words.
... A serious offer requires photos. Photos help sell an offer. The more photos you include,
the easier it is for people to visualize your home and project themselves on holiday in your home.
20. Contact, contact, contact.
The most successful exchangers take initiative and contact other members. ... It sometimes takes twenty, thirty,
or more e-mails before you find someone with whom it's going to work out.
29. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate.
... Do your homework. Ask a lot of questions of the potential home exchanger. ...
As you are getting to know each other, you are building trust.
43. Write a book.
Be prepared for the unexpected by leaving comprehensive instructions. Being prepared will give you piece of mind and
you'll enjoy your holiday more. This is a time-consuming task; don't leave it until the last minute.
60. What a mess! Get it cleaned.
You've just arrived at your temporary home only to find the place a mess. Problems with home exchanges are rare but
the most common problem reported is due to a difference in house keeping standards.
... take out the yellow pages and find a cleaner. Although this may be an additional expense, this cost is
minor especially if this is going to ruin your stay. Discuss your disappointment with your exchange partner and
suggest splitting the cost of having the home cleaned.
Follow these tips and you and your family could be spending your next holiday in a villa in Tuscany,
a New York City brownstone, a ski chalet in the French Alps, a London flat, or a beach house in the
South Pacific rent-free!
Read 66 Practical Home Exchange Tips
New Feature—No Thank You Reply
A frequent complaint we hear is that not everyone responds to a home exchange offer.
It is always possible that an offer does not reach the intended recipient. For example, it ends up in the
SPAM folder instead of the Inbox.
But more often it's simply because people find it difficult to say no and easier to simply not reply.
We encourage everyone to send a personal note declining an offer when not interested.
For those of you who can't be bothered sending a reply or for those who wish to maintain their e-mail address private, we've
added an automated No Thank You reply to 1stHomeExchange.com.
Each offer you receive contains a link to decline the offer. If you are not interested in the offer, simply click on the link and
confirm that you want to send a No Thank You reply. Because the e-mail is sent from 1stHomeExchange.com, your e-mail is not
disclosed.
If you've deleted the offer, you can send the No Thank You reply from your Contact History in the member's area.
The Contact History also tracks who you've sent a No Thank You reply to and when it was sent.
Declining an offer is only a click away - it couldn't be easier - so no more excuses!
IgoUgo.com's Recent Home Exchange Poll
In IgoUgo’s recent home-exchange poll, 89% of travelers responding said that they never
participated in a home exchange and 72% said they would like to try a swap and would consider it this year.
The top reasons? Saving money (43%), better experiencing a destination (34%),
enjoying more amenities than a hotel offers (25%),
traveling to a destination they couldn’t otherwise afford (24%),
and having access to more off-the-beaten-path destinations (23%).
Where did people say they want to go? Here are the top destinations:
United States Picks
- California
- Hawaii
- Florida
- New York
- Colorado
- Montana, Oregon, Arizona, and Washington (tie)
- Texas, South Carolina, and Massachusetts (tie)
International Picks
- Italy
- France
- Spain
- England
- Ireland
- Greece and Germany (tie)
- Japan
So with all this interest in home exchanging, what's the best way to arrange a swap? Contact, contact, contact, ...! More often than not, sitting back and waiting for a dream exchange to arrive in your Inbox is unlikely to produce results. So make it happen - search our listings, select your favorites, and e-mail your proposal!
Summer Home Exchange Vacation
For those of us in the northern hemisphere summer holidays are almost here.
And with the ever increasing cost of travel and a continuing recession, there's no better time for a home exchange.
A home exchange holiday is no more expensive than staying at home!
And if you haven't already arranged a swap for this summer, with a little effort it's not too late.
Here are 4 tips to help you find a swap:
- Update your listing. An outdated listing will quickly turn off any potential exchanger.
- Include lots of photos. Photos show off your home and neighborhood. Many members skip offers that have no photos. So avoid being passed over.
- Use our Advanced Search to identify the listings you are interested in. Try to be flexible with your destination and dates.
- Contact, contact, contact, … Unless you have the perfect home in the most desirable location, waiting for someone to e-mail you regarding a dream swap rarely happens. You'll need to send out 20, 30, or more e-mails.
For a complete list of home exchange tips see 66 Practical Home Exchange Tips
Take a Few Minutes to Update Your Listing
Are your desired destinations and dates up to date?
How about adding some new photos? (Photos are key to selling your offer!)
If you've already concluded one or more exchanges, let visitors know by adding
this information to one of the text boxes.
No plans to swap anytime soon? You may still be receiving inquiries but have no time to reply.
By setting your offer to concluded people won't be left
wondering why you haven't replied.
Even if you have no plans to swap, an up to date listing increases the odds of receiving an interesting offer
to which you can't say no to.
New E-mail Address?
If you change your e-mail address, you'll need to let us know. It's easy and automatic to update your e-mail address.
A word of caution
A home exchange agreement is structured around the principle that you stay in their home while they stay in yours.
A home exchange implies no up front payment. You should never be asked for or expect to receive any form of security payment.
You should be aware that if someone asks you for money, there is a high probability that the offer is a scam.
We recommend that you
1. NEVER WIRE FUNDS
2. NEVER GIVE OUT FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Please keep in mind that the best way to avoid a scam is to get to know the people you are exchanging with
through e-mails, telephone calls, reference checks, and possibly even meeting the other member upon arrival.
1stHomeExchange.com does not verify any of the listings on the site. We are not involved in the discussion/negotiation
between members. You must do your own verification. For additional information, please see our
Disclaimer.
This caution applies to any Website. We recently came across the following posting on Craigslist.
Beware of a home exchange for vacation scam on this site.
The scammer will either answer your advertisement for a home exchange or post their own fictitious ad.
They even include photos which they take from other sites.
The scam:
They agree to a home exchange with you, then at the last minute cancel, however they just happen to have a friend that
offers a rental. They may even offer you the rental free if you pay for the damage deposit.
The scammer wants you to wire the money for the deposit by Western Union. This is a scam.
The home either doesn't exist or if they give you an address of one that does, they don't own it.
Never wire money for a vacation related transaction.
- Recently posted on Craigslist
Save Money When Booking Flights
Planning to book a flight soon? Find the best deal on a flight in seconds. Our FREE
flight search engine
googles flights from 580+ travel sites!
Yet another great way 1stHomeExchange.com saves you money!
Tell a Friend
Would you like even more home exchange offers to choose from? Tell a friend about 1stHomeExchange.com!
Word of mouth is the best way to build awareness regarding this vacation alternative.
If each member convinces one friend to list their home, we can easily double the number of
offers on the site. The result, more choice for everyone.
We even have a Tell a friend form you can use.
Do you have a home exchange story you'd like to share?
Did you recently participate in an exchange? Tell us about your swap.
We also want to hear about any funny anecdotes and photos you want to share. With your
permission we'll share them with other members via future newsletters.
Navigate 1stHomeExchange.com
Premium Membership
To learn more about the Premium membership.
Logon and Subscribe to the Premium Membership
To subscribe to the Premium membership plan, simply log on and click Premium from the member's menu on the left side of the page.
Forgot Your Password?
If you can't remember your password, try resetting it.
Or e-mail us
and we'll help you get logged on.
And Finally
Don't want to receive future newsletters? Log on to the member's area; edit your
profile and select I do not want to receive the e-mail newsletter.
If you have questions, please feel free to
e-mail us.
Happy home exchanging!
