Home Swapping in the Internet Age
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
New Yorkers, aware of the desirability of their city apartments, have long swapped homes with Parisians, Romans, and Londoners who wanted a taste of life in the Big Apple — minus the pricey hotels. More recently, New Yorkers have been using the “home exchange” market to facilitate shorter trips to travel destinations closer to home.
Although traditionally popular with the retired set, the demographics of home swappers, particularly those looking to take trips shorter in length and distance, have been skewing younger, the founder of the online Digsville Home Exchange Club, Helen Bergstein, said.
Often, these younger home swappers do not have the option of taking long vacations to far-off locations, and tend to be interested in shorter, simpler outdoor vacations, Ms. Bergstein said.
The owner of another home swap Web site, HomeLink International, Karl Costabel, estimated that about half of the site users are retirees and empty-nesters, while the other half is made up of younger families, many of whom have children.
A first-time home swapper, Heidi Reagan, said the exchange will save her the “torture” of commuting to the city each day from Upstate New York as her 14-year-old daughter attends a weeklong fashion program in Manhattan. Later this summer, Ms. Reagan, a Digsville client, will be staying in an apartment on the Upper West Side while the tenant of that apartment occupies her “charming little cottage” in the quiet, mountainous community of New Paltz, N.Y.
Ms. Reagan said that if this swap goes smoothly, she would swap her cottage more regularly for weekends in the city.
Not all short-term exchanges are between city and country residents, according to the president of HomeExchange.com, Ed Kushins. He said New Yorkers are also keen on swapping their city digs for apartments in other urban centers, such as Washington and Boston.
Mr. Kushins said many of his clients exchange participate in a home swap about once a month, and that New York City residents receive a “tremendous number of inquiries” — so they have their choice of getaways. “Someone with a small, modest place in New York City can end up with a much bigger fancier place pretty much anywhere they might go,” he said.
Posting a single listing on a homeswapping site typically costs between $45and $90, with discounts for each additional listing.
