There are big-picture things to look for when buying a home you hope to swap. We looked at issues like guest quarters and layout. To those broad factors I would add that square footage is important too. Your home does not have to be huge to garner lots of exchange offers.
I will tell you this: when I moved from a one-bedroom place to a 3-upstairs in the same
building. the number of exchange offers I received increased by a factor of 10. My square footage only doubled, but I added two bedrooms and one bathroom. That meant it wasn't only couples who considered my home.
WHICH ROOMS
Within your square footage, which rooms are the most important in a home exchange house? A large kitchen and formal dining room may never be used by swappers who don't wish to cook on vacation. By contrast, having only one bathroom could be a deal-breaker. I would never buy an exchange home with a single bathroom, and it's unlikely that our three-generation family of five would be comfortable in a one-bedroom house, no matter how many bedrooms it had.
ARE FEWER BEDROOMS BETTER?
Should you sacrifice a bedroom for an that extra bathroom? That depends on how many people you want in your home. If you don't mind swapping with huge families, that five-bedroom place is a good idea. Just be ready to be contacted by that family reunion group. If you have a big family, on the other hand, your peers who swap homes and have a house big enough to accommodate all of you may not be as flexible about sharing rooms as your kids.
SEE THE LIGHT
Take some pictures of the homes you want to buy. How does the new place photograph? I constantly see swap homes that look like dungeons. Their low light makes it hard to take legible pictures. Forget the fact that sunny and light encourage swappers to consider your home. Do you want to live in such a dark place?
FINISHES
I had friends once who knew I swapped my apartment. They were eager to begin to do home exchange and their apartment was in a doorman building in a perfect location in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. But I gently tried to discourage them from swapping. The problem was their home's finishes.
The walls were dirty from years of fingerprints but they didn't want to repaint. They had a teenage son and daughter, but the apartment had only two bedrooms. To give the children privacy, they had divided the second bedroom with a jury-rigged wall. There were three "bedrooms" but two of them were too narrow for anything but a twin bed and the make-shift wall looked awful.
MISSING SHOTS
In looking at a swap home to buy, consider the photos that will be posted to your listing. If you find yourself thinking "We can't post pictures of this room" you should add a renovation budget to your bid for the house.
LOCATION
Try to see potential swap homes through the eyes of your potential exchange partners. Is the location convenient for visiting area attractions? Do swappers have to rent a car or use yours to get anywhere? Are you near anything interesting?
Buying an exchange home is a little different than buying a home your won't swap. But if you are retiring and/or want low-cost travel to be a big part of your lifestyle, considering a home's swap potential is at least as important as the other factors that go into a home purchase decision.
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