A common storyline on "Antiques Roadshow" goes something like this:
"APPRAISER: Where did you get this painting?
CUSTOMER: I helped my cousin clean out her mother's home and she said "Throw this old, ugly worthless painting into the garbage can." I asked if I could have it and she said "Sure, if I don't have to pay you to get it out of my sight!" Since it belonged to my aunt it has sentimental value for me, and I would never part with it, but I am curious about its origins.
APPRAISER: This is the earliest known oil painting by Picasso and it is worth one million dollars.
CUSTOMER: How quickly can you sell it for me?"
Sometimes people have a gem and think it is a lump of coal. One new home exchanger who seems to fall into this category sent me this sad inquiry:
"My husband and I recently bought our first home in Davidson County, Tennessee. This is part of the metropolitan area of Nashville. However, we live approximately 20 minutes from downtown Nashville by car, and our particular area of the county is somewhat rural, being about 5-7 minutes from "town." We love it and live in a middle to upper middle class subdivision. I've wanted to do a home exchange for quite some time, but now that we own our home, it's looking like more of a possibility. How much of a problem would it be to exchange a home such as ours? Would someone be willing to drive 20 minutes to downtown Nashville to have a good time?
Please keep in mind that Nashville is not necessarily public transportation friendly. We have a bus system, but it is relatively limited in places, and I don't know of any buses that come through our particular area of Nashville unless you hit the "main road" about three miles away."
As I have mentioned before, home exchanges in the American Southeast are few and far between. The largest home exchange club is HomeExchange.com. It now has over 25,000 members. Half of those are in North America. Yet a mere 46 swap homes are offered in the entire state of Tennessee. That is out of a population of over 6 million residents. Of those rare 46, only 13 are in the Nashville area. Did you notice I did not say "city of Nashville". Only half of the 13 are in the city limits of Nashville, and just a few are actually downtown.
According to the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Nashville "hosted 10.5 million visitors in 2002". Do the math. The woman whose home is 20 minutes from downtown Nashville is going to get as many home exchange offers as she can handle, despite the fact that there are few buses in her neighborhood. If she sweetens the deal by offering the use of a car she will be fending off eager swap partners with a stick.
For heavens sake, woman! List your home for exchange!!! It's all about supply and demand. If there is a limited supply of swap homes in your area, someone is going to be thrilled to exchange homes with you. Unless the reason no one lives where you do is that toxic spill.
If you are interested in home exchange, it can't hurt to list your home and see what happens. I will send anyone who asks a free trial membership to HomeForExchange.com. And please tell us if you are indeed swamped with offers, as I predict.
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