Last Day to enter our COMPETITION

ENTER OUR HOME EXCHANGE COMPETITION - Closing date: 30/09/2007.

Gagnez un abonnement gratuit à l'Echange de Maison Green Theme International

Ganar una calidad de miembro libre en nuestra competición del intercambio casas

Eine freie Mitgliedschaft in unserer eigene Vermittlungsstelle Konkurrenz gewinnen

Vincere un insieme dei membri libero nella nostra concorrenza di scambio casas

Ganhar uma sociedade livre em nossa competição da troca Home

GTI Home Exchange is offering the prize of a free year's membership of Green Theme International Home Exchange chosen at random from entries identifying which of the companies mentioned in the Contact List published in the London Evening Standard Homes and Property article charges just £25.00 for a 12 month membership subscription. Just forward your name and email address and your answer to admin@gti-home-exchange.com. A runner-up prize will be a copy of the new Home Exchange Academy e-book recently reviewed on the GTI Home Exchange Travel blog. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone participating in home exchange and particularly for novices who are about to join the home exchange community for the first time. Don't miss the chance to win either of these prizes in our competition!

Stepping into the Unknown

The above is the title of a recent article about home exchange in the Evening Standard Homes and Property magazine, published on 5th September. Although the article emphasises London's global popularity and that therefore home owners living there should find it easy to swap their homes and get their dream holidays free, it is a way to make the most of your investment in your home wherever you live. While those living in London and the home counties have easy access to a choice of airports to take them to such exotic destinations as India, Brazil and Costa Rica;



in effect a veritable worldwide choice of exciting destinations to be found when browsing through the lists of swaps on the Green Theme International Home Exchange web-site, those visiting the capital on a home exchange basis will be saving enormously on their costs too.

The article quotes "The hurdle is accepting people you have never met will be living in your home, eating off your china, and possibly, even driving your car, if that is part of the deal." People who are having difficulty facing up to this might find it encouraging to obtain a copy of the Home Exchange Academy e-book that I reviewed yesterday by Athena Rickby who has had experience of more than forty exchanges over 25 years.

Lastly, there is, of course the cost of membership of one of the many home exchange agencies now in existence, and which of them to choose. Home-swap companies annual charges range from £25.00 to more than £100.00, depending upon how many photographs you want in your listing. But there is more to consider than just the fees charged, as Athena helps you to discover.

ENTER OUR HOME EXCHANGE COMPETITION - Closing date: 30/09/2007.

GTI Home Exchange is offering the prize of a free year's membership of Green Theme International Home Exchange chosen at random from entries identifying which of the companies mentioned in the Contact List published in the Homes and Property article charges just £25.00 for a 12 month membership subscription. Just forward your name and email address and your answer to admin@gti-home-exchange.com. A runner-up prize will be a copy of the Home Exchange Academy e-book reviewed yesterday on the GTI Home Exchange Travel blog.

Home Exchange Academy

Having previewed a copy of this new e-book on Home Exchange written by Athena Rickby, 25 year veteran of 40+ home exchanges, I found it to be well written in a clear, concise style and with very useful content for prospective home exchangers.

As Athena herself says: "From my personal observations, there is a host of potential home exchangers who continually "window shop", but always hesitate from joining a club at the last minute because they suffer from the "what if" syndrome. Home Exchange Academy goes to great lengths to allay their unfounded fears. Also, a great many of those that have committed to joining a club never make use of that membership fully. They enter some information initially, then seemingly forget all about it. They don't realize there's so much more they could be doing to attract interest and invite inquiries."

Other books published in the past tend to have leaned towards promoting one or other of the major clubs to the exclusion of the competition. Athena's book is impartial and she merely hopes that her book will help other home exchangers make better use of their club memberships.

To give you a taste of what the book contains and how useful it could be to novice home swappers, here is a list of Contents:

Introduction 6
What Is A Home Exchange 8
Who Exchanges Homes 9
Bonus Features 9
My Own Experiences 10
How Home Exchanging Began 11
Selecting Your Home Exchange Club 12
The Major Differences 13
How their members are contacted 13
Paid Memberships or Free 15
Directory Based Clubs 15
Points System / Full Service Clubs 16
How Do You Find A List of These Clubs 17
How On Earth Do You Decide 18
Clubs' Home Pages 18
Membership Fees 19
Clubs' Published Contact Information 19
Listings' Published Start and End Dates 19
Some Clubs' Inflated Membership Figures 20
Hiding Your Contact Information 21
Privacy Policy 21
Listing Demographics 22
Additional Customer Support 22
Guarantees 22
Evaluate Your Selections 23
Test Them! 23
Call their Customer Service 23
Send questions to their email address 24
The Adventure Begins 24
A few tips 24
How should you set up your listing 25
Illustrate your listing with good photographs 27
Children and pets 28
Your location 28
Your own Home Exchange Web Site 29
Contact Between Members 30
Receiving Inquiries and Replies 32
Declining Inquiries 33
Your listed email address 34
Developing likely inquiries 34
References 35
A Written Agreement 36
Car Exchange 36
Sample Car Exchange Agreement 37
Payments 38
Pets 38
Watering Plants 38
Clarification 39
It's A Matter of Trust 39
Perfection rarely happens 40
Sample Home Exchange Agreement 42
The Next Step 46
Preparing Your Home 46
Family Treasures and Irreplaceable Items 47
Your Insurance 47
Pets 48
Your Home Exchange Book 48
Sample Home Exchange Book 50
Warning 60
My Ten Golden Home Exchange Rules 60
General Tips and Advice 61
In Conclusion 65

For anyone contemplating a home swap for the first time, this book has a wealth of information and valuable references. To obtain a copy of the Home Exchange Academy e-book from Green Theme International Home Exchange the cost is just GB£10.00 or Euros 14,50. GTI Home Exchange members based in the USA may obtain the e-book direct from Athena's Home Exchange Academy web-site.

Travel Insurance for longer term Home Exchange

Dear Kath

I like the new clean layout of the website.

Haven't been able to travel to NZ these past two years - 2 knee replacements! I am still not sure I am up to the walk to all those longhaul, far distant, departure gates just yet.

One matter has worried me, as I now exceed the age most insurance companies are keen to cover - travel insurance for longer periods. 20 odd mainline insurers didn't want to know, so it has been down to brokers only. My doctor suggested Help the Aged and their broker offered the best amount of £600 for three months; others quoted up to £1200. I also discovered that the price of air fares has rocketed since last going out to New Zealand in 2004 - with hardly any discounted business class fares these days, compared with the 90's.

I'm trying to achieve an exchange in Christchurch for next Spring, preferably three to six months. Something might 'turn up' for me in South Island, New Zealand, so I can visit not only my relatives there, but also the earlier exchange partners with whom I am still in regular touch.

Best regards
Godfrey HE12473

Kath's Note

If anyone can suggest other sources for competitive travel insurance quotes for the more elderly traveller and for longer periods, please let us know at Green Theme International Home Exchange.

Faire face au récent changement de présentation de GTI Home exchange

Bonjour,

Nous sommes inscrits sur votre site depuis mars dernier et avons d'ailleurs échangé notre maison cet été avec des Gallois. Belle expérience. En prévision de nos vacances d'été prochaines nous avons pris récemment contact avec deux autres inscrits sur votre site, des familles espagnoles cette fois. L'ennui c'est que, pour une raison qui nous échappe, ces deux membres nous ont répondu, l'un comme l'autre, qu'ils ne peuvent trouver notre maison sur le site. Pourtant, lorsque nous tapons notre code personnel HE19369, nous accédons bel et bien à notre annonce. Mystère... Serait-ce lié au récent changement de présentation de GTI Home exchange ? Merci de nous répondre et de nous indiquer la marche à suivre. Les deux contacts espagnols en question sont référencés chez GTI sous les numéros HE19361 et HE20114.
Cordialement
Fabien Bonnet

Réponse

Bonjour Fabien

Merci pour votre courrier e-mail sur les difficultés de contact que vous avez eu avec des deux inscrits espagnols qui ont répondu qu'ils ne peuvent trouver votre maison sur le site. Comme vous, lorsque je tappe votre code personnel, j'accéde à votre annonce sans aucune difficulté, même si je l'accéde avec les co-ordonnées des deux membres espagnols HE19361 et HE20114 et de leurs aréas administratifs personnel. De plus, en l'area administratif personnel de membre HE20114, vous êtes référencé dans sa liste de contacts récents. Je ne peux pas expliquer les problémes. Peut-être il serait lié au récent changement de présentation de GTI Home exchange, mais je ne pense pas que cela aurait duré longtemps.

Je pense que le mieux à faire sera que je me mets en contact avec les deux membres espagnols les invitants d'essayer de trouver votre annonce encore une fois, et de me repondre s'ils ne peuvent pas. Je vous tiens au courant.

A bientôt.

Kath Botterill

The New Look at GTI Home Exchange

The fact that I am able to recall Dior's postwar New Look probably reveals a little too much about my age, but nevertheless it seemed an appropriate link to make with the New Look on the Green Theme International Home Exchange web-site. Whilst I do not claim that the changes we have made will affect this niche travel area anything like as much as the New Look changed the image of fashion in the 50's and 60's, I feel that the ultimate result of our web-site upgrade gives GTI Home Exchange a much slicker image with a superb choice of home swap offers in a neat and concise format.

Change is always a little strange at first


The changes to the GTI Home Exchange site have been made to upgrade the database applications, and make the site more technically robust, whilst incorporating the new design to make the site even easier to use than before. However, change often brings in its wake a degree of instability for a very short time, and most people take a little while to adapt too, so do bear with us if you do find negotiating the site a little strange at first, and please let us know anything you find confusing or unclear.

Pets Welcome

You may recall recently the post from members who wanted to be able to find exchange homes where Pets were Welcome more easily, so that they might take their pets on holiday with them. We are pleased to tell you that as a result of the upgrade this option has now been added to the Membership Registration Form and pet friendly home swaps are indicated on the Summary Listings with a dog icon (looking happily and sentimentally like the silhouette of our own Golden Retrievers who both sadly died within four days of each some time ago).