The very first thing you need to do after you have decided that exchanging is for you is to decide what value you offer other prospective exchange partners.

The very first thing you need to do after you have decided that exchanging is for you is to decide what value you offer other prospective exchange partners.

It all starts there.

By value, I mean, what does your locality bring to prospective exchange partners that would entice them to say, “You know, THAT is an interesting place to go. Let’s consider exchanging with these people.”

You see, it’s all about locality, not the dwelling.

We’ve exchanged with people whose home was a two-bedroom bungalow compared to our three-bedroom house. We loved it!

Was the bungalow as nice as our house? No. Did we care? No.

The bungalow served our needs as a comfortable base to explore the area we were visiting. It had everything we needed and it felt every bit like home as our own home.

On another occasion, we exchanged with a couple whose home was far nicer than ours. It was all on one floor, sprawling and architecturally speaking, more appealing than ours.

Did our exchange partner care? No. It was base from which they were able to explore our locality.

So, it is not about the home, the real estate, the property, though that can be a plus. It is about having a home base from which to explore the surrounding area. That’s it. Pure and simple.