June 30, 2008

Don’t Like Your Home? Swap It For Another

34944110 Dont Like Your Home? Swap It For Another

As you’re all very aware, the real estate market has taken a nosedive in many areas of Los Angeles. Well, out of the current state of the real estate economy, comes the latest in housing transactions.

According to the Los Angeles Times, there are online sites which let homeowners list their homes not for a sale, but for a swap.

For years people have been swapping homes for vacations. Today, the idea of permanent exchanges is gaining support among disillusioned property owners struggling to sell in a glacial real estate market.

Although the number of completed trades isn’t being tracked, interest is such that several home-swap websites have sprung up in the last year and now claim close to 40,000 combined swap listings nationwide. Others appear regularly on Craigslist.org.

Fees run from free to a monthly fee. And you can also trade up or down by adding a little cash into the mix. Sounds like one way for folks looking to relocate to unload their homes and find the one of their dreams. What do you think?

On another note, here are some homes that have just been added to the market in the LAX area.

Playa Del Rey

8135 Redlands St., #107/2bd, 3bth/1,246 sq. ft./$609,000

Playa Vista

5721 S. Crescent Park W., #107/2bd, 2.5bth/1,808 sq. ft./$765,000

Westchester

6516 W. 84th Pl./3bd, 1bth/998 sq. ft./$625,000


  • Arash
    Thats why the invented money, you swap your home for paper (called money) then you swap the paper back for a different home.

    Swapping goods is an ancient concept that has been put aside thousands of years ago due to many issues it can cause.
  • Good point, Scott. The article cited an example of a homeowner who was relocating and had a home sitting on the market for some time. This is just another option for someone to take.
  • Scott McIntosh
    I think that this is going to be used sparingly. Why would you limit your exposure to just one person if you were trying to sell your place or swap?
  • I also think it would be interesting to see what sort of growth this type of transaction sees in the near future.
  • Thats a really interesting concept. I could see people doing this, however I could see many people not getting fair value in return for their home in the swap.
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