For the past 10 years, the Harmons have been house swappers. They open their home near South Park to travelers wanting to take in North Carolina's mountains or beaches or a Panthers game. Several years back, when they had a second house at Beech Mountain, they let vacationers from all over the world stay there, too. At the same time, the couple, married 54 years, stays in those peoples' homes in such locales as Sydney, Australia, and France's Provence region.
Rather than booking lodging with travel agents, the Harmons turn to HomeLink. HomeLink is one of a handful of organizations that allows swappers to list their homes online and to send and receive e- mails from people wanting to arrange an exchange. Membership fees are modest. HomeLink charges $75 a year. Most home exchange destinations are in North America and Europe.
In their dozen home exchanges, the Harmons said they've never had a bad experience. They've never stayed in a house billed as a castle but was really a hovel. Aside from a small stain on the carpet, they've never had problems with those who have taken up temporary residence in their home. (They don't even consider this to be a real problem.) "Our friends think we are nuts," [Carolyn Harmon] said. "But we're going to be in (the swappers') house. And, it's just stuff, so who cares."
