Paula Jaffe makes a living helping clients swap their homes for vacations. When it's time for her to take a break, she puts her business sense to use. So far, her family has swapped their California home with European families five times. She always tries to trade her 3,200-square-foot place for a small two-bedroom apartment. That way, she doesn't spend her vacation straightening up a big place after her two kids.
Ms. Jaffe advises clients to be flexible on locations and dates. When she and her family couldn't find a Tuscan villa, they settled for a place in the Italian city of Cervia, just one block from the Adriatic Sea. While planning a home exchange in competitive locales such as Paris, Ms. Jaffe contacts at least 25 prospects and follows up daily. If that doesn't work, she tries listings without photos because they get fewer offers; they're often owned by people who don't know how to upload pictures to the Web.
Exchangers with children should try to swap with families of the same size, she says, because their houses will have similar requirements.
