Alpine Home Swap – I am not taking the Piste!
The following article is written by Chris Byrne from Alpine Home Swap, we are happy to promote property related articles on this blog, though this is a subject we cannot vouch for!
If, like me, you already own a home in the Alps, you may be wondering what would ever convince you to swap your cherished home for someone else’s idea of a perfect ski holiday property. But think about it more carefully, as I did, and you may be surprised at the many advantages that such a venture could bring. And if you are thinking of buying this could be a solution to the main issue (other than finance) for prospective owners ie being tied to one resort.
I first conceived the idea of Alpine Home Swap with a group of friends over après-ski drinks. We all owned properties in Alpine resorts but realised that the perfect scenario for most of us would be to sometimes ski in other resorts without incurring additional rental costs. We all loved our ‘home’ resorts but recognised the fact that we, and our families, might occasionally feel like skiing elsewhere and, in fact, many of us did continue to ski elsewhere even after buying. And, to be fair, this idea (which originally came from the USA) seemed to be right for today’s less prosperous times.
Grimentz, not far from the Portes du Soleil as the crow flies
www.alpinehomeswap.com gives you access to a network, a community if you like, of like-minded property owners in different resorts. If you start thinking about the number of weeks you do not use your own place and the fact that ski properties are almost always second homes so that there can be non-simultaneous exchanges agreed between owners, you will start to see how this concept can work. So you and your family could potentially be skiing in Klosters at Christmas and snowboarding in Chamonix at Easter!
Unlike most other websites, our site focuses on the Alps and only the Alps because our research indicated that few owners actually skied regularly in North America. Unlike most other global home exchange sites there is no need to search through hundreds of listings in the wrong parts of the world – you can search by country or by recognised resort – and (and I know this from personal experience of other home exchange sites) you will not be bombarded with requests from people in places you would never wish to visit as you will with most global home exchange sites. You also can use an availability calendar to show (in real time) exactly when you have a gap to swap.
If the idea of swapping your Alpine property captures the imagination as it did for us, please take a look at the site: http://www.alpinehomeswap.com. We welcome your comments and feedback on the site or, if you want to find out more, please email us at info@alpinehomeswap.com.
See you on the site soon…
Chris – www.alpinehomeswap.com
