House Swapping Version 2.0

No it’s really 20,000 – Huckabee

I was watching Fox news Sunday night while eating dinner. Around 7:30 PM, my attention was suddenly jostled away from my frozen dinner (dieting…), by an advert for the upcoming Huckabee (as in Mike Huckabee, former presidential candidate) which will feature a segment on house swapping. While I did watch the Simpsons during the 8PM hour, I recorded Huckabee and watched it later on (since I hadn’t been approached for the show, which usually means expect some onlinehousetrading swappers).

The segment took a bit different turn, with two owners who’s Realtors actually proposed a swap that turned out successful. The odds of this are certainly low, but props all parties involved for thinking outside the box. Now if only that course of conversation was a part of every realtor’s playbook.

Next came the expert commentary, Dani Babb, a real estate author and fox correspondent (http://www.drdaniellebabb.com/). She gave a bit of what to look out for when swapping. Yes we know the drill. Use the same title company, have inspections, etc., the same stuff that we write about on this site, as well as onlinehousetrading and goswap.

She also gave the shocking statistic, that now I guess is fact, that there were “anectdotedly”, about 20,000 of these swaps last year. As I said in my prior post, I know of about ten. I’ll make it eleven now after last night’s show. Please, if you have swapped, or know someone who has, let us know!

Next, the obligatory plug, seemingly out of nowhere and thrown in to live up to contractual obligations. Dani recommends onlinehousetrading, as they work with the title companies. Yes, they do have an ad (looks like commission junction or something) for a title company. They also have a large banner ad for Doctor Dani on their home page as well. While I certainly have no problem with this type of sponsorship, a bit of disclosure would be nice, as these “experts” only seem to know about onlinehousetrading. As they are the only site with actual investors, as well as a large advertising budget, and they charge for their listings – well read between the lines. I am sure there is some stock interest involved.

Onlinehousetrading also seems/seemed to have the same relationship with Regina Lewis, who appears on several morning shows plugging onlinehousetrading. No mention of Domuswap by either of these two, specifically back when we are a leader in this field. Mrs. Lewis also frequently mentioned onlinehousetrading on her blog in a form that was little more than press releases. Check it out at http://www.reginalewis.com/search/?q=onlinehousetrading

Again, I have no problem with any endorsement. I just like to point out the not so obvious. Please let me know if I am wrong in my analysis or observations.

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Comment by jamie owens on July 5, 2012 at 1:39pm: It appears that whether you sell or swap your home, cash, no money involved only paperwork,that the article on cnn last night stated both houses voted to charge home sellers 25% of the amount of the sale, irregardless of the realtor commission or any fees incurred with the transaction. Obama must be behind this since he cant seem to do anything about the economy and unemployment he finds another way to stick it to the middle class especially. j owens

Comment by Norm on July 10, 2011 at 10:20am: 1) As an inducement to list (spend money) with them Onlinehousetrading say they answer emails within 24 hours - but they don't answer them at all!

2) I believe they post, or have others post on their behalf, puffs for their service in real estate forums and articles.

In short I believe they're all about money (just like GoSwap but not so blatantly obvious).

Comment by David Moskowitz on March 31, 2009 at 6:11pm: Problem is, if you are selling, you need to compete with the short sales and foreclosures. Trading could help here if it becomes more popular. If you did want to sell then buy (non-trade) you need to take the chance of selling real low, hoping to buy real low as well.

Comment by JH on March 31, 2009 at 11:55am: I think some people are afraid; some are clueless; some are watching for desperation sales. One man told me: "Maybe you could do a short-sale on one of your houses." And I replied: "But that doesn't apply to me, because I don't need to do a short-sale on any property I own." And then I asked him: "Do you even know what a short-sale IS?" And he said: "No." (I just stood there shaking my head in disbelief.)

It's an interesting time to be trying to sell or swap!

Comment by David Moskowitz on March 31, 2009 at 5:56am: We are probably back to "old ways" you mentioned. With the economy collapsing and the housing market never to be what we've just seen, although i would love that not to be true, things will most likely return to the norm, meaning house prices have some sort of relationship to wages and income. I think things are overblown now with people scared to buy anything that is not 50 cents on the dollar. Ok, so your property may go down 10% (or not), but you are getting a good deal and it is a house, not a quick investment.

There is enough blame to go around for the cause (governement, bankers, buyers) so I won't get into that now. That assumes anyone deserves any blame at all. Problem is, the people trying to fix the "problem" will most likely make it much, much worse that doing nothing. Just watch.

Allstate has a really good commercial out now about how things generally revert towards simplicity and basics in times like this. I think it wrings true. Enjoy them.

Comment by JH on March 30, 2009 at 11:55pm: I don't see a quick-fix to any of this. Perhaps the roots go deeper into education early-on in a person's life. People have become fat and lazy. (figuratively and literally, unfortunately...) For example, the concept of "starter home" then trading up later, ("The American Dream?") seems to have been replaced with "I want it all right now - I deserve it" without fully understanding the consequences of taking on debt and having to make payments, and without any "sweat equity" in the equation. I see the red flags in the "lemmings" who all want the "granite and stainless steel kitchen" simply because someone has dictated "that's what people want." And I ask... "Oh, really... but what about when you are just starting out and have NO money and an hourly-wage-job and a baby on the way, and you're not really a gourmet cook anyway???" Granite and stainless steel? Hmmm... Maybe not... People need to learn to prioritize what works for their real-life-situation; what fits and is comfortable... not just follow the latest fad. (like lemmings?)

Comment by David Moskowitz on March 30, 2009 at 10:14pm: Of course, it is always nice when Domuswap appears in those lists, but please do your homework.

Comment by David Moskowitz on March 30, 2009 at 10:13pm: I've actually been more turned off by the news articles that just cut and past the "links" list from other articles. Goswap.org was listed as goswap.com in many, just propogated the mistake. There were some others that were nowhere near actual swapping sites. If remember right (just check the articles) one builder who takes swaps got on the links list, as well as an ad page/blog for OLHT.

Comment by David Moskowitz on March 30, 2009 at 10:10pm: I don't want to come off as putting down OLHT. I've said good things about them in the past and they are entitled to do all they can to promote themselves. I have more of an issue with the "experts" on the payroll (let me know if I am wrong) whose expertize doesn't seem to cover competing companies.

Comment by David Moskowitz on March 30, 2009 at 8:39pm: Now, if we went along wih Huckabee's Fair Tax (really the only thing I like about him), we'd be out of this economic mess.