Can’t sell the house? Try swapping

One of the local television PlayNooz programs claims that some people have taken to trading houses when they couldn’t sell them—no indication of whether these prospective traders are having any luck at the enterprise, though.

It’s an interesting idea. A year and a half ago, CNN reported that some homebuilders were taking old houses in trade for new ones. Not everybody wants to live in a cheaply built house in the remote and treeless suburbs, but if you do, trading could be a way to get there.

It appears that the most likely use of this strategy is to get yourself from one city to another. Few people would trade a $300,000 house for another $300,000 house in the same city, unless the city is so huge that there’s some value for each party in moving closer to their places of work. Exactly how this would work for the mortgage holders is somewhat fuzzy. Apparently each “buyer” gets a new mortgage and uses it to pay off the existing mortgage. Nice trick if you can do it, in the present lending environment. Both traders would need sterling credit and a long track record of paying on time.

Several sites are in the business of helping would-be house traders get in touch with each other. Check these out:

Craig’s List has a house swapping category. Some of these are vacation or short-term swaps; some are efforts to make a permanent trade. The one here in Phoenix looks pretty active: a lot of the offers are local, but some are coming in from all over the country. Check the site in your area—look under “Housing Swap.”

OnlineTrading.com charges $19 for the privilege of using its site. Turn off your sound before hitting this site: they have a particularly grating ad that starts blatting at you the instant you get there. The site called House4Trade.com is actually a front for OnlineTrading.com; with that sort of oiliness going on, I’d be careful of this outfit.

RealEstateExchange.com appears to be a separate entity. They’re advertising trades of commercial as well as real estate properties. This site has quite a lot of information posted, and its proprietors say they actively pursue scammers.

If you decide to go this route, you probably should consult a real estate lawyer to be sure the contracts are written correctly and your interests are protected. If you can find a Realtor who is experienced in trading property, that also would be advisable, though I have no idea where you would find such a person.