Detailed Review
Review:
1stHomeExchange has two membership offers, premium and basic. The premium membership, $79.95 includes unlimited contact of all members, unlimited photos and multiple home listings at no extra charge, as of this writing (02/10) the premium membership includes another 12 months free. This seems to be a permanent pricing, though it is listed as a "special offer". In addition, these member listings are displayed before basic member listings.
Basic membership, while free, only allows one listing and 4 photos. Basic members are unable to contact any members, only to be contacted. They can respond to any offers received. This would be a good option if one wants to see how home exchange works and does not have a particular destination in mind.
The membership options are just one more in the constant upgrades that 1st Home Exchange is making. Several other enhancements to the site include a favorites part of the member area and a much needed reverse search feature. The reverse search includes a write-in option to make it as specific as you want. Another recent feature is a tracking system in the member area, which keeps tabs on offers made and received. Members now have an automated no thank you reply, as well. They also offer an analysis of the member listing and make suggestions as to how to improve it. It has some other nice features, like the separate tabs on the detail page of the listing and a last update indicator on each listing. In addition, each listing now has a map to pinpoint its location.
An interesting feature is the active promotion of members' offers that have included photos by displaying continually changing photos in the sidebar throughout the site. We like the way 1stHomeExchange does not stand still! 1stHomeExchange has over 19,000 listings. However, some of the listings are quite old. Although it is easy to find the older listings with the search by last updated feature, it seems as if the listings are never removed. About 70% of the listings have pictures of the residences. KYT updated review February 2010
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Two membership options (see details above) | |||
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Sort by location does not organize search by cities | Basic (free) members can be contacted and respond to other members | |||
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Some older listings
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Recently launched SambioVacanze.com, the Italian version of the agency, with an Italian speaking manager | |||
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Copy of emails that are sent through server and sent to email
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Reverse search includes members open to any destination and write-in | ||||
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