Rella also had no trouble finding a swap partner for his Avon home through homeexchange.com, selecting Australia from locations that included an African village. Although Costabel’s company doesn’t track swap statistics, he suspects Colorado is one of the more popular U.S. destinations. The $90-per-year memberships to HomeLink are on the rise, perhaps indicating increased interest in home swapping as a means of travel.

Costabel estimates he has added 5 to 10 percent more listings each year since 1990. But for some homeowners, handing their house keys to a relative stranger may conjure visions of wine-splattered Persian rugs and broken antique vases rather than vacation paradise.

Costabel believes there are two kinds of people: those who hear about home swapping and say, “Wow,” and those who say, “You’ve got to be totally deranged.” “If you have any reservations about doing it, don’t do it,” he says. But by all accounts, nightmare home swaps seem to be rare. The most common problems Costabel encounters are housekeeping issues, as well as the occasional unpaid long-distance phone charge.

Digsville.com’s Bergstein, who instituted a feature that allows homeowners to rate their housekeeping styles to avoid cleaning conflicts, says she hasn’t had any major complaints since she founded the site in 1999. Building an online friendship with future swap mates helps foster the trust necessary to turn over your house, Thomas says. “Most people who are doing this are pretty trustworthy,” she says. “If people could just warm up to that trust thing…