Moving stress? Try house swapping!

Yesterday the government recognised the need to boost the housing market by announcing measures intended to help homebuyers. But Gordon Brown isn’t the only one with a trick up his sleeve when it comes to smoothing the way for property transactions.

A UK first for the private market, HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk is a service that matches people looking to sell their homes, with those who want what they have got, and vice-versa. Launched in August 2008 HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk has seen over £100m of property registered, and matches have already been found for registrants.

A core benefit of swapping is that there are only two parties in the exchange so it’s possible to avoid lengthy chains – which are all the more treacherous in an uncertain market. The speed of the transaction is increased and the sale of the two swapped houses runs a greater chance of reaching completion. What’s more, it can potentially save money for both parties.

HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk is based on the company’s industry leading HomeSwapper.co.uk service which currently serves the UK residential lettings market. Launched in 2007 the hugely successful HomeSwapper.co.uk service now helps 150 families move home every week. Further proof of the idea that home owners should look at swapping comes from the US, where since the downturn in the US property market, home swapping has become a popular way to move.

HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk covers all house types, values and locations. Users can find matches to trade up, trade down, swap like for like, move down the street or across the country – it’s that flexible. Plus HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk finds the matches automatically and alerts each member by email or text message to make sure they don’t miss their next home.

Registration for HomeSwapper4Sale.co.ukis free for a limited period as an introductory offer to this unique service. It’s easy to use too. All potential swappers have to do is simply register the details of their current property along with information about what it is they are looking for, and let HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk automatically do the rest.

John Carthew, Managing Director of HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uksaid: “Swapping through HomeSwapper4Sale.co.uk–offers real advantages to all types of sellers. We have years of experience matching swappers in the rental sector, and so decided we should extended this to private buyers and sellers so that they too can reap the benefits.”