European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Lynn Williams the Baltimore Sun Here did you spend your summer vacation Joel and Helen Underwood once spool heirs in a House Overlook Fig the Palace of Versailles. Howard he Kelley s vacation Rel Roal was t a from Windsor Castle and Ted Kobrin 5 was in another aristocratic haunt the Cole d Azur. None of these Maryland residents would list themselves among the Jet set. In tact they might have spent less on their vacations than those who opt Tor a couple of we rfcs in a Beach Condo. All have discovered the benefits of House swapping an arrangement that provides the Comfort of Home coupled with he Freedom and Low costs usually found on a by student backpackers and ramp Teanner adventurers. With the help of a professional Home Exchange service travellers can arrange a slay in Iho Home of an individual or family at Ihler vacation destination. At the same Lime their hosts Are staying in their House. An Auto Swap is usually part of the picture too All parties therefore avoid the hotel restaurant and car rental costs that eat up most vacation budgets. Except for the expense of plane tickets and souvenirs a vacation abroad costs no More than staying Home Homo swappers enthusiastically report. There Are two Basic types of Home Swap services in the language of love rather Mian the language of travel they might be likened to matchmakers and personal ads. The first Typo of service does All the work for you. Applicants Send details and photographs of their Homes a list of Dales they Are available for exchanging and other pertinent Dala. They also submit an application Lee. The service then fixes them up with a suitable Swap match. When plans Are finalized clients of each end pay a Linal tee ranging from about �150 to More than $500, depending an the length of the stay. Catalon services allow would be swappers to make their own connections for a yearly fee of less than �50. Subscribers receive several Cata logs listing Homes available for swapping. Addresses Are included so parties can respond to offers that intrigue them. One of he largest Catalon services is inner vac International which has offices in morn than 25 countries. They invented Home exchanging Back in the Early 50s," says Ted Kobrin. Who runs interservice Home Exchange Maryland s inner vac affiliate. For $29 a year subscribers to interservice receive three Cata logs published Between january and May with Snoie than 5,000 listings covering 3d countries. Kobrin. A longtime foreign service officer who Sliwi works part Lime for the state department founded inner service almost a decade ago As a retirement second career. He works out of an office in his Bethesda Home. The people who go into Home swapping Are really a mixed bag he says. There Are a lot of retired people because first of All retirees Are not committed to a Job. They Don t have to worry about the kids school schedules. It s easy Lor them to Adap to someone s Holiday schedule retired people also Welcome the Chance to House Swap Vij no guarantees but usually a Good outcome travel at a reduced Cost As they Are most Likely living on a fixed  among the retirees who have found Home swapping a rewarding lifestyle is Howard w. Hinkeldey who was a lutheran pastor for More than 40 years. A widower with four grown children he can indulge his love Tor travel while making his underutilized four bedroom House in suburban Washington d.c., available to travelling families recent exchanges have netted him a House in Ascot England and one in a Seaside town in Ireland. Interservice s subscribers also include Many younger professional people notably academics who have plenty education Timo and often the Well developed sense of curiosity a successful traveler needs. Helen Underwood who is head of the English department at a private school even combined one of her swaps with a professional seminar in Cambridge England. Underwood and her husband Joel director of development for the anti hunger lobbying organization bread for the world first listed their suburban Baltimore House with interservice in 1985. They got so Many letters that they did t even have to make any inquiries of their own. Their Tirats swapping adventure took them to the House near Versailles and to a condominium in the French Alps. In 1987, they swapped their country style stucco rancher Tor a farmhouse in England s Lake District Kobrin has arranged eight swaps Lor himself most recently with a san Diego native. Last year he spent a month in an apartment in a Small town near St. Tropez France. And the year before Hal he vacationed in san Marino it s a tiny Independent country in the Middle of Italy a real undiscovered place for american  the process begins Kobrin explains by filling out a membership form which includes All the information that will eventually appear in your Catalon listing. This will include the name address phone numbers and profession of the exchanger lha closes big City preferred vacation destinations languages spoken and features of the House offered for Exchange. In exchanging As in real estate a Housa s three most important factors Are location location and location it it is close to popular tourist destinations it will have a Market. Catalon services generally do not make any guarantees As to the successor safety of swaps although Kobrin Stales that during his years in the business there have been few mishaps such As broken dishes and no disasters such As stolen cars. There s just no Way to screen people a says. In this kind of situation where you re exchanging Homes with a stranger and gelling acquainted by phone or Teller there s no guarantee that things won t go wrong but i be heard of no catastrophes. Complaints usually involve one party complaining that the other party did not leave the House in the same slate of cleanliness. I think perhaps the worst complain i be had and 1 get one or two of these a year is when one parly reneges on an agreement to make an Exchange. It s a very upsetting situation. There May be a legitimate Leason for reneging but i m afraid that in some cases on party gets a bolter Exchange o first one. It s something Yeara he continue against it really is acquainted with for references and us the clip swapping. Many p Are greeted in Thel sat of keys and he All the hospitality i fresh Flowers a w casserole and a at towels can gel a 9 Start. A couple of Trie Contact persons i Airport and bring you around give y whole Lima you re also these Peop their House to the and a Home woke  the warmest of we refrigerator full Oli Blanche to the Wir gardens full of flow daughter of their e to get them ticket los miserable. And their visitor Friendship in rerun they got to in we know our Nell Lor six years unc Page 14 the stars and stripes monday oel