Williamsburg, Greenpoint & Bushwick

Real Estate

Where Are New Yorkers Going on Vacation for Free?

June 29, 2015 7:28am | Updated June 29, 2015 7:28am

New Yorkers may not always feel like the world is their oyster. But when it comes to housing swaps for summer vacations, there are a few advantages to living in the Big Apple.

Denizens of NYC in search of a free place to vacation put the word out with no qualms about setting their sights high. Recent posts to Craigslist's housing swap section include requests for swaps in London, Paris, VeniceBarcelona, Madrid, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, posted with Spanish and French translations and offers of Skype tours of the apartments, alongside descriptions of the neighborhood, buildings and amenities.

Posts like this offer a glimpse into the lives of the posters. Other housing swap posts by people trying to come to New York this summer suggest that there's a high likelihood the swappable NYC apartments will indeed be filled by visitors. Parisians, Madrilènes, Angelenos and San Franciscans all want to spend time in the Big Apple this summer, as do residents of beautiful homes in Rio de Janiero, Tel Aviv, Berlin, Florence, and Amsterdam, not to mention plenty of nearby would-be swappers in New England, Montauk, and D.C.

Perhaps the most adventurous among the posters are those who are open to destination proposals. Some posters have a general idea about what they would like, such as mountains or beaches; others note specific travel experiences that would pique their interest. One poster notes (in parenthesis) at the end of his message that "A boat would even work...."

Craigslist offers a public forum for home-swapping,  but New Yorkers who do it regularly note that many of their successful swaps have come from private neighborhood networks, such as Facebook groups, where neighbors can provide character references for potential swappers and facilitate easy exchanges.

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