When Ed Kushins began HomeExchange in 1992, he used stamps to mail printed catalogues to the 125 members around the world. He lost money, but telling people about swapping homes as a means of traveling was something Kushins loved to do, so he didn’t mind.
The internet, however, eliminated his productions costs.
Now Kushins’ HomeExchange.com, which is based in Hermosa Beach, is offered in 15 languages and has more than 43,000 members. It’s the busiest home exchange business in the world, helping people swap homes for vacation getaways and business trips.
“The internet came around and we were able to change our business model,” Kushins said. “And I still love telling people about HomeExchange.”
People around the world want to hear about it. Kushins and his wife Terry routinely receive inquiries from those who want to stay in their home in Hermosa Beach – not because he is the founder of HomeExchange, but because Hermosa Beach is one of the top destinations to stay when visiting the Los Angeles area.
Diana and Mik Thornley from Melbourne, Australia rode bicycles, went to the beach and played volleyball while staying in a home in Hermosa last month.
“What haven’t we done?” said Diana Thornley, a graphic designer. “If you get your plane tickets, you can pretty much stay anywhere for free. [HomeExchange] makes travel that much more affordable.”
Kushins said lots of people sign up for HomeExchange thinking it is a great way to save money, which it is. A visitor can stay anywhere for free, minus the cost of getting there. But repeat Home Exchangers participate because they enjoyed living like a local in a home in a residential neighborhood, Kushins said.
“The thing people really remember about their trip how comfortable it was and how much they felt like they were a part of the community they were visiting, which is totally different than staying in a rented place or a hotel,” Kushins said.
Sometimes it’s a straight exchange with two parties and two homes and two cars, Kushins said, and sometimes it’s a three-way exchange. Pamela and Don Ashe, who lent their Culper Court home to the Thornleys from Melbourne, decided to vacation in Palm Desert, California in another home exchanger’s second home, for example.
“We tend to gravitate to more local exchanges,” Pamela Ashe said. “And that’s because it’s so great to pull them together without too much long term planning or concerns.”
Through HomeExchange, the Ashes have stayed in Santa Cruz, Carmel, Big Bear Lake and in Oregon.
Kushins said those on HomeExchange typically communicate enough to get to know each other before the actual exchanging of homes occurs, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t initial concerns.
“As you get closer, you start to feel a little scared and anxious about your home and pets and plants depending on these people you hope are good people,” said Kristen Zaleski of Hermosa Beach, who exchanged her family’s home with another family in New Zealand last year. “But it was really a wonderful experience. We’re still in touch with them. We’re talking about exchanging again next year.”
Kushins, who has two children from a previous marriage, and his wife Terry have made seven home exchanges over the last four years with the same people in Berkely, California.
“We use their place almost like a second home now,” Kushins said, adding that weekend getaways are the latest trend on HomeExchange, replacing the traditional two-week vacation.
Kushins grew up in Monterey Park, California and earned his Masters of Business Administration in 1972 from the University of Southern California, a year after moving to Manhattan Beach. After working for a cargo airline for several years, he took over his father’s scrap business in 1978 when his father retired, the same year Kushins moved to Hermosa Beach.
Kushins changed the marketing strategy and transformed the scrap business from a two-person operation to a staff of 50. In 2006, he and his business partner sold the scrap business to another recycling company.
Kushins fell in love with home exchanging in the early 1990s when he and his family stayed in a house in Washington D.C. he found through a European-based home exchange service. Twenty years later HomeExchange.com has five full-time employees, 42 independent contractors around the world, and $5.5 million in revenue projected for this year.
HomeExchange isn’t the only way to stay in someone’s home for free via the internet. Couchsurfing.org allows members to stay as a guest in a host’s home. And whereas HomeExchange.com costs about $120 a year for a membership, couchsurfing has no member fees.
Gary Doss has lived in Hermosa since 2004 and has opened his home to traveling couch surfers for the last nine months or so. He’s had guests from France, England, Australia and Denmark.
It’s nice when Doss comes home from work and his guests have made dinner for him, which gives them a taste of their country’s cuisine.
“When people envision coming to Los Angeles, they actually envision Hermosa Beach,” Doss said. “They don’t envision downtown L.A., or what the majority of L.A. looks like. They get to Hermosa and they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is what we imagined.’”
Doss said he is looking forward to doing some couch surfing himself soon.
“This is the way I plan on travel in the future, not in a hotel,” Doss said. “A hotel is nice once in a while. But you don’t really get a taste of the local community and the people unless you are actually staying with them. You make friendships and you get a really good sense of who the locals are.”
Tom French and Linda Sutherland are Hermosa locals who exchanged their 5th Street home last year with a woman and her son who live in Paris. French signed her 11-year-old son up for the Chevron Surf Camp.
“He got into the beach culture,” French said.
Another time, French and Sutherland swapped their home with a cookbook author from London. They bought copies of her cookbook and left them in their home for her to sign, which she gladly did.
“When people do this, they shouldn’t try to match up exactly with the quality of house they might have,” said French, who has a three-bedroom, three-bath home with Sutherland.
“We just wanted to be near transportation. Turned out we traded with people who had apartments. They were nice apartments in really nice neighborhoods. A good location was worth more than two extra bedrooms we really didn’t need.
“We had new cars and theirs weren’t so new but it didn’t matter. We just wanted to drive around Paris and London. But they were good reliable cars. We knew what we were getting. We have been very happy with the exchanges.”
Maria and Robert Carlson of Redondo Beach spent 13 weeks in Switzerland and France last year staying in other people’s homes. More recently, they just returned from London and Athens.
Maria said Robert was reluctant at first to swap homes on HomeExchange. Maria asked Robert to go to Vermont for the autumn colors. Robert said that was too far north, Maria said. Another suggestion by Maria was too far south. Finally, Maria said she was able to talk her husband into a weekend getaway in Carmel through HomeExchange.
“The rest is history,” Maria Carlson said.
