Holding a Valuable Item Belonging to a Home Exchange Partner 'Hostage'??

'My cousin and her family are doing it (exchanging homes). They left their beautiful home in the San Diego area and exchanged it with another family in New Zealand. I told my cousin that they should keep something of value from the New Zealand home until they come back to check on their house. Then, after all is well, they could mail it back to the New Zealand people. She just laughed.'- Donn's Center of the Universe

Being concerned about having home exchangers in your home in case they break or take your stuff is a common worry that many people have at first. Home exchange isn't for everyone, but those who do it soon realise that their potential exchange partners will have exactly the same concerns about them - until they get to know each other. So if there's likely to be hostage taking of a valuable item, they might take something of yours hostage too (although I've never heard of anyone actually doing this!)

By the time a home swap takes place, both parties to the exchange will have corresponded often and should by this time feel that they have got to know and trust each other, and not that they are letting 'strangers' stay in their home but rather that friends are caring for it while they're away.