An interesting article appeared in the Chandler section of the Arizona Republic yesterday. It was about house swapping. But not the kind we saw last Christmas in "The Holiday." That kind of house swapping involves temporarily trading homes as a kind of vacation. This kind of house swapping is permanent.

According to the article, permanent house swapping - literally trading your house for someone else's - is a real phenomenon. And it may be catching on in the Valley.

The article told the story of one real estate investor with a 10-year-old 2,800-square-feet house in Chandler. The investor can't seem to find a buyer or a renter for the property. He's not willing to slash the price until the house sells, but he is willing to trade the house for another - even one worth less - if it's in a more desirable location for renters.

Several online house-swapping sites have popped up recently, including OnlineHouseTrading.com, which has listed 5,700 homes - 800 of them in Arizona. DomuSwap.com also offers an online house-swapping service, with 66 Arizona listings currently. A number of homeowners looking to swap have also posted on Craigslist; this week alone there were 28 house-swap listings for the Phoenix area.

Another article, by CBS News last July, listed some benefits of house swapping: homeowners can avoid paying real estate agent commissions and avoid the chance of getting stuck with two mortgages (if the homeowner buys a new home before he can sell his current home). But there are potential downsides as well: what you save on real estate agent's commission you may pay in attorney's fees and choices are more limited when you're looking for a house-swap deal.

For those reasons, and because of the fact that house swapping can be more complicated than straight-out buying or selling (especially when one or both of the homeowners have mortgages), permanent house swapping is not very common.

If you do decide to explore the house-swapping option, you need to take some precautions:

1. Be wary. If you find a property for swap online, ask for photos. Then explore the neighborhood on your own (a real estate agent can help you learn about the neighborhood, including home values there). When you go to meet the other homeowner, go during the day, and don't go alone.

2. Be wary. If your initial checks turn out well, hire a home inspector to professionally inspect the home you're considering. It may look nice on the surface, but big expensive problems could be lurking below.

3. Be wary. Hire an attorney to help you sort out the legal aspects of the swap to make sure that everything is above-board.

It may be tempting to try to do a house swap on the cheap, but getting help from a real estate agent and/or attorney will be well worth the extra expense.