A villa in Mykonos, Greece listed on home exchange service ThirdHome.
If you’re lucky enough to own a second home valued between $1 million and $50 million, ThirdHome has a proposal for you. You can list your own home there and in return get access to stays in 17,000 similar homes, boats and personal islands world wide.
As the corporate puts it, ThirdHome positions itself as an exclusive home exchange club for luxury second home owners. This is hardly Airbnb; ThirdHome members need a primary home or their “real” home and a second home or vacation home. By listing this second home on ThirdHome, members gain access to tens of millions of dollars in similar vacation properties across the U.S., Australia, Europe and elsewhere.
Self-made real estate entrepreneur Wade Shealy founded the corporate. Shealy, who spent college selling Bibles, founded an actual estate company in South Carolina in 1986 and used his sales experience to construct and sell resort properties.
In 2010, Shealy got here up with the concept of ThirdHome, which he founded with a small group of friends and investors. Members receive credits after they list their properties and make them available for exchange. These credits allow members to decide on when and where to travel to a different listed second home, eliminating the necessity for a simultaneous exchange (like within the movie). THE HOLIDAYS) with one other member.
Wade Shealy, CEO and founding father of ThirdHome, a luxury home exchange membership program.
Shealy told me that the issue with second homes is that they’re often underused. Owners cannot all the time rent out their second home each time they need. Some owners get frustrated and sell their second home. Instead of simply leaving houses empty, Shealy’s idea was to construct a community of high-quality “house swappers” world wide (now in 100 countries) so that folks could use their existing investments without spending loads of money on travel.
The company says ThirdHome’s “secret sauce” is its unique indirect exchange business model, which significantly limits money outlays for members. The company also states that potential “third home” offers are thoroughly vetted by its international team to make sure the property is in a desirable location, has trustworthy homeowners, and is valued at over $1,000,000 .
As for the homes themselves, Shealy told me that “they are cared for and managed by family members, not an agent,” like other real estate firms.
As the corporate puts it: “With trust being the club’s core ethos, it is vital that members of the community look after each other’s homes with the same respect that they would have their own property looked after.”
An aerial view of a castle in Turin, Italy. The property is accessible to members for exchange … [+]
The company says members can “book stays around the world instantly at a fraction of what it would cost elsewhere, saving them an average of 90-95% on standard booking prices.” I used to be told that the fee charged by ThirdHome is to make use of it of the service was $900 per week per exchange. The exchange of butlers, cars, beach rights, etc. shall be discussed between the parties.
Members can earn additional credits through renovations, additional services and particularly by ensuring that their second home is accessible throughout the desired weeks. (A NYC penthouse available between Christmas and New Year’s is price more credits than in March or July.)
Since 2010, the club has also expanded its business model to incorporate the THIRDHOME Reserve Tier (for homes valued over $5 million), THIRDHOME Adventures (small, organized luxury tour groups), and several other partnerships and hotel partners equivalent to the Ritz Carlton.
I recently attended a ThirdHome event in Los Angeles at a mountaintop mansion in Tarzana. It was in-built 1972 and is decorated in a Seventies style, apart from the avocado green toilets. Of course it was the situation for a lot of movies.
At the event, I heard two ThirdHome members compare their experiences with their respective luxury properties. One was on the Caribbean side and the opposite was on the Pacific side of Costa Rica.
A ThirdHome listing for a non-public island in Belize.
Most of the group were ThirdHome members or potential members who had come to see Shealy’s presentation. Wade arrived with Debbie Fields, the famous cookie entrepreneur (“Mrs. Fields”) who he’s currently dating. After the champagne, Shealy gave a presentation to about 50 people introducing the corporate, including footage from the six-part Paramount Plus television series. Millionaire Vacation Home Exchangewhich began broadcasting in 2022.
The group of multimillionaire homeowners was a combination of ages, from late 20s to mid-60s. One woman said she had used ThirdHome 10 times. She particularly liked the posh house where she lived on an island in Belize.
A spokesperson for ThirdHome told me before they left for Australia that they expected the corporate to grow to almost 50,000 members by the tip of 2025. Wade Shealy actually operates in a goal group-rich environment.
Zillow says there are 550 cities within the US alone where the average house costs greater than $1 million. And a 2023 Ameriprise Financial A survey of economic advisors who work with wealthy clients found that about two in three own second homes.
No wonder ThirdHome’s motto is “Where will your second home take you?”
A ThirdHome member property in Lake Tahoe, California often known as “Tahoe Treehous.”
