East Valley sellers find a creative way to make a deal

With more than 50,000 homes for sale in the Valley to compete with, Gilbert homeowner Evelyn Wheeler began looking for creative alternatives to sell her four-bedroom house in Power Ranch.

So when she came across a “housing swap” category on the popular online classified advertising site Craigslist, Wheeler took a closer look.

The site allows homesellers to post ads, seeking other sellers who would be willing to buy their homes and vice versa.

Wheeler, who is looking for a one-story home, was leery at first but about a month ago decided to post an ad for her family’s two-story house, hoping it would fit someone’s needs.

“If it doesn’t cost me anything to do it, darn straight I’ll try it,” she said.

House swapping likely wasn’t even seen a couple years ago when it was easy to sell a home for a great price, Scottsdale real estate agent John Wake said.

“When I first heard about it, I thought it was a crazy idea, but it might work for somebody,” Wake said.

Still, it’s a long shot, he said. And some of the people placing ads may just be asking too much for their homes, he said.

A house at the right price will sell, he said. “I think it would sell a lot more quickly than a home swap.”

Mesa resident Diane Baker, who listed an ad about a month ago, hasn’t had much luck with the site so far.

The second grade teacher is looking to downsize from a three-bedroom home to a two-bedroom, but many of the sellers who respond to her ad have larger homes that she can’t afford.

“It’s almost as if they don’t read all of the details,” Baker said.

Gilbert real estate agent Bill Christie said he’s never heard of a successful swap deal, though he’s seen ads for them.

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the idea; it’s just highly unlikely to work out, Christie said.

“I can’t imagine both sides saying I like your house,” he said.

Still, with a slow market, the more creativity the better, said real estate agent Brandon Cox, who is also trying to swap his Chandler home for a smaller place. The popularity of Craigslist is growing, and it’s just another angle that somebody can work that doesn’t cost anything, Cox said.

“Everybody knows it’s a buyers’ market, so when you get sellers together, it makes it kind of nice because everybody’s on the same side,” he said.