Travel for free by renting out your home for the Kentucky Derby

March 14, 10:31 AMLouisville Travel ExaminerZach Everson

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The Kentucky Derby makes the first weekend in May a great time for Louisville residents to rent  out their homes and use the proceeds
to travel. (Photo: Zach Everson)

If I may be so pretentious as to quote MSNBC.com quoting me in Christopher Elliott's article "Nine essential travel strategies for 2009":

1. Think outside the travel box
Relying on the same old travel strategies is folly. Think differently in 2009. For example, if you don’t have a lodging budget for your next trip, don’t fret. “Home exchanges have been rising in popularity during the past year,” says Zach Everson, a travel blogger. “I think they’ll see a sharp spike next year.” (He and his wife just bought a house in Louisville, Ky., and they’re looking for ways of making it more attractive for a home swap.)

Well, I just put my money, er, my house, where my mouth is:

www.kentuckyderbyhomerental.com

For one week a year, Louisville is one of the most desired destinations in the world. So while my wife and I are still interested in swapping our home the other 51 weeks of the year to offset our travel, the week of the Kentucky Derby home trades are off the table and we're just looking to rent it (unless Queen Elizabeth is the one offering a swap--and I don't want to summer palace, queenie, I'm talking Buckingham).

As we just moved into the house, this year we're putting most of our proceeds back into it and just traveling to North Carolina to see some friends and a Bruce Springsteen concert during the Derby weekend.

Next year though, we're thinking about traveling to Italy or Paris. Sure, Derby is a blast. But by renting out our house for just three days, we can make enough money to spend a couple of weeks in Europe and still have money left over.

And the strategy of paying for your vacation by renting out your home isn't exclusive to Louisville. Sporting events and other special occasions (such as Barack Obama's much-hyped inauguration in Washington, DC) can make your home a hot commodity.