admin Back in May, I received an unusual offer. Would I like to swap my 1,000-square-foot Brooklyn condo for a cinematographer’s three-bedroom townhouse in Paris’s fashionable Marais district? The answer came quickly: yes, of course.
So off I flew from Paris to New York for an impromptu sabbatical of two months in the city of love, all with the help of Behomm. Described as the first home exchange community for creatives and design lovers, when the opportunity to stay in a well-designed house for virtually no cost (I only continued to pay my mortgage and bills) presented itself, I instantly dropped all my plans and left.
When I arrived at my exchange, checking in was simple: I grabbed the keys from a lock box and was welcomed to a bottle of chilled French wine waiting for me in the foyer. The townhouse looked like something from an Architectural Digest profile, spotless and meticulously designed, with each accent piece and artwork handpicked to complement the room’s style. (As for the home’s more personalized offerings, I particularly enjoyed browsing through the numerous French screenplays and films—an unexpected bonus for swapping with someone working in my industry.)
Behomm was founded in 2013 by graphic designers Eva Calduch and Agust Juste, after the couple struggled to find like-minded peers on other home exchange platforms. “We thought, why don’t we just link creatives together to exchange homes because we have so many things in common,” says Calduch. The concept being that when members share a similar passion for tasteful objects, it becomes easier to match.
“If you love to travel, then the app can be very addictive. Someone might message you at any point, offering a beautiful home in a city you were never interested in or never heard of, and then suddenly you’re booking a flight there,” said Khaled Abbas, the founder of an advertising company in Barcelona. Abbas and his wife have been Behomm members since 2021 and have done five exchanges. “Even before we did our first exchange, it still felt like a privilege to be accepted as a member,” he said.
Of the homes that are submitted to Behomm, only 20 to 30 percent are approved. In order to make the cut, homes must be beautifully designed and potential members must receive an invitation from another member to apply. There’s also the option to apply for an invitation from Behomm itself. “The invites are to avoid anonymous registrations and keep connections authentic,” says Calduch, who reviews and selects the homes herself. She approves homes not based on luxury, or size and location, but instead, their beauty. “The concept of beauty is really subjective. A tiny apartment with second-hand furniture can be nicer than a mansion filled with taxidermy,” says Cadulch. Those who are accepted must pay an annual 380€ membership fee to join the platform.
