Ready to Exchange Homes for a Season? We Are.

About Home Exchange

We are interested in swapping homes with the right homeowners for vacation. The idea is: we will travel to your area and stay in your home wile you travel to our area of Clearwater on the central west coast of Florida and stay in our home. Such a home exchange is becoming a popular way to enjoy low-cost vacation in a foreign country or for temporary climate change. The right exchange partners will be a professional single, couple, or small family of maturity, gentility, and financial stability. If you feel you fit this qualification, read on.

Who We Are

We (Bob and Maria Hurt) are a married couple. Bob is a native of Texas and was born in 1943. Maria is a native of Puerto Rico and was born in 1950. We both speak English; Maria is also fluent in Spanish. Bob is a computer professional with a background in hardware and software engineering, programming, technical writing, manufacturing, product management, marketing, sales, and executive management. Maria has a background in customer service and banking. We are self-employed and semi-retired. We are newly-weds, having married in October 2000. We were both married previously, and our children are grown and living elsewhere. We enjoy spending our time together. Maria is extremely active and a magnificent housekeeper. Bob is more sedentary and likes to cook, play guitar, and develop computer-related products and web sites. We enjoy travel, conversation, TV/movies, the beach, walks, and exercise in the gym. We are intensely religious, but not religious nuts - we are devoted truth seekers. We do not smoke, and we seldom drink, except a glass of wine at dinner. We are avidly interested in good health, and we use a juicer to prepare fresh raw fruit or vegetable juice daily. Except for Bob's desk, Maria keeps our home clean, tidy, and pleasant to live in.

What We Seek

• Target Area - Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, India, South America, Western USA.
• Preferred Area - Italy, Spain, France, UK, Czech Republic, Germany, South Africa, Western Australia.
• Target Environment - city/town/beach/mountains/countryside with easy access to city for sightseeing, shopping - Maria is physically fit, but Bob does not climb, hike, or do physically strenuous exercise - no jungles, rivers, or mountain trails to navigate.
• Target Time - Any time, but 2 months advance notice required.
• Preferred Time - Late summer August / September in Northern Hemisphere - prefer to vacation in warm weather when children are in school before or after summer vacation.
• Target Length of Stay - 2 weeks to 2 months.
• Automobile? - yes, we expect to exchange automobiles. We have a minivan.
• Children? - ours are grown and gone - we need accommodations only for ourselves (married couple).
• Special Facilities? - we require nothing special, but do not want to climb stairs in the residence.
• Pets? - we have none.
• Computer? - we will bring a notebook and our own hard drive, but will require an internet connection.

 

What We Offer

• Area - Clearwater, 20 miles west of Tampa on the central western coast of Florida in the USA.
• Community - "On Top Of The World" gated retirement community with guards at the gates,  two golf courses, two swimming pools, lawn bowling, tennis courts, exercise room, large hot tub with massage jets (104 degrees Farenheit), sauna, pocket billiards (ten tables), organized recreation.
• Flexible Time - we can accommodate your travel schedule with enough advance notice.
• Stay With Us - if exchange is not convenient, it is possible for you to live with us during your vacation.
• Automobile - yes, we expect to exchange automobiles. We have a minivan. It seats 7 with room for some luggage in back.
• Children - we prefer no children, but if yours are well-behaved it will be okay.
• Special Facilities? - elevator in center of building.
• Pets - no, we will not allow pets.
• The Condo Building - X-shaped, 3 floors, 72 dwellings, open-air staircase at each end; elevator, trash room, and laundry room in center.
• Condo - our condominium is clean and organized; it is on the third of three floors; afternoon sun slants fully through front windows
• Lawn, Shrubs, Trees - maintained in very nice condition by the property management organization; many oaks and palms
• Forest - 10 to 20 acres of woods are immediately behind our condo, close by and visible through rear windows.
• Bedrooms - two, each with its own TV/phone; waterbed in master bedroom; fold-out futon couch in family (TV) room
• Guest Bedroom - front of condo, sun through windows in afternoon, lockable door, double bed, 27" TV, plain-paper FAX machine
• Master Bedroom - center of condo, no windows, lockable front door, adjoins SunRoom through open portal, 13" TV with VCR, queen bed, private bath with full shower
• Sun Room - rear of condo, has futon couch, two recliner easy chairs, book case with TV and cable television controls; sun slants through windows in morning.
• Bathrooms - two (sorry, no bidets), main in center of condo has tub with shower and no windows, private adjoining master bedroom has full shower
• Computer - two, connected to internet via high-speed cable modem. These are in the area normally reserved for a dining table, and the area makes up our "office".  Both computers have removable hard drives.  Bring your own hard drive with you and drop it into the tray.  We will provide internet setup instructions.
• TV - three (Sun Room, Master Bedroom, Guest Bedroom); we subscribe to cable TV, so you will get many channels with movies, news, etc.
• Telephone - two phone lines with answering machines and portable phones, super-low-cost long distance service (5.5 cents per minute in USA, 10 cents to UK, etc)
• Water - softener provides soft water for easy suds; under-sink reverse osmosis filter gives pure drinking water.
• Food Preparation - new glass-top electric range, chest-high standard electric oven, full-size microwave with turn-table, Cuisinart food processor, Juiceman II juice extractor, glass and stainless steel cookware, German cutlery.
• Kitchen Cleanup - built in garbage disposer for sink, no automatic dishwasher
• Refrigerator - New side-by-side model with cold water, ice maker (cubes or crushed), stocked with whatever
• Kitchen Table - round and small, seats two comfortably, four if you must
• Laundry - shared facility in center of building with 4 washers and 4 dryers; cost is $1.25 per load to wash, $1.25 per load to dry; no clothes lines available
• Trash - carry trash bag to trash room on 1st floor, center of building; maintenance man empties cans Monday mornings
• Parking - lot in front of condo for visitors, numbered slot for family auto, not under cover; no garage
• Neighbors - most are in their 60's to 80's, polite, sedate, friendly, un-intrusive, retired.  Of the 36 families dwelling on our side of the building, 15 are widows.
• Shopping - huge mall and groceries within 1-2 kilometers
• Movies - several movie houses within 7 kilometers
• Beach - about 8 kilometers west (Gulf of Mexico) or 5 kilometers east (Tampa Bay)
• Theatre - Ruth Eckert Hall 6 kilometers east, Tampa Performing Arts center 30 kilometers east
• Theme Parks - Busch Gardens 30 kilometers east in Tampa; Disney, MGM, Universal properties, Sea World, Animal World, 2 hours drive east near Orlando, Cirqe du Soleil in Orlando, gambling cruises in Clearwater Beach
• Sports - Pro football (Tampa Bay Bucaneers) in winter, ice hockey (Tampa), Arena footbal (St. Petersburg), major league baseball in early spring, AAA baseball in spring/summer, college basketball in Tampa, St. Petersburg, deep sea fishing, sailing, parasailing, and beach volley ball at Clearwater Beach.  All are within 30 to 45 minute drive.
• Other Distances - Key West 8 hours drive, Miami 4-5 hours drive, Orlando 2 hours, St Petersburg or Tampa 30 minutes, Jacksonville 3-4 hours, Atlanta 8 hours, Biloxi Mississippi (gambling) 9 hours.

 

Photos / Maps

The below links will open a new browser window in which to view each photo. The same window will be used for all the photos. The easy way to go from photo to photo is to press Alt-Tab (under Microsoft Windows) to return to this page window, click on the next photo name, and press Alt-Tab to view it.

1. Maria Hurt - gorgeous as usual, in the Florida sun, 11 Feb 2001
2. Bob Hurt - in the Florida sun, 11 Feb 2001; yeah, he needs a shave and a haircut
3. Bob and Maria Hurt - at Christmas time 1999
4. Condo seen from street, looking northeast
5. Condo seen from right end of building, looking west
6. Condo seen from third floor, right end of building by stairwell
7. Condo Parking looking west from 3rd floor (our doorway)
8. Condo Parking looking directly our our doorway on 3rd floor
9. Forest seen from back window looking northeast
10. Forest seen from east end of building
11. Front door - as seen through the lamp
12. Living Room - slightly different view, seen from office
13. Rolltop Desk - back of desk, computer on other side, seen from front door
14. Kitchen - Maria at work, seen from family room
15. Kithen / Family Room - looking into family room from kitchen
16. Family Room - with Stuffed fish cushion on top of the futon
17. Master Bedroom - seen from family room
18. Master Bedroom - seen from hallway, door to adjoining bath visible
19. Guest Bedroom - afternoon sun streaming in
20. Tampa Bay area map - west coast of Florida; find Clearwater to get a start
21. North Pinellas County map - Clearwater, Safety Harbor, etc.; see map pin for our address
22. OTOW map - zeroing in: On Top Of the World community with golf course
23. Our Condo Location - our address shown
24. County map - different map of area, from county
25. Aerial Photo - 2-mile radius, look for the + dead center in the photo
26. Aerial Photo - 1-mile radius, look for the + dead center in the photo
27. Aerial Photo - .5-mile radius, look for the + dead center in the photo
28. Aerial Photo - .25-mile radius, look for the + dead center in the photo
29. Aerial Photo - .125-mile radius, look for the + dead center in the photo
30. Community golf course - we have a 9-hole and an 18-hole course
31. Community lake - the area abounds with places to fish, boat, and sun-bathe
32. Sugar-Sand BeachClearwater beaches are white, fun, and Fabulous!

 

To see a map by the Pinellas County property appraiser's office that you can zoom and pan, along with aerial photos, Click Here.

More Info

For more information on the area, Click Here (a site Bob created) and browse the main page, the history pages, and associated links. The site has a number of photos. For weather and much more local info, go to the Official Clearwater, Florida web site.

If You Want to Exchange Homes with Us

To exchange homes with us, just click here to send email. We look forward to hearing from you.

We live here:

 
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2460 Persian Drive #70, Clearwater, FL 33763, (727) 669-5511 -