Friday, March 06, 2009

House Swapping and Identity Swapping

Just saw on WGN TV a segment about house swapping, an innovative way to buy a home. You list your home online and swap it with someone who has a house you like. This outside-the-box concept seems to be catching on. I'd say you'd have to be careful if you tried this, but if done correctly, it could be a great opportunity.

What about people swapping? I've read a number of books where for some reason the main character swaps identities with another person and all sorts of mayhem results. Later comes the confrontation and confession. All seems lost, but then by some miracle the day is saved.

One famous swap identities book is The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.

The original Parent Trap movie with Hayley Mills is a favorite of mine.

Do you know of any other books or movies where a person swap takes place? Or, maybe you've written one yourself. Please share.

7 comments:

  1. I had heard that people swap homes for holidays/vacations, but I had never heard of permanent house swapping... What will they think of next, right?

    I know a wonderful book about twin swapping:

    Lives of the Twins, by Joyce Carol Oats. A great little thriller.

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  2. It's interesting how some of the old ways come back when times get hard. There was a really interesting article on the BBC earlier this week about how battering is making a come back during these tough times.

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  3. Anonymous11:36 AM

    Well "Face Off" - the movie with Nicholas Cage (antagonist) and John Travolta (protagonist) is the ultimate identity switch plot. John has Nicholas' face surgically switched with his own so he can infiltrate the circle of conspirators and stop the bomb going off but Nicholas comes to and forces the doc to put John's face on him and for the rest of the movie when you see one of them you're looking at the other. Bizarre. And Nicholas plays house with Jon's wife and kid so there's wife-swapping going on too, cuz Nicholas' main squeeze is all over John with her lover's face on him!

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  4. I knew someone who swapped houses- their houses were in the 4 to 5 million dollar range- they swapped for location- since selling in that range was so hit or miss- and that was 8 years ago.

    It was the first time I'd heard of such a thing...

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  5. Anonymous1:40 PM

    +1 on the Parent Trap. Even my dad loves that movie!

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  6. I agree Face Off was a great movie.
    Almost every movie with John Travolta is great!

    Morgan Mandel
    http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

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  7. What about the two twin brothers that were of royalty. I think the movie was called The Iron Mask with Richard Chamberlain. The evil brother is free and the good brother is mistakenly put into the iron mask. I was too young for this movie but my mother made me watch it with her!

    About the house swapping. I read that this has been going on for a while. There was this couple that took vacations by swapping houses with couples that lived in France, Australia, England and other places. The woman said they were very careful about how they screened the people they swapped with. And so far no problems.

    Cindy Hernandez

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