home exchange

There is has been all sorts of stuff in the news about the home exchange vacation lately. Most recently there was an article on CNN. I am really intrigued about this whole thing. One because it would be a very afforable way to travel. Two because you get to stay in an actual house and not in a hotel, where you have the opportunity to meet more local people and experience life as the person who lives there would. But I have a huge issue with the whole trust thing. I mean how do you know that this person isn't going to steal your stuff or ruin something? Maybe the people involved in these things just have a lot less stuff than I do. There are things that are relatively cheap and replaceable such as DVDs or CDs and then there are more pricey things like jewelry or even family heirlooms that are irreplaceable. I know that you give reviews of people who have swapped before, but someone has to take a chance and trust you first in order to get good reviews. This is essentially the same thing as ebay, but ebay also fraud stuff built into their agreements and such. I would like to try the home swap thing at some point. Maybe when I am old and retired or something. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Am I the only one who has trust issues with this? Or would you gladly open your home to strangers?