The art of moving overseas with a big home
Relocating overseas is a significant undertaking, especially if you’re moving from a large home. Knowing your destination in advance allows you to plan more effectively and focus your energy on the details that really matter.
We have serviced expats living in a variety of accommodation styles, from studio flats to manor houses, and with over 60 years of experience, we’ve seen it all! With this in mind, we’ve created a simple guide to assist you when moving from a large home.
Most importantly: Start with strategic planning
The key to a successful relocation begins with careful planning. We recommend starting preparations at least three to six months before your moving date. Early planning gives you ample time to assess your belongings, decide what you’ll bring, and manage logistics effectively. The size and scale of your home mean early organization is crucial to ensure a smooth transition.
- Break down the logistics of a big move
Large homes come with large inventories. Tackling the logistics of moving a house full of belongings, including furniture, artwork, electronics, collections, clothing, and family memorabilia, requires a room-by-room strategy. Start by conducting a detailed inventory of your entire house. This helps determine what will be moved, sold, donated, or stored.
We recommend creating three lists: must-move, store-for-later, and let-go. This not only reduces volume but makes the packing and shipping process more efficient. Using color-coded tags or digital inventory apps can also help streamline coordination on moving day.
Professional movers can pack and ship, and our moving crews are trained to the highest standards. For a home of significant size, however, it’s more than just the ground crews: coordination is everything. Having a move manager or point of contact can reduce the burden on you and means we can help synchronize whatever timelines you’re working towards, especially if there are multiple shipments or complex customs documentation.
You’ll almost certainly be using container shipping, so you can start with our primer on how that works, and specifically how containers themselves actually work.
- Take stock of your assets, and manage them in advance
Maybe you’ve got fine art, porcelain, wines, or even a fleet of cars. Each of these categories requires special care in its own way, and we’ve got bespoke solutions (and in some cases specific businesses) for each one. Here are the main requirements you should be looking for:
Fine art and antiques: Custom crating and climate-controlled transportation are essential to ensure their safe arrival. Crown Fine Art is our business that handles artwork for auction houses, museums and private collections. We’ve also got a specific guide on how we relocate precious artwork, which breaks it all down.
Wine collections: Optimal temperature and humidity control during transit are the main requirements, as well as appropriate storage upon arrival at destination. Crown Wine Cellars has been moving and storing fine wines for 20 years, so we’re happy to help in this regard.
Luxury vehicles: In the case of cars, it’s not just a matter of logistics, but understanding import regulations and ensuring adequate insurance coverage. Many countries have very specific requirements, especially environmental regulations.
Crown Relocations coordinates with specialized professionals to guarantee your valuable possessions arrive safely and compliantly at your new home. You can also refer to our comprehensive guide to shipping belongings internationally.
- Have you properly understood the tax implications?
If you haven’t already, make sure you have a good international tax advisor to understand how your relocation affects income taxes, capital gains and estate planning. Many countries offer attractive tax benefits for high-net-worth newcomers, potentially providing substantial financial advantages if structured appropriately. Dubai’s “Golden Visa” is probably the best example, but almost every major expatriate destination on earth has a similar Golden Visa with an investment requirement of some kind.
Our more general guide on managing money when moving overseas provides an overview of how to prepare day-to-day financial matters such as ensuring a working bank account on arrival.
Streamline your logistics
The logistical aspects of moving a substantial household can be challenging, to say the least. As mentioned, we’d recommend sea freight for
most of your belongings, but you may want to use air freight for some particularly important belongings. Complying with customs requirements and scheduling precise delivery dates is something our expert staff will handle. However, on your end you’ll want to make sure any relocation firm is offering:
- Customized packing: Ensures that every item is securely prepared for international transport.
- Inventory management: Given the sheer volume of what you’ll be moving, you will want to keep comprehensive records of all belongings. With our digitalized inventory system, ePacking, this is done automatically, which is important from an insurance point of view.
- Storage solutions: Providing secure storage facilities as needed during your relocation. For example, are you planning on arriving before all your belongings arrive? In that case you’ll need to make sure that your belongings are picked up from the port and taken to high-quality warehouse with good security protocols.
Moving overseas even without a large volume of belongings can be logistically challenging. Crown Relocations provides comprehensive, personalized support, ensuring everything you own is handled with the most expert of care, and your luxury belongings are given the bespoke treatment they deserve.
Other resources:
- Our Relocating with Confidence guide provides a start-to-end treatment of how to prepare, psychologically and practically, move and settle in successfully.
For more information or to discuss your specific moving needs, get in touch with one of our experts today!
