Relocating your family and belongings to a new home can be both exciting and stressful. Moving internationally whether that is for a corporate relocation or you are emigrating heightens that experience considerably. Preparation and knowledge are the key factors that will make your move easier. Whilst you are familiar with your current home and it might be an emotional time to leave it, by far the greatest worry is the unknown aspects of your new location. Engaging global removalists that not only pack, ship and unpack you belongings but also have experienced and qualified relocation consultants to help you at your new location gives you the best chance to settle in quickly and easily.
The following describes some of the process that a relocation consultant will take to help you manage your move and successfully relocate your family.

1. The most important first move is for your removalist to assign a dedicated account manager. The role of the account manager is to understand the needs of your family and give you continuity of service.

2. Initially, you will be asked to complete a relocation questionnaire so that everyone understands your needs. The results of this and the initial discussion with your account manager are extremely important to clarify and explain all aspects of your relocation.

3. Your account manager should be inquisitive and ask further questions that through their experience they know need to be considered.

4. The questionnaire asks the practical questions relating to the move – not the emotive ones. These are the most important and are better discussed rather than put down on paper.

5. Your consultant needs to be competent, calm and encouraging. The initial conversation sets up a reassuring rapport with you as you go through a huge upheaval.

6. In assessing their knowledge of their new home location the question “Have you been to there before?” is extremely important. If the answer is Yes – as a tourist, this impression of the city and country will be very different to the one they will have coming in as a resident. Reality can be very different from the expectations they gathered as a tourist. It is important to manage these expectations through making positive suggestions and offering alternatives.

7. Finding the right schools for children is most important. The age of the children and the type of education you need is a guiding factor. You may decide on a privately funded education or opt to enter the public education system. Your consultant will be familiar with all the educational options open to you. They can provide you with the right information including tuition fees, placements available, websites to visit, location of schools and setup appointments prior to your arrival.

8. Finding the right place to live, close to schools, work and shopping can be difficult from a distance. Your consultant will encourage you to be as involved and informed as much possible prior to your arrival. They will send you links to various real estate websites so you begin to get an appreciate rental values. If you have an interest in various properties, sending those details to your consultant will help them plan a drive-by of these properties on your orientation when you first arrive. This initial research time by your consultant and you gives focus to house hunting immediately.

Your consultant can also be involved in property inspections reports, negotiating lease arrangements and any other details that you may not be familiar with.

9. Once your home has been decided upon you will need to consider connecting the necessary utilities – telephone, water, gas, electricity. If your furniture has not arrived, a short term furniture rental option might be required. Even the day to day needs such as mobile phone plans, broadband internet plans and cable television options can be confusing. All these can be easily arranged by your relocations consultant.

10. Your consultant will help you orient yourself to you new surroundings as quickly as possible also helps you and your family to settle in quicker. Some of the areas they can advise on are:

– You will need to know the commute time to the office, how best to travel there – public transport options or do you drive?

– Where are the nearest shopping facilities – both for groceries and retail outlets.

– What medical facilities are available – hospitals, doctors, dentists, physiotherapists. They can even provide you the private health care options that you may need.

– Banking and insurance facilities and the options available to you need to be put in place.

– What neighbourhood and community facilities are available? Sporting clubs such as gyms, golf, tennis, cricket, football and dance are close by.

-In the early stages, what are easily accessible weekend activities for your family? The first few weeks are so important to make sure that you do exciting things and make everyone feel that this is the right move for your family.

-Networking with others, making new friends quickly also is key to your successful move. Your relocations consultant often organises “morning teas” for people in a similar position to you. You are all going through similar issues trying to quickly settle down.

Having a relocations consultant dedicated to the success of you settling in to your new location cannot be underestimated. In the initial few weeks, they can be your “first friend” to call on when you need help. However, there are some key attributes that your consultant must have:

– They must listen to you and your needs. The must be aware of not only to what you are saying, but also being intuitive as to how you are feeling.

– They must be flexible to your changing needs and must change tack with minimal effort. You will change your thoughts as with the help of your consultant you become more knowledgeable of your move and new location.

– They must be encouraging and turn around the negatives by being able to offer positive alternatives – pointing out the progress made at the end of every day – no matter how small – so that you know that you are getting somewhere.

Engaging the right removalists, with an experienced relocations consultant is the first and most important step you can take to ensure success.

Author Bio: Sally Mallin is a senior member of experienced relocation agents in Sydney Australia with Crown Relocations – interstate removalists and international removalists. Crown offers family and corporate relocation programmes if you are moving interstate or overseas.

Category: Real Estate
Keywords: relocation agents, interstate removalists, international removalists, corporate relocations