Find a Place to Live Before You Move Overseas
Investigate Housing and Find a Place to Live
Concurrently with searching for an international moving company, you should be investigating your housing options in your new city. The best way to begin your search is to use the National Association of Realtor’s “Find a Realtor” database to find an international Realtor you can trust. Additionally, the NAR’s CIPS database allows you to search for a trained international specialist in your specific area. The NAR’s realtor.com/international website lists homes for sale in over 30 countries. Check out our article Renting or Buying a Home Abroad for more details.
You can also search for local real estate firms directly. Everyone is online today with websites that are easily searched. Major U.S. real estate companies like Coldwell Banker, Century 21 and others have offices or branches in most major cities around the world. You can confirm local reputation and reliability through expat chat groups and forums in your new location. Most real estate firms also have rental listings or can put you in touch with local firms that handle just rentals. Our article Buying a Home in Mexico provides more details on buying a home through a local real estate firm.
Unless you have relatives or friends in the area or spend a lot of time in your new location and know it well, we recommend that you find a short-term rental to live in initially. That will give you plenty of time to thoroughly research the area and find the perfect spot to live.
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