6 Tips for Moving Internationally from Washington DC

  • Author: Devin Henry
  • Last Updated: March 6, 2022
Table of Contents

Washington DC is an incredibly transient city. People come and go from all corners of the world, daily. A lot of this movement can be attributed to career or educational opportunities. Our friends at Allied Movers have years of experience successfully transporting people from one end of the earth to the next. We took a few minutes to chat with them to get a few pointers on planning an international move. Below are their 6 tips for moving internationally.

1) Planning Ahead is Key

The most important thing you can do to prepare for an overseas move is to plan ahead as far in advance as possible. You need to learn about specific pricing of not only the move itself, but things like shipping your car, movers, etc. Come up with very detailed “to do” checklists and inventory lists for each room. Focusing on the logistics of a move as granularly as possible will provide you with a massive benefit when the move comes to fruition.

2) Minimize Everything

Overseas moves are priced by the total weight of the shipment of your belongings. Go through your home as diligently as possible and choose only the essentials to take with you. Donate, sell, or giveaway everything that is not essential. For those pieces you just can’t part with, look at storage units or ask family members with extra storage or basement space if they could store them for a price.

3) Take a Thorough Home Inventory

Go through your home and really look at what you will need while you’re abroad. This should be done after you have found a residence and have a general idea of how many rooms you will have and what the square footage will be. Again, only invest in transporting the essentials.

4) Study Up

Take the time to learn detailed information about where you are moving. You can buy travel guides or read online blogs to learn anything and everything about your new home. Take note of the best grocery stores, doctors who accept your insurance and places to eat before you leave your current location.

5) Pack Right, Not Fast

Securing a top-rated moving company is absolutely essential when making an overseas move. Never try to save a few dollars just to find all your worldly possessions have been damaged after the move. One of the biggest moving expenses actually comes from the packaging materials. You can save money by utilizing a variety of avenues that will give you access to free moving boxes and packaging materials.

6) Hire a Property Manager

If you own property in DC and are moving internationally for a job, you definitely do not want to give up your property. The chances of you having to move back to DC at some point are likely. Make your life hassle free by hiring someone else to find tenants for your home and maintain it while you’re away. Property managers, like Nomadic Real Estate, make your investment work for you.

Moving overseas can be an incredible experience. It will be one you treasure your entire lifetime. You have the opportunity to broaden your horizons and to live as a true part of another culture. The most important thing you can do when moving overseas is to follow the tips above (as well as research more) to make sure that you are moving in an organized and efficient manner. This will save you a ton of headaches and issues down the road. Happy exploring!

Looking for something?

Visit our Tenant Resource Center to submit a work order. Visit our Client Resource Center to log into your account. Check out our awesome DMV located rentals. Get in touch for our property management services.

Share via Email
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Share on Twitter
Get help from DC's top real estate team.
Founded in 2005, Nomadic is the go-to full service real estate firm in the DMV. We've helped thousands of landlords, investors, and residents and we would love to connect with you next.
Get in touch today!

Check out more of our blog posts below!

Or search for a different topic:
2018 Inc. 5000 List
Voted Best Property Manager in DC Badge
Top Company Cultures Award Best Company 2018
Equal Opportunity Housing

Navigate

Resources

Join Our Newsletter!

We promise we won’t spam you – you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 Nomadic Real Estate. Sitemap.

Facebook-f Instagram Twitter Youtube
Scroll to Top

Thinking of selling? Get an instant property value report:

Download Sales Comps

Enhanced Reporting

Your portal includes a selection of extremely useful reports. Reports are available in the “Reports” section, and are distinct from the financial statements. Unlike financial statements which are static records, Reports are dynamic real-time records that will update with current data every time you view them. 

Scroll down to learn more about Reports:

Navigate to the "Reports" module in your portal:

Owner Portal Reports
  • Keep in mind, these reports are dynamic records. They will refresh to display current information every time you view them. 

Enhanced Rent Roll Report:

Enhanced Rent Roll Report
  • The Enhanced Rent Roll Report will show the rent amount, last payment date, move-in date, lease expiration date, and security deposit amount for each of your tenants. 
  • It will also show a portfolio summary with occupancy percentage, vacancy loss, and more!

Unit Comparison Report:

Unit Comparison Report
  • If you own multiple units (or buildings) with Nomadic, you’ll get access to the Unit Comparison Report. 
  • This report enables you to quickly compare financial performance between your units at a glance without toggling between individual reports. 

Income Statement Month-Over-Month:

Income Statement by Month Report
  • The Income Statement Detail – Monthly Report serves as a month-over-month record of portfolio performance. You’ll see itemized income and expense categories and can track monthly. This report will update with fresh data every time you view it. 

Financial Statements

Financial statements will be published to your portal on a monthly basis. The statements are found in your Documents library, and provide a historical record of all financial performance. The statements serve as a snapshot of financial performance over a given period, and are static documents (unlike Reports, the statements do not update/change in real-time). 

Scroll down for more info about the Financial Statements in your Documents library:

The Documents area contains monthly financial statements:

Owner Portal Documents
  • The statements in the Documents are are static documents. They are posted to the portal once a month to serve as a historical record of financial performance. 

Download a statement to see month and YTD financials:

Owner Portal Property Statement

You'll also find a month-over-month operating statement:

Month over Month Statement

Portal Communication Tool

You can use your owner portal to communicate with our team. Any messages you send through the portal will go straight to your Account Manager. When we reply, you’ll get an email notification and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

Here’s an overview of using the communication platform:

Click "Communications" and navigate to "Conversations":

Commincation Dashboard Screenshot
  • The communications module will contain a record of all messages that you create through the portal. 

Click the "New Message" button and send your message:

Owner Portal New Message Screenshot

Responses will show up in the conversation ticket:

Portal Conversation Response Screenshot
  • You’ll get an email notification whenever you get a response, and you’ll also see the message in your portal next time you log in. 

You can reply in-line using the comment box:

Owner Portal Comment

Each conversation will be logged in its entirety:

Portal Conversation Snapshot

Understanding the Ledger

Your portal includes a ledger with all transactions. The ledger is populated with data in real-time as transactions flow through our accounting software. Much of this information is also available in the Reports area, as well as the Statements in your Documents library, but the ledger is the most comprehensive resource for diving into the details. 

Please scroll through the sections below to get a better understanding of how to interpret the ledger. 

By default, transactions are sorted chronologically:

Owner Ledger Dates
  • The date reflected in the lefthand column is the actual transaction date, not the “bill date”. This is the date the transaction was actually processed. 

If you have multiple properties with Nomadic, you'll see the address for each transaction in the "Location" column:

Ledger Property Column
  • You can filter the ledger to look at just one property, all properties, or specific sets of properties. 
  • If you only have one property with us, you’ll just see the ledger for that property. 

The Description column displays the transaction type:

Owner Ledger Description Column
  • BILL: this is an expense transaction, such as for repair costs or management fees.
  • CHARGE: this is a transaction  billed to the tenant, most typically a rent payment. 
  • NACHA EXPORT: this is a credit we processed to your distribution account. This type of transaction is how you get paid! 

The Amount column shows the dollar value of each transaction:

Owner Ledger Amount Column
  • Positive Amounts: if an amount is positive, it reflects a transaction that is payable to you. Typically, this will be a rent payment that we collected from your tenants. On occasion, a positive number could also signify a journal entry or credit adjustment. 
  • Negative Amounts:  if an amount is negative, this is a transaction that is either payable to Nomadic or is an amount that has already been paid to you. Typically this will be for repair costs or management/leasing fees. Owner draws (net distributions into your checking/savings account) also reflect as negative amounts, since they have already been paid to you. 

The Account Balance column shows a sum of positive/negative transactions at a given point in time:

Owner Ledger Account Balance Column
  • Account Balance should always equal zero after a net distribution has been processed. When the balance is zero, this means that all expenses have been paid and you’ve received the remainder as net operating income, leaving a balance of zero (meaning: no one is due any money, as all funds have been distributed appropriately). 

Navigating the Propertyware Owner Portal

Your portal includes some extremely useful features that help you understand your property’s financial performance at a new level, with real-time transparency into every transaction.

Scroll through the snapshots below for an overview of portal navigation! If you need more help or have specific questions about using the portal, you can reach out to your Account Manager any time for a screen share. 

You can filter all info by date range or property:

PW Portal Filters

View a snapshot of income and expenses on your dashboard:

PW Owner Dashboard View

See every transaction in real-time on your ledger:

Owner Portal Ledger View

Statements and forms will be posted to your documents library:

Owner Portal Document Library

View a suite of real-time financial reports:

Portal Reports View

See a running list of all bills, and drill down for more detail:

Owner Portal Bills View

Under Bill Details, you'll find dates/descriptions/amounts and more:

Portal Bill Details

You can also communicate with your Account Manager through the portal:

Owner Portal Communication Tools

How do net distributions work?

Net distributions keep your accounting clean and simple. Each month we’ll collect rent from the tenants, deduct any repair expenses for the previous month and any management/leasing fees for the current month, and credit the remaining net operating income to your account. 

Net Distribution

You’ll receive a statement via email each time a net distribution is processed, and can view all transaction details in your Propertyware owner portal.