Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Although the Puerto Vallarta real estate market offers every type of home, from hacienda-style luxury Mexican villas, to cozy apartments, to modern downtown penthouses, many buyers looking to retire, or live full-time in Mexico, find themselves leaving a larger house to begin their new life in a smaller living space.

Furnished condos and single-family homes for sale in Puerto Vallarta are plentiful on the marketplace, but there are still personal items that you will want to bring with you when you relocate. Here are a few tips to help you decide what you really need to move.

Don't estimate – calculate. Shipping fees for importing household goods to Mexico can be costly, so be sure that you have a floor plan of your new home in Puerto Vallarta and measurements for things like closets, kitchen cabinets, pantries, storage areas and bathroom vanities, to be sure that you aren't paying to send things that you won't have room to store.

Think about what's going to make the trip. Yes, those delicate champagne flutes are beautiful, but the likelihood of the full set making the journey intact is doubtful. Pretty but delicate items make very appreciated gifts for friends and family before you go and are lovely reminders of you while you are away.

Keep, donate, toss. As you move, room to room, separate things into 3 different piles. The keep pile should be irreplaceable to you (like family photos) or daily use (like climate-appropriate clothing). The donate pile should be things that would be more expensive to ship than to buy new (like an iron, for example) but of which someone else would get use. The toss pile is for those things that just magically seem to accumulate in everyone's home for which we really have no use, nor would anyone else, like old bills or random knickknacks.

Some of our clients move to Puerto Vallarta with just a single suitcase and some move with a shipping container of full home furnishings, the choice is very individual and personal. But buying a home in Puerto Vallarta and moving internationally is a perfect opportunity to go through your belongings and unclutter your life, bringing only that which makes you truly happy to start your new life in Mexico, fresh and free.

CLICK HERE for more Puerto Vallarta real estate and lifestyle tips from Tropicasa Realty.

Since 1997, Wayne Franklin and his team at Tropicasa Realty have been a trusted name in Puerto Vallarta real estate. Tropicasa Realty is a regional representative of Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate and, with over 100 years of combined experience in real estate, all agents of the company are affiliated with AMPI as well as being International members of the U.S. National Association of Realtors. Wayne Franklin or any member of his knowledgeable team can be contacted in-person at their Romantic Zone Office - Pulpito 145-A at Olas Altas. While in PV they can be reached at (322) 222-6505 or by calling 866-978-5539 (Toll-Free) from the U.S.

Click HERE to learn more about Tropicasa Realty, or visit tropicasa.com.