Relocating to Johannesburg with your family
I am Hannah Pirnie and I help international families relocate to Johannesburg: which suburb, which school, where it is safe to live and what to do in what order. Three levels of support, and one method underneath all of them. Start with a Discovery Session at US$297, add Relocation Days at US$650 a day if you want someone beside you on the ground, or take VIP Concierge from US$4,000 if you want an on-the-ground partner from start to finish, rather than just advice.
You have questions. A lot of them.
Which suburb. Which school. What you actually need to sort out before you arrive, and in what order. What daily life really looks like.
You have been Googling. You have joined the Facebook groups. Everyone you speak to gives you a different story, and none of them lived your version of this move.
You still do not have a plan. That is what I am here for.
“My relocation agent was brilliant until we moved here, and then I never saw or heard from her again. I felt so isolated, and not too sure what to do with all my time.”
Relocating parentFrom first question to fully settled
Every family relocating to Johannesburg moves through the same four phases, whether they stay six months or 30 years. L.A.N.D. is the framework that gives your whole family a smoother start. When it feels like too much, look only at the phase you are in.
Looking without committing. Understand Johannesburg, schools, neighbourhoods, lifestyle and safety at your own pace, from a range of perspectives, before you have committed to anything.
New in Town podcast · the blogNinety minutes to align everything you have gathered against your own family's situation. Schools, areas, safety, housing, next steps. Afterwards, your written plan to guide you through the rest of the move.
The Discovery SessionOn the ground in Johannesburg. School visits, neighbourhood orientation, commute routes driven at the hour you would actually drive them, housing context. The plan becomes something you can act on in real life.
Relocation Days · VIP ConciergeMove-in, and then the introductions. New home systems, routines and rituals. The school gate, the coffee place you go to without thinking about it, and the people to share them with. You are not doing this on your own.
Beyond Coffee, the communityThe three levels
Every family starts somewhere different. Most start with a Discovery Session and we go from there.
Discovery Session
A 90-minute private consultation and a written plan built for your family, your timeline and your situation. Yours to keep and act on.
Read more →Relocation Days
I join you in person for school visits, neighbourhood orientation, commute planning, housing and area tours, and the decisions you make as you actually experience a place.
Read more →VIP Concierge
A local partner across the whole relocation rather than advice at intervals. Available as and when you need me, not on booked days, through to 90 days after you land.
Read more →If you take VIP Concierge, the Discovery Session fee you have already paid is credited against your fee, and any Relocation Days become part of the package rather than an extra on top.
Which means starting small costs you nothing if you later go further. There is no penalty for beginning with the cheapest option, and I would rather you did.
Relocation Days
Someone who knows the city, beside you, for the days that decide everything.
You have flights booked and four days in Johannesburg to work out where your family is going to live. That is not enough time to do it alone, and it is exactly enough time to do it well with someone who already knows the answers to the questions you have not thought to ask yet.
A day with me covers whatever that day needs. School visits and the conversations after them. Driving your likely commute at the hour you would actually drive it, not at eleven in the morning when the roads are empty. Neighbourhood orientation. Housing and area tours. And the decisions themselves, made while you are standing in the place rather than looking at it on a screen.
Most families take two or three days. One is enough if you have a single decision to make. Three works well across a look-and-see visit, usually split between schools, areas and housing.
Book them individually or across a visit.
If you go on to take VIP Concierge, these days fold into the package rather than being charged on top.
Beyond Coffee
The community for people who have already made the move.
Arriving is the easy part. What takes longer is the bit nobody plans for: new routines, new rituals, and the people to share them with.
Beyond Coffee is where that happens. Introductions into your school community, the expats who arrived a year before you and remember exactly what you are feeling, and the small practical knowledge that never makes it onto a website.
Open to families I work with. Ask me about it when we speak.
Why relocate with me
I moved to Johannesburg with my husband’s job, for an adventure. He was in the office day two. No local network, no idea which suburb was safe, no sense of who to trust. The relocation company handled the logistics. Nobody handled me.
I built this because nobody like me existed when I needed it. Not an agency and not a logistics firm. A person.
Sixteen years on I still live here, I still find new corners of the city, and I am a registered Property Practitioner with eXp Realty South Africa, so when your relocation turns into a property search I can take you all the way through it rather than handing you to someone else. I also make New in Town, the podcast for people arriving in Johannesburg.
“I looked at over 30 houses before we discovered Hannah. She showed us just one, and I knew from the moment we walked through the door it was the home for us.”
Relocation client“From the moment I reached out, she was so responsive. Previously I had left 101 messages with various agents and it all got very confusing. It’s lovely to have just one person who can take us across a variety of suburbs and coordinate it all for us.”
Leanne Smit, Standard BankCommon questions
Which level should I start with?
What is L.A.N.D.?
What does it cost?
Do you give visa, tax or immigration advice?
Do you help after we arrive?
What happens after I send the enquiry form?
Tell me about your move.
Where you are going, when you land, and what is worrying you most. I will take it from there and tell you honestly what you actually need.
- 01It comes straight to me. No assistant, no bot, no form that disappears into a system. I read every single one myself.
- 02I write back properly. A real reply about your family and your move, not a brochure and not an autoresponder.
- 03I tell you honestly whether I am the right person for you. If I am, I will show you how we would work together and what it costs. If I am not, I will say so and point you towards someone who is. Either way you will know more than you did before you wrote to me.
That is with me.
I read every one of these myself, and I will come back to you personally.
If it is urgent, WhatsApp me on +27 73 429 7485 and say you have just sent the form. I will bump you up the list.