Multiple Homes, More Complexity: Estate Management for Centi-Millionaire Families

At a certain level of wealth, families expect to live with ease. But even for centi-millionaires, wealth doesn’t guarantee a stress-free lifestyle. In fact, as wealth increases, so too does the complexity surrounding a family’s homes and assets, which often leads to chaos.

The harsh reality of luxury lifestyle management

Among centi-millionaires, multiple home ownership is almost ubiquitous. According to New World Wealth data, globally, 90% of centi-millionaires own second homes, and 65% own second homes outside their home country. Owning several homes offers the promise of flexibility and ease — a lifestyle that allows centi-millionaires to move freely between properties designed around their unique vision of luxury. The problem is few people anticipate the compounding level of complexity that comes with each additional luxury property, especially when those properties are spread out across the globe.

Consider, for example, a USD 25 million home built on a 10-acre oceanfront lot in California. The home was designed with the highest quality materials and finishings and is filled with a priceless art collection. It’s equipped with cutting-edge smart home technology for security, audio visual systems, and wellness, and with commercial-grade systems for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning, plumbing, and electrical. Without the right people and systems in place, managing this property will not only be costly but also a drain on an ultra-wealthy family’s most precious resource: time. Now, multiply that time by the number of properties the family owns — which could be between two and thirty — and you’re left with a major disconnect between the family’s expectations for a luxury lifestyle and the harsh reality of owning multiple complex properties.

The unexpected wealth spiral

Here, ultra-high-net-worth individuals tend to fall into a wealth spiral. They hire household staff to help them manage their properties, which turns out to be a time-consuming, difficult process in itself. Without structure and professional systems in place, staff lack the guidance and tools they need to be successful. The effects start to snowball: the more properties they own, the more people they need to hire, and the more people they hire, the more need for oversight and communications.

And, while ultra-wealthy families know where to turn when it comes to navigating their financial challenges and growing their wealth, they rarely have access to the same level of professional guidance when it comes to their homes and their everyday lifestyles.

Both established family offices and new to wealth families face the same struggles when it comes to managing life at home: the level of service does not match the family’s expectations, key systems don’t function properly when the family visits a property, the lack of preventative maintenance necessitates emergency repairs, and frequent staff turnover causes disruption and loss of historical records

Taking a professional approach to estate management

One of the most common mistakes families make is managing their homes and their household staff too casually. Bringing a professional, purposeful mindset to household management might appear counterintuitive, since we’re talking about the management of a family’s most informal, comfortable environments, but failing to set up the right structure and systems leads to more risk, chaos, awkwardness, and disappointment.

Empowering staff for success

Often, when families first hire private service professionals, they expect them immediately to know exactly how to do their jobs. But every household is different, and everyone has their own preferences on everything from housekeeping standards to staff etiquette. Without a clear understanding of the family’s priorities and expectations, household staff are set up for failure — and their principals are destined for disappointment.

To succeed in their roles, household staff members need clearly outlined preferences, priorities, and expectations, explicit job descriptions and reporting lines, regular feedback, a go-to place or person to turn to for questions, and professional development opportunities.

Empowering staff reduces miscommunication and mistakes, improves operations, and creates a better culture for everyone involved in keeping the household running smoothly — ultimately, reducing turnover.

Putting the right systems in place

Without a centralized platform for managing property information, communicating with staff and vendors, and keeping track of tasks and projects, household staff are forced to juggle spreadsheets, handwritten lists, texts, e-mails, and more. This leads to a wide range of risks and frustrations: details slip through the cracks, families lack visibility into what staff are working on, estate managers juggle constant questions from both staff and principals, and private information and historical knowledge walks away with former staff members.

Investing in the right systems for managing properties, people, and projects alleviates frustration, reduces risk, and helps create efficiency and continuity. This can include regular (daily/weekly/monthly) task lists for each household staff member — to create accountability and clarity around what’s being done and who’s responsible — annual maintenance calendars for properties and assets to reduce surprises and emergencies, secure communication tools to protect personal information and improve clarity, and a centralized household manual where staff members can find guidance and answers to questions.

With a more purposeful approach to estate management, centi-millionaires can elevate their quality of life across their properties and spend their time at home on what matters most to them.