Quote:
Originally Posted by Organics1
Hi Margaret,
It depends what you are looking for and for what reason (holiday, rental, permanent stay). If you are going for one of the new builds in Cascais (or anywhere else) then you will be paying a premium as with any new build.
However look around and there are deals to be had but it does take time and a lot of searching. The biggest problem I am finding is that un-like the UK where agencies are heavily regulated by the OFT, NAEA and Ombudsmen, that isn't the case here. Talking as a retired ex London agent it is now near on impossible to buy a property through your company in the UK. Again this is common practice here, well from what I have seen and heard so far. My take on it here is that once the property hits the agents web-sites or windows it's no longer a deal as either they would have bought it themselves or passed it on to one of their developer buyers. I know I shouldn't tie everyone to the same brush but I'm just talking from personal experience. The vendors basically give a price that they want and don't really care who buys it. The properties I have bought have been either through word of mouth, seeing a personal ad, through an auction or what's called "carta fechada" sealed bids. This is usually when the local council is taking the property from the owner to pay for some kind of un-paid taxes or duties. As I stated earlier this takes time and off-course trawlling through the local papers everyday which if you're only visiting you won't have time to do.
I can't really give you advice on areas as I don't know what you're looking for. I'm not an agent just an individual who likes investing in property.
I haven't even started to look at how I can get to Hurghada but will do once I secure a place. I have been there a couple of times now and so I know it reasonably well. I guess I'll probably have to fly to Morrocco and the change there or one of the other euro cities which have direct flights.
Hope this helps and let me know if I can be of any more help.
Kind regards
Organics1
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Sounds like a lot of work but we have had to do the same in Egypt. Looks as though the system is pretty similar as Estate Agents are a relatively new concept in Egypt. Most properties are not even advertised, so you have to find another way into the market unless you are buying in touristic areas of course which sounds a bit like Portugal.
We were originally looking to move to Portugal to live for most of the year and have looked at various areas but never quite made it to Cascais but we intend to do so. However, given that we have just lost a villa here, I caught my hubby looking again at Portugal. The exchange rate is not really up to buying in Euroland at the moment for Brits but that's not to say that we won't still be looking to the future, say in 2-3 years. So, anything we would be looking at would be to live in and it would probably a villa with a bit of a garden and a pool.
We have seen websites for some developments south of Lisbon which looked nice and will probably visit them when we do come to Portugal again.
You can fly here via Madrid, Vienna, Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and possibly Majorca believe it or not.
Thanks for the info,
Margaret