Let's go by parts and get some numbers:
Brazil is classified by the World Bank as upper-middle income country. That means, you don’t have to take my word here, but that from hundreds of highly qualified economists and social scientists; link below. BTW, third world is a so old expression that I only read/heard it in this forum:
Data - Country Groups
You cannot expect to have Scandinavian services in Brazil, but something in between. Life gave me the opportunity to travel among very rich countries as well poor countries, and Brazil is in between.
Regarding Human Development Index, Brazil is classified in 70th place (JM pointed this out once), the last position in the “High Human Development” group. Again, don’t take my word for it, this index was create by a Nobel Prize in Economics and is published by UNDP.
Statistics - Human Development Reports (UNDP)
NE is the poorest part of Brazil. But the folks there are usually more easy going, way more, than people from south. Lots of beaches mostly of the year, while in the South beaches are fantastic as well, but they are only warm January-February. Rio Grande do Norte become a very popular destination among Brazilians (Natal, Pipa, Pirangi,…) as well, tough it is true for other NE states, for instance, Ceara and Alagoas (nice beaches),well all of them. In the South, where I have an apartment, we don’t have problems with electricity or water. My building has municipal water supply and a water well, and we can drink directly from any of them without any sort of water filter. Cars in Brazil are very expensive, heavily taxed. Food in general is cheap; to compare electronics prices you can check the websites below and compare with the WalMart to have an idea:
Americanas.com: Os melhores preços e ofertas em CDs, DVDs, Livros, Eletrônicos, Informática, Cine e Foto, Telefones e Celulares, Eletrodomésticos, Brinquedos,Instrumentos...
Submarino.com.br: Livros, CDs, DVDs, Eletrônicos, Câmeras Digitais, Telefonia e muito mais
Cost of living: In dollars terms, things increased in price drastically lately, a combination of dollar weaknest with overvalued real. Check the link below:
USDBRL=X: Summary for USD to BRL - Yahoo! Finance
I’m a Brazilian living abroad with salary in dollars. My family just arrived in Brazil for Summer holidays, and my wife exchange each dollar for 1.65 reais; just few years ago, it was 1 to 3, a 50% drop in the value of the dollar, what explains part of the cost of living in US dollar terms. And that put us back to the property issue:
If you are just looking for something nice to live, without investment as a primary concern, than Graymax is absolutely right for pointing this out again.
If you are considering as investment, you have to take account that the dollar may bounce back during the coming years, at least at some extent (and I truly hope for it!!); but (there is always a “but”) property in Brazil is booming and any exchange rate gain may be completely offset if you wait. Than, guys in this forum have been debating the pros and cons of buying now or wait, resales or off-plan, and so on. I cannot advice on that because I’m nearly ignorant when comes down to property, and other things carry a bit of risk (no advice). But I will tell my situation.
I was planning to sell my apt. in the South to buy a Summer house in RG or Ceara. But my family wants to keep our apt. in Brazil for a variety of reasons (friends,…). I’ve a bit of money in stocks but I’ll not sell because I believe stocks in Brazil look very promising for the coming years. So, I’m down to send money in dollars to Brazil with the actual exchange rate. What I will do (until I change mind again) is to buy a plot in a condominium and hire someone to built my house (I will never put for rent) or buy an off-plan so I can pay in installments. This way I believe I will not lose the property momentum and allows me to deal with exchange rate issue by parts. Again, this is not from an investment perspective (It’s a summer house, eventually for retirement), but how I will deal with the situation.
Long post, my family is far, and I’m half way of a depression…
P.S.: Last time I was in New Orleans I lost the boat ride because of the fog, but we walked through the French Quarter. Food in Brazil is completely different from a region to another, but in general terms, I think NO food is the closest one to South America. And you have Carnaval too, but different...
PPS: Robh, is it possible swimming among dolphins in Pipa, or just look from the boats. I saw some great pictures. Is it like Fernando de Noronha where it is not allowed, for conservation reasons?

Nice post and yes it is possible to swim with the dolphins every day at Baia dos Golfinhos in Pipa, I have done it many a time and will do it again in the next few weeks, but they aren't tame and are not interested in people at all, they are there to feed on fish at low tide.

The only way into Baia dos Golfinhos is by boat or walking around from town on the beach at low tide so there are never too many people there which is why I presume you are allowed to do it and it isn't seen as a threat to them. Also the beach is backed by a cliff and there is no building allowed up there either.

Attached is a photo taken from a helicopter of Baia dos Golfinhos that was sent to me.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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Brazil Property | Pipa Brazil | Property Investment in Brazil | Guide to Pipa

I took some (what I thought would be) great photos of Baia dos Golfinhos with dolphins swimming in and around surfers, swimmers and people in cayaks, got pretty close but as Robh said they didn't seem that interested in the people just swam past them.

Problem is while the photos should have been great they all came out blurred so all you can see is the people and a dark shadow between them.

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Yes, I work for a Real Estate company doing market research and analysis but I'm not involved in sales.

Have a nice day

Great posts every one and lively debate, good and bad, keep it flowing it is very insightful. And thank you for all contributers. Every one has an opinion and that is what keeps it fresh.

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The cost of living in Brazil is expensive! Right now yes! 3, 4 years ago, no!

Some items cost 3 times more than US/Europe.

There are much cheaper places for living in Latin America where RE and ROI is just as good or better. Brazil is not the end to all means. Travel around LA and see for yourself, who knows.... you might surprise yourself and move out of Brazil.

To Travel is to Discover.....

Ray

You are absolutely spot on It 's way too expensive people have no idea.Even more expensive if going to Camaroes to eat some prawns on a Sunday afternoon with your family to be invaded my armed gunmen as happened last weekend .
There are definately more interesting places throughout the world and also cheaper! Brasil used to be cheap ,but not anymore.Even the supermarkets in Natal are strugging.I never seem to queue anymore and just wizz on through.

Having just returned from Brazil and visited the states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and Bahia once again - how can you say Brazil is expensive?

Compared to what? Compared to how it was 3 years ago it may be expensive now, but compare it to the UK now, or Spain now, or just about anywhere else now and it is still dirt cheap.

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Yes, I work for a Real Estate company doing market research and analysis but I'm not involved in sales.

Have a nice day

Compared to the U.S. it is. I live here JM, day to day, for the last 9 years. I travel to Salvador frequently from Aracaju and both cities are very expensive. I spend significantly less money every month in the U.S. on communications (tv, telephone - cellular and landline - and internet) energy or power bill (and the consistancy of the connection in Brazil is problematic -Just this last Sunday during my 6 year olds birthday party the power went out once again at around 7 pm for 2 hours, it was a dangerous situation with thirty 6 year olds running around a swimming pool, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky) and this title headlines today's Globo.com - Tarifa de energia da Eletropaulo vai subir 8,12%, informa Aneel, water (and here it's not safe to drink from the tap), taxes -Brazil is one of the most heavily taxed countries on the planet, gasoline, today at 2.60 reais to the litre or $6.50 U.S. per gallon. And as we've mentioned before, electronics, cars, etc are very expensive, amongst the most expensive anywhere.

One can't just look at the costs of products/services, although when one does in many instances in Brazil they are amongst the most expensive anywhere, but one needs to take a cost/benefit analysis. When doing this Brazil doesn't score very high in many categories.....unfortunately.

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I think it would be easier if we all shared some comparisons as what each of us understand as cheap or expensive is very relative not only to where we live and where we have lived but also how much we all earn.

I'll start.

How much is your average electricity bill in Brazil at the moment? If you could, can you give us an indication of what type of electricity that entails, aka full family with washing machine, people in the house all day or bachelor pad only using electricity for a toaster in the morning and two lights in the evening. One bedroom flat or multi-family villa?

Electricity is included in my rent but if it wasn't it would be around 75 €/month - My PC is almost always on, one bed apartment, 3 machine washes per week.

Internet cost and what bandwidth you have access to? 45 €/month 10 MB speed, includes free phone calls to anywhere in Spain

Mobile and landline phone charges per minute for local calls? No idea, landline calls are free with internet connection and I use Skype most of the time for international calls as it's free.

TV I'm afraid I can't compare as I haven't had TV connected for years, but maybe other people can give some comparisons. Basic channels are free, pay more for English, German or Portuguese channels of course.

Meals (in a restaurant and cost for supermarket purchases) - again - family or single person. Single person - 15 to 20 € for a basic evening meal, 12 - 15 € for lunch, set menu in a non-fancy restaurant. Good quality meal in above average quality restaurant: 100 € per person

Rent: 650 € per month, one bed apartment (considered a good area near the beach), all costs including water and electricity are covered by this fee.

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Yes, I work for a Real Estate company doing market research and analysis but I'm not involved in sales.

Have a nice day

Let me put it to you this way, until recently I lived in an apartment, only my fiancé and myself, daughter comes twice a week, two tv's, very rarely both on at once, one computer, one air conditioner, which was only on at night, and one washing machine, used twice a week, and our power bills ran from 250 to 450 reais per month. I now live in a large house, but still, only my fiance and myself and daughter twice a week. Pretty much same deal as my apartment only we use and electric lawn mower to mow the lawn once per week......my bill has been as low as 550 reais a month up to 1,000 reais.

Communications -I pay approximately 1,500 reais to 2,000 reais per month. Landline, cellular, and internet. And believe it or not I only spend around 200-300 minutes max. on international calls. Whatever one spends on telephone calls here in Brazil 28% tax is tacked on top, and the rates are riduculous.

Sky TV -premium package - 184 reais per month.


Taxes-ridiculous. We could talk for hours. They've had shows on Globo here showing products in a shopping mall and how much of the price of the product is in tax. Brazil is one of the most heavily taxed countries on the planet.....and what do you see in return??

Very little.


And every single brazilian that I know will tell you exactly what I just stated.


Once again. Cost/benefit. How well do your products and services work/function. Are they of high quality? When problems arise are they resolved easily, correctly, and satisfactorily? For those of us that live here, from the far south to the far north, these are rhetorical questions that unfortunately we have to battle with on a never-ending basis.

And coincidentally, at this moment, my cooler in my CPU is making so much noise that I'll have to take it into the store where I bought it. I've been here 9 years, I've had at least 5 computers. This one cost me 2.400 reais, that's 1,500 U.S. and it's not two years old. In my 9 years here I've replaced approximately 10 mother boards. One never knows if it's the poor quality of the black market items coming from Paraguay that are being sold as "legitimate", or the fluctuation of the electricity. But you can bet, the power company says the computer stores are selling knock-offs from Paraguay, and the computer stores say it's the fluctuation of the energy!! Welcome to Brazil.....where everyone hates to assume responsibility.

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