Hello
My name is David Borgert
My husband and I visited Portugal in 2017 to scout out the possibility of a future home. We initially thought of the Algarve or Lisbon, our plan was to fly into Porto and stay a few days then road trip south.
Within hours of our arrival in Porto, we found ourselves at the Cafe on Rua Das Flores having a glass of wine and at the same time, we both said to each other this is the place, this is where we want to live.
We still stuck to our scheduled trip exploring Portugal, but Porto had won us over in a matter of hours, and we never considered another place, we really wanted to know Porto before just buying a place here so we started spending 3 to 5 months a year in the city, and familiarizing ourselves with all of its unique neighbourhoods, surrounding areas and beaches eventually setting on the Santa Marina neighbourhood in Gaia.
Blog:
How the real estate market differs from that in the united state.
01.03.2023
Not to scare you or be negative, as long as you’re informed and prepared your purchasing experience should go smoothly.
That being said, the real estate market operates much differently over here than in the United States, one could liken it to the wild west.
Seldom does the realtors interest align with the buyers. There is no MLS over here and realtors tend not to want to split the commission with one another, so some will only show you what properties they represent. Keep in mind you’ll most likely be working with many different realtors, representing various properties of interest. You are not committed to working with just one.
Also sadly the licensing in Portugal is a bit of a joke, there are many realtors with fraudulent AMI numbers out there, and little to no government oversight. Attached is a link from Berkshire Hathaway explaining the situation in greater detail. https://www.portugalproperty.com/about-us/ami-licence-numbers-certificates-tips-for-dealing-with-estate-agents-in-portugal/
Another surprise, is escrow doesn’t exist over here, so when it comes time to put a deposit down sometimes up to 35% of that money will go straight into the pocket of the owner or developer of a property and could be difficult to impossible to get back if needed. This is why I feel it is imperative to have an attorney represent you throughout the entire buying process. Attorneys are not expensive over here, and multiple contracts will need to be drawn up to protect your interests, especially if you don’t speak Portuguese you will need them by your side during the negotiation process and closing process.