I mentioned that we had a person who seemed a good option to help us buy a property. He had promised to identify the pitfalls etc, but turned out to be acting at a slower pace than we needed.
We switched out approach and started contacting selling agents directly to arrange to view houses. Within a couple of days we were visiting properties that we had found on a variety of web sites - the most useful of which is Idealista - a site that my cousin showed us in April when we first visited Portugal.
I also took to using google to search for property listings in Portugal and skipping any with "Luxury" in their description.
We included a few things in our list of nice to haves: a roof terrace, a swimming pool and at least 2 bedrooms.
It didn't take long for us to get a full calendar of viewing appointments, and we didn't stop looking. I ended up on the ReMax website for Portugal where there were a ton of offerings in our price range. At this point we decided to go in and see an agent who could show us all of them, rather than reaching out to each ReMax agent in turn.
Interestingly (and to my dismay) the agent offered to become a buying agent for us as well. No fee, but he'd negotiate some commission for his company with the seller and, he promised, he would give us his personal attention and get us the place we were looking for . He also said that it was fine for us to continue looking with other realtors but we should send any new listings his way. We decided to send our existing ReMax listings to him but to continue to pursue agents from other companies ourselves.
We sent him about 8-10 houses but after a week he still hadn't set up any viewings. Once he did start trying to create viewings the existing appointments we'd already set made it hard for him to find time with us. I did feel a little bad for him, because he had to find a time that suited both us and the realtor selling the property which is not easy.
Even so we had a low rate of successful viewings with him. Some were cancelled because they were sold before we got there and others were canceled when the selling agent was suddenly not available at the time we'd scheduled. I suspect the additional glitch was that the selling realtors do not really want to share commission with a buying agent.
It soon became apparent that our "dream" house nice-to-haves were not very realistic for the price and locations that we were trying to accommodate. We came across an absolutely amazing looking home that checked all the boxes and were blown away by it on our first view. Elegant, with great views and a terrace overlooking a swimming pool.
The price was a lot more than we had set but we were encouraged to make an offer if we liked it because there was room for negotiation.
We went back for a second viewing and this time started to notice a ton of things that were concerning. An outside annex with a bedroom and shower that had a massive crack in it right through the wall, a bathroom built under the terrace with an exterior wall made of plaster board and a septic tank that looked like it was collapsing - the ground above it was half an inch lower in a neat rectangular shape the size of the septic tank. There were de-humidifiers in the rooms and no obvious heat or cooling other than space heaters and a fireplace.
In the Algarve it is much like the Eastern Cape. Short wet winters and dry warm summers. The average temperature in winter is around 11C (51F) which is not very cold - excepting if the house is not insulated. Some people say you are really only cold in December and January and it starts warming again in February. I'll bet it is a little longer than that, but either way an un-insulated, damp house is not the greatest way to spend a winter.
We had a free Monday morning this week and decided to walk down a dirt path to a large salt-marsh. Olhão (pronounced Olyon and sort of rhymes with "onion"). The coast here has a big off-shore bar behind which is a large area of wetlands. A ferry can take you to the bar, where you can spend the day on the beach.
I took my camera bag with me thinking that we might see some birds that I could photograph but we were inundated by mosquitoes and I lost enthusiasm for sitting there for a long time. We decided to come back to the AirBnb, stopping for some coffee at a small, very simple Portuguese restaurant on the corner of our street. The restaurant is unassuming with simple plastic furniture and is mostly frequented by the locals.
I haven't used my camera as much as I thought I would on these travels. The truth is that we are driving and exploring a lot and other than when we visit new places we are doing a lot of repetitive activities where documenting with iphone snapshots is much easier.
So it was not surprising that I didn't think about my camera until about five days later when I looked in the usual spot for it and didn't find it there.
I was immediately in a panic. I remembered taking it in the car a few times one some of our outings and not using it and of course, on this walk on the Monday. I realized that I must have left it under the table outside of the restaurant where we had coffee.
We had to leave for another house viewing early that morning so it wasn't until lunchtime when we returned that I was able to go into the restaurant to ask if they had seen it.
The owner said she spoke only "un poco" English so I mimed drinking coffee and putting on my backpack and I saw the realization dawning on her face. With a big smile she lifted my camera bag from behind her counter and placed it in front of me.
Anne was waiting in the car outside and after insisting that the owner take all of the Euros in my wallet (she objected but eventually relented) I walked out with the bag over my shoulder. Anne saw me coming out with a huge grin on my face, my backpack on my back, and she ran into the restaurant to give the owner a big hug!
It is amazing that we were able to recover it considering how easily the bag might have been picked up by a passer by or just taken by a staff member (we lost a pair of binoculars at a restaurant in southern Mexico that way in December last year so we knew the feeling)!
We were so happy and relieved!
By the 3rd week of house viewings we had on average one or more viewings a day lined up for most mornings. By now we have processed around 50 properties - some were cancelled but we have seen most of them.
We had this one amazing house on the list. The owner, who is German/Croatian is passionate about energy efficiency and has renovated his house to the point where it gets an "A" grade. He refitted it with "wet" underfloor heating, managed by a tank of hot water that is heated by a solar panel and from a wood cooking stove in the kitchen. In winter the stove doubles as a heater for the house and for the hot water. Of course this hot water is also used for the bath and showers. The house has air-conditioners with inverters that can both warm and cool the interior and insulation in the walls and roof to keep the heat or cool inside when the double-glazed windows and doors are closed. He also built a fully equipped gas kitchen/braai outside to use in the summer.
The downside of this house was marginal but has weighed on us. The price is more than we can afford (although we believe that we could bid for lower than they have listed) and the house was located in a pocket of 7-10 houses around 8 min from the nearest small town (São Bartolemue de Messines) and about 16min from a town big enough to have a hospital (Silves).
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| The Moorish castle at Silves |
It is also a 20-30min drive from the sea.
The location matches for convenience more or less what we had near Boston - somewhat remote and a short driving distance from most amenities. But this, at a time when we are supposed to be thinking about getting old and having things close-by (preferably walk-able) has made it a less attractive option.
On the other hand we also started to look at smaller terraced houses in or near a town called Albufeira which is one or two kilometers from the sea. We have fairly big reservations about living in a condo, but it appears that things might be a little more relaxed in that department in Portugal given how they are regulated and that many of the home-owners are away for a good portion of the year.
We decided to also give condo houses a look. In some cases they come with a shared pool. The shared areas include the pillars, roof and terraces and the upkeep of the shared areas is handled by the condo management company rather than by the owner for a small fee (between 40 and 160 Euros a month). Apparently it is mandated by law that condominiums are renovated at least every 8 years but when we asked about this, the realtor said, "Yes, sort of...". If the condominium fund is not able to pay for this, the owners have to chip in - so there is likely a sum of money that we'd have to keep aside for this eventuality over and above the regular fee.
We saw a really great little terraced house in a condo this week with a garden it has become the second of two we are considering buying.
It is a two bedroom house with a garden and a terrace about 30min walk from the sea so it checks off most of our boxes if not the "don't live in a condo" one.
To be honest we have gone back and forth on these two houses for days. The one that we call the "Energy house" and this condo close to the ocean. We have driven past both of them a few times, taking the time on Sunday to park near the condo house and walk from there to the closest beach where we had a swim and lunch.
On our walk to the beach we came to an intersection where an older couple were walking seemingly from the beach. I said to Anne: "Perhaps we can ask them if this road is a short cut to the beach" so we called out to them, "Excuse me" and were amazed that they apparently didn't hear us. We tried again twice and they just kept walking.
Anne and I have been traveling for months and my hair has grown down to my shoulders so perhaps we just looked sketchy to them but I more or less shouted in frustration: "We are just looking for directions to the beach".
The man turned on his heel - maybe 20feet away from us now and said in a clipped Irish accent: "Ohh now, you just take that road down there and look for a slight left turn and it is about a 10min walk from here".
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| Hippy hair and unusual wall art in Albufeira - photo by Anne |
It was so weird - not just because they ignored us, but that they swung around without a murmur of anger that I'd shouted at them and carried on as if they'd stopped on our first "Excuse me".
We had already driven to the "Energy house" a couple of times and mapped the distances to relevant amenities so we had that information as well.
I think what has sealed the deal for us is this thought: "What are the chances that in the next 10-15 years we'll end up having some difficulty with those who are elected to manage the condo?" I think it is fair to say that it is quite a bit greater than zero. If we own a free-standing house and we have a neighbor who isn't great we can take steps to either ignore or isolate ourselves from them.
Neighbor problems are often noise-related or related to disputed territory (rights of way etc.) so having to deal with something like that is also a likely future. I think we are better equipped for that than if we live in a community where we feel powerless to make changes to improve our own lives.
This week we have to decide and we'll fret and lose some sleep while we make up our minds.
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| The Curry Leaf in Lagos |
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