Useful information for readers who wants to buy property in Lisbon It’s old news – the real estate market in Portugal is booming. The combination of residency permits being given to non-European buyers, tax friendliness and limited stock, fueled by a tourism boom, with people from all over the world flocking to Portugal on vacation has opened the worlds eyes for this new opportunity. There is not a week where we don’t get at least one mail from people who are interested in buying real estate: Is it difficult? what are the cost related to the process? how is it about the low Non Residence tax? how much does it cost to build etc. Yesterday the international online property platform Mansion Global published a feature on the Portuguese real estate market with focus on How, What, How Much Why etc. – in other words answers to most of the questions above.   [caption id="attachment_38807" align="alignnone" width="640"] Lisbon is one of the most attractive Cities in Europe right now. For a lot of obvious reasons. Read this blog OR just come by and experience the city yourself.[/caption]  

Buying Property in Portugal as a Non-Resident

From taxes to average prices and down payments, here’s what you need to know Despite the growing market, it is still affordable to buy property there. “Compared to the rest of Europe, Portugal remains an excellent country to invest and live,” Mr. Correia said. “Prices are very competitive, compared to the rest of Europe, even for a country in constant growth.” Read: Ariel Ramchandani’s What-You-Need-To-Know when buying Property in Portugal feature in Mansion Global 

 

What the feature doesn’t mention

We looked at more than 100 houses, and put in an offer on 3 of them before we ended up buying our house in Rua da Senhora do Monte  (which was acutally the house we had fallen in love with from the beginning…) It wasn’t difficult. But it wasn’t easy either. We knew exactly where we wanted to stay, and what kind of house we needed. So that made our search easier. But we had a few issues that complicated our process of closing deals when we found relevant houses. Like these ones that Mansion Global doesn’t mention:

• Many of the properties for sale still have old irrevocable lease contracts. That makes it impossible to start renovating – so unless you’re ready to buy out the tenants with sometimes substantial amounts of money (most of the times black money), stay away.
• Don’t be surprised to find the property you’re interested in with several agents. We ended up buying our house from another agent than the one that introduced us to the house.  Very confusing.
• Don’t be surprised if the seller doesn’t get back to you after you have accept a prize. It happens a lot. Either because the seller gets second thoughts, or  seller decides to wait for a better prize, or because seller lives abroad and are hard to get hold of or a mix of it all. That happened a lot to us and to friends that are currently looking for property.

  [caption id="attachment_38868" align="alignright" width="214"] The official DIY Guide Lines to the Low Tax Program[/caption] Mansion Global mention the Low Tax program. But like all other similar media they don’t mention how easy it is to obtain the Non Habitual Residence Low Tax Status. The problem for us buyers is that the accountents doesn’t mention it either. Instead they charge huge fees for the service you can do yourself in a couple of minutes from your hotel bed. And then there is the bureaucracy. In most cases this shouldn’t be a problem. But IF you are buying as a part of a business, if you are going to change construction, if you are buying a protected house or if you have just the smallest deviation from ‘the normal’ be prepared for the worst. The Portuguese red tape is infinite…. 🙂 The good thing is: Once the deal is signed and your house or appartement is finished and ready to move into, the pleasant climate, good food and excellent wine makes you forget all the troubles in an instant.      ]]>