We have found a home in Portugal!

You could say we are a bit late with our weekly blog. The obvious explanation for our tardiness, of course, is the Christmas weekend.

We were, like many others, traveling to see family. So, on the Friday evening we found ourselves on the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam. Technically, we could have written a blog earlier and scheduled the publication of it to be on the Saturday morning. And had it been any other weekend, we probably would have done that.

However, this wasn’t just any other weekend. Not because of the Christmas shenanigans, but because even while on the ferry, still docked in Hull, we were securing our very own home in Portugal! Rental, but still!

Planning, Schmanning

When we sold the house (subject to contract) we officially started to look for places to rent. Not necessarily the specific homes that we would end up renting, but more as an online scouting trip. On the website www.idealista.pt you can draw your own search area and create alerts for within that specific area. We did so for the Porto area. The weird shape is because it follows the train and metro lines. Our maximum travel to Porto city centre is around one hour.

Hearts are options, green we still had to triage. Because we bring the cat and have quite a lot of things, high-up apartments weren’t an option. This limited the number of homes ending up on our favourites list, and of course, the market is always moving. Sometimes, homes that we saw in the morning were gone by the end of the afternoon. Still, with so long to go, rushing in without any closer inspection wasn’t the way to go.

So, we booked ourselves a trip to Porto to search and set things up. We also reached out to a local but English speaking real estate agent. The plan was that they would help us during our stay in Porto, and accompany us on viewings. But, things moved a bit quicker than expected.

Online viewing

Probably, our estate agent hasn’t made such easy money in quite a long time. Through a Porto Facebook group we found a recommended estate agent, and dropped him a message on Monday. That evening we had a video call and we talked a bit about what we were looking for. We explained that we had already started with a ‘potentials’ list a while ago. At first just to keep track of what would become available and how quickly things would go. And later to see what was ‘left’ by the time we’d go to Porto.

He immediately ruled out a few for the neighbourhood and the average (bad) quality of the homes. But, he also started calling early the next day for some that were in great areas and seemed a good deal. The first one had already been let by that time, but there was another one that he immediately thought would be great. We weren’t so sure. Even though it had made it onto our list, the pictures were absolutely horrid. But, off to Espinho we went, be it virtually.

He managed to get in touch with the landlord’s estate agent rather quickly and arranged a video viewing. On the Thursday afternoon, he went to the home, camera in hand. We had a viewing of around an hour. He showed us a bit of the neighbourhood, the house in much, much detail, and he even went into the grocery store next door to show us what they had.

Going once, going twice…

Well, we still have to actually go to Porto, but…

We were already approved because we shared all our stuff with them before the viewing. So, after the viewing, we had a very simple yes or no question to answer. And we liked what we saw. The home was in a very, very good condition. They were still doing some remedial works. It has three really good sized bedrooms, a lovely open plan kitchen/living area, and a huge outside space. All, for a great price well below our maximum budget for a rental.

And…. here comes the cracker: when you step out of the front door, you can see the ocean. The actual ocean. It’s just a short walk down the street of about a minute until you’re on a lovely sandy beach. There are restaurants, a surf school, a direct metro line to Porto that takes you there in 40 minutes following the coast.

So, yes, we said yes. Yes!

Signed, sealed, ready to collect the keys

On Christmas Eve Eve, on the ferry, we signed the contract digitally and paid the deposit, and spent the rest of the evening thinking about where everything was going to go. Drawing up (badly!) a floor plan (might have been the beers) and just getting excited! We have a home in Portugal!

We are still traveling to Porto next month. But instead of looking for a place to live, we will be collecting the keys for a rent that starts mid-January. That leaves the rest of the visit to arrange some other practical things, like bank account, internet, phones, etc., and of course to just enjoy ourselves a bit and look around.

We have a rental car so can get around, and have to do some working while we’re there too. We will need our annual leave days off come the actual move, and then later on of course to scout for places to buy our new home.

Header Photo credit: WorldSurfLeague.com