# Looking for a long term let whilst I buy a house: where's best?



## ExpatNick (Sep 6, 2015)

Hello all,

My wife and I are after a long term let in either Baijo Alentejo or the Algarve (maybe) while we source our own permanent home. I guess we'd need a couple of months to find the right house to buy, plus however long it takes to go through the buying purchase.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to location for the rental house? Any contacts to share?

We're not after anything too flash: 2 beds, house preferred (but not obligatory), pool would be nice, internet, TV, close to shops, restaurants, etc. Budget - I think I need to see some examples of what's out there before determining what we'll be comfortable with.

Thanks in advance!


----------



## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

We're close to Figueiro Dos Vinhos in the central zone so not in the area you mention (so no good to you) but for what it's worth, we have a rental we offer to long term house hunters and quite honestly, you almost certainly won't need a pool because you'll be too busy to use it much and most areas have numerous beaches or river beaches or both nearby anyway. - So no need to pay for what you don't need.......... and if our experiences are anything to go by, you'll probably need somewhere for considerably longer than a couple of months & you should probably expect to stay for closer to 6 months than 2.

As for TV & internet etc, that varies from immediate area to immediate area. We have unlimited fibre optic which allows endless TV channels & on demand movies via kodo & mobdro but just down the road from us only has dial up speeds so you need to look at individual places to see what they have. 

As for budget, the general rule of thumb is that the closer you go to the coast, the pricier it gets and also the closer to the coast, the harder to find long term rentals because the holiday makers mostly want to be close to the sea & are willing to pay more for a week than a house hunter will pay for a month.


----------



## MrBife (Jul 26, 2009)

Better also to be in the same area that you propose to search in and live in - it will give you the 'Portugal Experience' before you actually purchase. If you buy and then need to refurb in any way then you are on hand to supervise.

Since Alentejo and Algarve are pretty much chalk and cheese it's clear you need to do a lot more 'location' homework before you decide where you are even going to look.

Prices vary such a lot - I could suggest contacts of rental agencies in the Algarve but if you are buying in the Alentejo there would be little point as that is where you need to base yourself.


----------



## ExpatNick (Sep 6, 2015)

Thanks travelling-man, thanks MrBife.

Internet will be very important so that we can research in detail before we visit any properties, so I appreciate the heads-up on local differences, *travelling-man*. Thanks also for the possibility of your own property, but I do think it'll be a little too far north for us. Of course, we may be unlucky in the south so could well be interested at a later date.

*Mr Bife *- I think we'd be looking for something close to the border between Baijo Alentejo and the Algarve so that we have access to both reasonably easily. Perhaps your Algarve agent contacts have contacts themselves a little further north? I'd be very interested if so - and am more than happy to do the donkey work with them myself, rather than cause you any bother. We're not particularly looking to be too close to tourist areas either, so as long as there are the facilities nearby that I mentioned in my original post, we'll be happy.

Again, thanks to both - and thanks in advance for any further replies (from anyone - feel free to join in!!).


----------



## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Nick

As I said, our place wouldn't be any good to you because we're in the wrong area & thinking about it, although you don't mention when you want somewhere, we're pretty booked up anyway......... but on that subject, if you want anywhere near the coast in the summer season the prices may well be very high so you might need to bear that in mind.


----------



## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

Why not try the area around OURIQUE or BEJA.


----------



## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

ExpatNick said:


> Hello all,
> 
> My wife and I are after a long term let in either Baijo Alentejo or the Algarve (maybe) while we source our own permanent home. I guess we'd need a couple of months to find the right house to buy, plus however long it takes to go through the buying purchase.
> 
> ...


I think you are being unrealistic and naïve. Portugal is quite large with les then the population of London and the area you list is quite large so you will not be able to experience much of the various different seasons in different locations to decide which suits you BEFORE looking for somewhere to buy. Long term let ..2 months....is a contradiction. If looking at anywhere where a tourist might venture landlords/landladies will make their money in the short holiday periods and have no interest in having that disrupted, they will accept their property will be empty for part of the year. Many places will not be available through interwebs agents so your your interwebs research will give you a biased view of a what is happening on the ground. If looking to buy you will find the "Portugese" way of estate agents is not the same as the UK, sure you can contact ten estate agents here but you'll be unlikely to get ten sets of property details which match your criteria. Here you have to go and see the agents in person if you want the information they hold no matter how much cash you wave at them. Here the rule is it will take 10 times as long as you think it will. I would stay in many more locations in many more areas for much more time in different seasoned (you do need central heating) if still looking for somewhere.

One of the best examples of not spending a lot of time in the location where you buy is Gois, not in your area but a small old country town on an idyllic river (with beaches) surrounded by tree covered hills. Most people love the place. Here is what happens in August






If you spend a lot more time here in many more locations and talk to the locals and talk to all the estate agents you will eventually find a location which fits your criteria. Good luck


----------



## ExpatNick (Sep 6, 2015)

Hello Strontium,

I've lived worked in a number of countries over the last three decades, in none of which have I had the luxury of more than a week or two to find my accomodation. I've even been to countries where places to live don't stay on the market for more than an hour or two: I've even had to commit to a property that I hadn't even seen. On each occasion, I've lived with that and survived. Flexibility and adaptability are the keys.

"Long term let" was a phrase used to emphasise that I don't want a holiday let. And the words I used were there to convey that I expect a minimum six months let.

In the UK, my home town is Twickenham - I am well used to being invaded by hordes of outsiders swelling the populace two- or even three-fold, and ruining the place for days until all the mess can be cleaned up. The world cup was a wonderful event - but ten consecutive weekends ruined by an invasion of 82,000 drunken revellers? 

I set out in my initial message what I hoped to achieve. At no point did I state that I expected to acheive all that: I've been around the block long enough to know what's possible or likely. But everyone has to start with a premise and then adjust as more info becomes known.

You mention "here" several times: where exactly are you? You talk about Portugal but your ExpatForum message header (and therefore profile) states you're based in Spain.

You don't know me nor do you know anything about me, so to call me naive and unrealistic is offensive, unhelpful, and unnecessary. I appreciate some of the info you've provided but if you're going to qualify your messages with insults I would rather you didn't bother replying to what I post.


----------



## ExpatNick (Sep 6, 2015)

siobhanwf said:


> Why not try the area around OURIQUE or BEJA.


Hello Siobhán,

On the map, they both look decent place for a base. Do you happen to have any personal knowledge of either of these two, property-wise?

TIA!


----------



## ExpatNick (Sep 6, 2015)

travelling-man said:


> Nick
> 
> As I said, our place wouldn't be any good to you because we're in the wrong area & thinking about it, although you don't mention when you want somewhere, we're pretty booked up anyway......... but on that subject, if you want anywhere near the coast in the summer season the prices may well be very high so you might need to bear that in mind.


Hello travelling-man,

Thanks for the update on your own place - I think we agree that it'll be too far north for us (at the moment). 

Suggesting we might go to Baijo Alentejo - and therefore be an hour or more from the coast - was a way of me avoiding the higher summer costs of rental. I'm still in the early part of my research so I have an open mind, but I do expect to be surprised (in the wrong way!). Fingers crossed though.


----------

