# pastures new



## bill t (Nov 11, 2014)

We relocated to Ireland 9 years ago from the UK and are considering moving to Portugal.We intended to rent for a period of slightly less than 3 months to gather more information and travel to different areas to discover which might be suitable for us.We have central and northern Portugal in mind initially in rural locations.We have gleaned much info from this forum already and would greatly appreciate any general advice you could offer bearing in mind the benefit of hindsight.We are in our early sixties and healthy (at the moment), we have comfortable pensions and no mortgage would be needed


----------



## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

Welcome to the forum Bill. 

Lots of good advice to be found here and plenty of good properties at good prices in the northern and central zones.

We're close to Figueiro Dos Vinhos in the central zone and we love it here.


----------



## bill t (Nov 11, 2014)

*thanks*

we will probably post more specific questions later, at the moment we are learning the Portuguese language(not easy) with a view to coming there next spring.


----------



## travelling-man (Jun 17, 2011)

It's a tough language to learn but don't be too worried if you can't learn it because it's not too much of a problem...... We're pretty much in the middle of the country and even here, there's usually an English speaker somewhere. 

There's a lot I love about Portugal and the best thing about it is the Portuguese people but if they have one failing, it's their total inability to market anything so businesses etc often don't even put signs outside their shops so you should expect to sometimes struggle to find a lot of the smaller businesses and services until you get to know the area.


----------



## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

As you staying correctly for less than 3 months I would consider B&B, Pensions, Residencias would give you far moire flexibility to explore.

I would put language as a secondary importance or even lower because make no mistake it is a difficult language (especially if your teacher or methods of learning are Brazilian based which many are) to learn and add regional even more so, yes it's useful and polite but I personally wouldn't make it a too big an issue.

Hindsight great thing I wouldn't go too rural you can be close to good amenities without being in the sticks and enjoy a rural life apart from real major cities then rural can start within a few hundred metres of a sizeable "Camara" town, Google Earth can illustrate this and it's the Camara town that all services, dentists, transport start from in an "Camara area" so easy access is important for many reasons not just health 

TM's in a nice Central area my preference is a bit more Lousa, North I would recommend the Viana do Castello region as far as Valenca it enjoys a micro climate very similar to Eastern Algarve, but more rain but not the real cold you get beyond Moncao or the really cold in Braga, Villa Real areas where you get real winters

Just because it's Portugal don't believe you don't need heating you do, Electric storage expensive, bottled gas far too expensive too run, mains gas only available in very limited areas, options are diesel or pellet boiler, better options are wood backboiler depending on size of property Wood pellet for fire + C/H + H/W, serously consider solar hot water as reducing overall bills, not that Water or IMI(rates) are expensive here.

Personally I would not look at housing built mid 50's to 70's maybe mid 80's poorly insulated and really require good quality external insulation system installed, windows would recommend UPVC far outperform the Aluminium or even Aluminium with thermal break both produce a lot of internal condensation

Please don't forget that as Residents in Portugal your primary responsibility for reporting and Taxation on Pensions or any foreign earnings, interest etc is Portugal you might qualify for the Non Habitual Scheme but please remember this only relates to earnings in Portugal so your Pensions etc would still be taxed at source so you must check that the cost of getting on scheme doesn't outweigh any savings if any.

There are new Tax rules starting 2015 that will allow married couple, co inhabiting etc the option to file individual IRS (Tax returns) currently you file as a family unit, this should be beneficial for most expats as in our case my wife would not then pay any any tax on her Pension income and my tax will reduce because her Pension will not be included so reducing the current band I fall into


----------



## bill t (Nov 11, 2014)

*thanks*

thanks very much canoe man, I have read many of your threads and gleaned much from them,in particular one discussing double taxation.My pension is from the UK fire service and it was only this morning that I discovered a reply from yourself addressing the subject.We really appreciate your advice on locations as we have only been in the Coimbra area twice and although we enjoyed our visits, a more rural location would suit us with a reasonable travelling time to a town or city.There are many questions I have and will post more in time, thanks again for your reply:fingerscrossed:


----------

