Good Afternoon Friends!
Well….we bought a house! I was going back and forth debating on whether or not I wanted to create a video about our experience with our house purchase. Mainly because….I feel like our experience isn’t the norm, but I decided to share it anyway. I would rather have you learn from my experience and be aware of what isn’t the norm!
A few short months after moving to Portugal, we decided to start looking at homes. We even looked at homes in Lagos! We absolutely love it there and put an offer on one home. Boy would this Youtube channel be so different had we moved there. Luckily, our offer wasn’t accepted and the owner had countered. We took some time to explore the area some more; really narrowing down if it was a livable city for us (not just for vacation). We then realized that Lagos didn’t fit our needs/want list. So back to Caldas some more!
We moved into our rental (in Foz do Arelho) which then gave us some time to find the perfect home. It was a mere two months after we moved into our rental that we found our new home. Can I tell you how hard it is to find a home with more than 4 bedrooms? I never thought having 3 kids would make home buying in Portugal difficult, but apparently, I have a “large” family 😂. Coming from a family of 7, I find that funny to say.
❤️ Reason Why We Bought in Caldas da Rainha ❤️
I’ve been asked why we chose to buy in Caldas versus staying in Foz. Although we loved living by the beach, we found that we rarely went there. My husband and I would have lunch at the beach every other week, but our daily activities are always in Caldas. So it just made sense for us to buy there.
🏦 Banks 🏦
We use Novo Banco with our home loan. Although our closing process was a bit lengthy and at times frustrating, we have been happy with their service so far. We have used the Caldas branch in a few different occasions and the manager and staff have gone out of their way to help us. So in the future, I would recommend going in person if you want to apply for a home loan with them. If we had done that initially, I believe the process would have been completely different 💕
Anyway, grab some popcorn, use the bathroom and get ready for a very long chat.
⭐️ Mortgage Info ⭐️
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CONTACT ME: thephilippefamily@gmail.com
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ABOUT US:
Hi! My name is Josie. My husband and three kids decided to move to the Silver Coast of Portugal after living in the United States for our entire life. Follow us as we discover the amazing region of the Silver Coast.Hope you enjoy our journey.
#silvercoastportugal #portugal #movingtoportugal #caldasdarainha #familiesinportugal #livingincaldasdarainha #movingtocaldasdarainha
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Congratulations Josie,
Sounds typical for what we have experienced as far as lagistics.It’s almost like a circus getting things done..lol!!!Anyway ,another great episode!
Chad
OMG! Congratulations Josie!!! 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
This gives me hopes, I too can someday ❤️
Congratulations! I legit almost spit out my drink when you said the interest rate. I’ve never even heard of rates that low. I think rates here had hit 5.25% and are still expected to go up. That is insane. Could you also please share what the fixed rates would’ve been?
We are Americans, who 2 years ago lived in Foz da Arelho with intensions to live permanently. We've since moved back because we lost 15.500 of our deposit money on a house. The banks appraiser said there was an issue with an annex building that wasn't on the same paper work as the main house, and wasn't registered with the town?? So the bank refused the loan. We asked the seller to fix the problem, but kept stating that there was no problem. He said the problem was the "Politics" of the bank. Our lawyer was so incompetent that he failed to put a safety clause in the contract stating that if the bank refused the loan, we could get our money back. Nope!! No such thing. But there a clause that if there was a problem with the property we could. But he sided with the seller, stating it was the bank's problem. We couldn't believe it. The seller realtor tried to get a loan for us from different banks, but we were so disgusted with the seller, our lawyer, incompetent banker that barely explained everything, that we decided to leave the shitshow, and incompetent micky mouse show of the Portuguese bureaucracy, and come home. There is no consistency there. Losing 15.500 euros is no joke. And no one gave a crap about us.
Hi Josie, thank you for such an informative video. Would you be willing to share details of the realtor and lawyer you used please; as I am interested in purchasing a holiday home in the Silver Coast. Is it possible to contact you via email if this is more appropriate? 🙂
Wishing all the best for you and your familiy in the new house!
Hi! Did you go through a reputable realty agency like ERA, Remax or Century 21? Don't the banks have lawyers, do an inspection, check the house documents? We've found that most banks come back with similar offers, but slightly different rates…Are you still happy choosing variable since rates are going up and it seems they will continue to do so! Could you use a mortgage broker at yhe sMe agency? We are finding NB very high and even checked with Millennium, but they were not competitive. I hope we are doing this right! We are going with fixed ant it's in the 2%. Thanks for your advice!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Sounds like it was quite the ordeal. I’m glad to read that you love your new house!
Congrats Josie on your new home… Good video too…
Will a life insurance policy from the US suffice? And also wanted to ask what the average going rate (per hour) for a lawyer? Thanks.
Congratulations on your new home purchase! You survived!!
Good on you for not falling into the life insurance trap for the mortgage. The life insurance is very costly for it is based on the size of the mortgage. Also, you could only benefit from the insurance if one spouse dies and the other cannot pay the monthly mortgage payments; or if the main income earner suffers a disability and is unable to make the payments. Mortgage insurance is a big ripoff.
If you were to save or invest the amount of the added insurance cost over a period of 20 to 30 years you would end up with something tangible at your disposal.
Congrats! I am envious. We may put an offer on a place up around Braga. Such a tough decision.