EMR

As a seller we fell once for the agent informing us that all their ck8ents were ore approved etc, no problems getting a mortgage..
Simply if your prospective buyer needs a mortgage then keep your property on the market or demand a large non refundable deposit.
It can takes months to get a mortgage in Portugal which is based on the applicants ability to repay and the banks valuation of the property not the sales price.

Pilou

When you find your dream house, can you pay a reservation fee of 5k or 10k to be 100% sure the house is yours? Can you do this without having a tax number yet?

Will you get the reservation fee back when you don't want it? That means that people can reserve a house during months and then say I don't want it. Or is there a limited time between the reservation fee and the deposit of 10-15%??

If you buy the property, the reservation fee is in fact (a part of) the deposit?

These questions because I also found my dream house!

EMR

I doubt that you will see all of any of your reservation fee back if you withdraw from the sale without good reason.
Why should the seller lose out by taking the property off the market and losing potential buyers.
Offer a small reservation fee 1000e while your lawyer checks out the legality , licenses etc and then offer a quick completion, without promissory.
You will need a tax number to do almost anything in Portugal.

Pilou

Thanks for this good advice!
I never saw the property, but I found it in Google maps and this is what we were looking for.
We won't try to bring the price down and are willing pay 1000 EUR reservation fee, to be (HOPEFULLY) deducted from the price when we buy. We can offer to buy (completion) the property the beginning of November as cash payer. Hopefully this helps.
We are lucky that we already met a lawyer in Loulé, but finally we did not buy any property.

I don't think we need a tax number to pay for the reservation. As soon as we are there, we will ask for our tax number.

Tomorrow we will call the real estate agent!

Pilou

We contacted the real estate agent and asked about the reservation possibility. You need to pay EUR 2,500 to take it off the market. When we buy, this will be deducted from the price. When we decide not to buy, we won't get the EUR 2,500 back.

Still waiting for some answers, before we might decide to do the reservation. We will be there in 3 weeks, but I don't want to have the risk the house has gone by then. But we did not see the house. A real risk, but this is the only house that ticks all the boxes.

EMR

Are you really considering buying a property without seeing it.
The ceilings could be falling down, a main road at the bottom of the garden ,a pig farm next door etc etc .
Do not let the agent rush you into anything unless you can afford to ,lose 2500euros which will go into the agents pocket.

qianh

I suppose everyone is different, but I probably would go to see the house first before putting down reservation. Yes there is risk loosing the house but another one will come along. Also if you have good relationship with agent they probably will keep you informed about the house sale situation.

qianh

And I think cash buying for the asking price in early Nov is very attractive to the seller already, unless it's some nice place in sought after area in Lisbon!

Pilou

I would probably tell the same, but this for us an ideal house. When we see the house and we are really disappointed, we loose EUR 2,500. The risk of losing EUR 2,500 is compared with the total investment in a house just a detail.

Pilou

Yes indeed! This is a point! But now it is October. The house is 3 days on the market and already 2 viewings a day. It is more the question wether we are already too late and people who saw the house the last days might already consider to put an offer in. That is why negociating the price is not a real option.

qianh

Of course at the end of day it's your decision.

peterfc

Two viewings a day is what they tell you to get you to do something about making the offer complete.

THIS is the only property for sale in Portugal is IT?

But then again everybody giving good advice can't be wrong can they.

Peter

Pilou

We try to find a house since 14 months. This unfinished house needs a lot of work and investment, but we think this could become our dream house.....
But still waiting for answers from the agent.

When we don't get the answers, we just wait and see.

toots sweet

We are in the process of doing the same thing.Going over in December to view and get a feel of the area which is new to us(Lived in Algarve before).We have seen a property
on line which looks ideal,but i would not think of putting a deposit down without seeing the property and the surrounding area. I have viewed it on google earth and it still looks ideal BUT there are things to consider which on the face of it might seem small at the time,but could become an aggravation.
Is there a barking dogs around.. this can be quite a nuisance after a time.
Is the field garden next door tidy or does it belong to someone who collects junk,old cars, machinery etc ( the portuguese seem to hate to throw things away).perhaps a small noisy workplace nearby etc etc. I would definately want to check this out before laying out cash.

Cherrypop

My understanding is that the reservation fee doesn't guarantee the seller taking it off the market - it's the sellers decision and I saw one house where he wouldn't hear of a reservation and wanted to go straight to promissory.

Even if you do pay a reservation and it does come off the market, it's only for a limited period and I think you would be expected to employ your lawyer to do the necessary searches as soon as you pay and then quickly move to the promissory contract.

As for not seeing a house first - I think this is a crazy thing to do. I've had 2 trips to view a massive range of properties. On my last trip a week ago, I had a house lined up that ticked all my boxes. I had a friend already living there do an initial viewing for me and she thought it was perfect too. It was the first property I saw when I got there but I didn't like it. It still had everything I was looking for in a nice area but it was just lacking in something I can't define and I couldn't see me living there. I was really disappointed as had pinned my hopes on it being 'the one'. I was able to arrange more viewings while I was there and the last place I saw really was the one and I'm waiting to hear if my offer is accepted.

I would say arrange a lot of viewings for when you arrive and look at things you might not expect to like. I saw several places I wouldn't have planned to view but went on the advice of the agent and saw the one I want because of it.

The best agent I've dealt with, and there have been many, was a very small, family-run business in the town where I hope to live. They were so helpful and came to pick me up and take me back as I didn't have a car. They even did extra viewings on the public holiday last week as it was my last day so they gave up their day at the beach. Find a good agent and you'll get the house you're looking for.