Is an Estate Agent (for the Buyer) Even Necessary?
 

First post here after being completely hooked on reading other real estate home purchase posts on this forum for HOURS!

I just discovered this board today. After reviewing several posts, it appears that the consensus is to contact listing agents directly, and then use a lawyer to review documents and to ensure everything is legally correct.

Our bank told us that they will review all documents on our behalf. We are purchasing a 2-4 unit building in which we will live in one unit.

Home inspection doesn't seem like a "thing" here, although I did locate a home inspector for €475 up to 150m.

We are not even entertaining any projects needing more than just light cosmetic work, that we could do ourselves.

I know the seller's agent works on their behalf, but I have not located any "buyers agents" here in Lisbon that seem to have extensive knowledge in the pitfalls of buying. In fact, after showing them our criteria, which consists of 8 items, we usually don't hear from them again.

Based on my research, and reading other peoples' experiences here, is obtaining an estate agent to work on our behalf, even if we paid them to do so, even necessary?

Re: Is an Estate Agent (for the Buyer) Even Necessary?
 

No and I'm not sure why one would want a 'buyer's' estate agent unless it was to search for properties, but a lawyer definitely is essential - when we bought, the bank did a valuation of the property but our lawyer did the rest.

Re: Is an Estate Agent (for the Buyer) Even Necessary?
 

In agreement with Shanorme on this. We already had a trusted estate agent looking for houses in our chosen area when we spotted a sign on a house we liked the look of with a different much smaller agent based in another town nearby which was very Portuguese and had no English speakers available to us. Out of loyalty to our hardworking agent who had put up with a lot searching for us, and also to use a savvy English speaking expert we asked him to liaise with the other agency. This worked well and under a very sensible Portuguese system the two agencies share any fees and simplify the process. So you can use a "buyer's agent" but you really do not need to engage one specially! The lawyer works for you and only you. The (bona fide) estate agent works to sell a property, yes for the other party who is selling it, but also to you meeting your requirements so that you do actually buy it. You get information from the estate agent. You use the lawyer to check everything. We hear reports of the banks not doing due diligence, and vary a great deal in how much they do to secure any mortgage and I feel the bank is definitely looking at its own interests, not yours...

You say you would live in one of the several units you are considering purchasing ... you would certainly find a lawyer useful here in finding out the pitfalls - are you intending to use the other units as holiday lets, long term lets, for friends and relations to holiday in ... ? Do you know the rules and regulations for all of the above and are you willing to upgrade to necessary standard if letting out? Are there sitting tenants to consider? Might be a minefield of unknowns?

Re: Is an Estate Agent (for the Buyer) Even Necessary?
 

Buyers agent generally does not exist here so you'd probably not get what you wanted as they wouldn't know what to do, I've only ever met and worked with one (a non-Portuguese) who understood the idea - as it works elsewhere - but he really struggled to get correct and timely information from sellers agents and after a couple of years has given up the idea. Some of the bigger franchise estate agents do have "data bases" of properties but you'd need to go into their office and sit with them whilst they search - again it's not how things are generally done here. Local estate agents often have some properties which are not for sale, have already been sold, paperwork not up to date, and stuff not listed online making any search a foot slog of visiting offices in person to get a true picture of what's available. An email without a visit beforehand may be ignored as it involves them investing time and effort in some random search and little prospect of any payment. A local lawyer is a very good idea as there is some variance between how local authorities administer their responsibilities. Home inspection is often done sensibly by a local builder who has some idea of of the building methods and can judge quality of work and materials. Things here possibly take ten times as long to sort out as you'd expect and stuff like the inheritance of property by ALL the offspring etc can make any seller decision very complicated and time consuming. Good Luck

Re: Is an Estate Agent (for the Buyer) Even Necessary?
 

Thank you both for your responses. This will be our first purchase abroad and so we're just trying to gleam as much info as possible. You definitely have us covered.