Would you buy?
Printed From: Albufeira.com
Category: Tourism / Turismo
Forum Name: Users Chit Chat / Conversa entre Utilizadores
Forum Description: Topic area unrelated to Albufeira / Área de Tópicos não relacionados com Albufeira
URL: https://albufeira.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9283
Printed Date: 23/November/2024 at 21:44
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 10.15 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Would you buy?
Posted By: S1gh
Subject: Would you buy?
Date Posted: 06/February/2016 at 23:11
|
Really in two minds what to do?? As a working couple in our late 40's who visit Albufeira 3 to 5 times a year, sometimes for a week sometimes for a weekend who plan to spend a LOT more time there when we eventually stop working, would YOU buy a property now or just use hotels and private rents? If we did buy we would not want to rent out. Just your ideas for advice please. Thank you. |
Replies:
Posted By: cubsur
Date Posted: 07/February/2016 at 10:11
|
I think it's a good time to buy. Prices are low and there are plenty of properties available at all prices, but the exchange rate fluctuations need to be watched. ------------- Albufeira Resident www.algarvebus.info public transport information for the Algarve |
Posted By: DICEYUK
Date Posted: 07/February/2016 at 10:59
|
Based on our own experience it has to be buy. Bought our 1 bed apartment 14 years ago & have never regretted it for a minute. We've never let it out & only used it for weekends & holidays until we retired 6 years ago. Now we spend up to 5 months a year here. Running costs, if you don't use it much, are not expensive - about £1.5k a year in our case. So if you only spend your holidays here then you're no worse off than going on a couple of package holidays. Obviously the longer you come over for then the running costs go up but if you stay for long periods the extra cost here is more than covered by what you save from not being at home. ------------- I hate how peopleï compare Frank Zappa to God. I mean, he's cool and great and nice and everything, but he's no Zappa. |
Posted By: john2604smith
Date Posted: 07/February/2016 at 13:53
Property prices are recovering strongly, if you are buying in Sterling the rate is still pretty good. I bought mine in 2006 and have had plenty of use. Just got back from three weeks over Christmas and New Year, if I had paid hotel/apartment rates it would have cost me over a thousand to stay. It is nice having your own place as you tend to "live" there as opposed to holidaying. We stay in during the week and cook and eat in the Apartment as opposed to going out every night like on holiday and go out at weekends. The cost of living is quite cheap, if you stick to a diet of chicken, fish, wine and beer  I am 10 minutes walk from the square and beach of Albufeira so I don't need a car if I don't want one. I tend to find however, off season car hire is quite cheap and usually hire one which enables me to visit other beautiful beaches like Gale, Sao Rafael etc or pop over to Algarve shopping etc. I feel owning a property is an excellent excuse for returning over and over. On the downside you will have running costs, usual bills, property tax, condo fees perhaps, maintenance, repairs, decor and furnishings to consider, hope this helps  ------------- ownersdirect P3708 |
Posted By: Andrew
Date Posted: 07/February/2016 at 14:22
|
Agree with all the above, buy. We did and have not regretted it for a second, it's our second home, we don't rent either, just get there as often as we can and with retirement looking imminent ( thank gawd) we're looking forward to spending more time there. ------------- Andrew |
Posted By: Super Bock
Date Posted: 07/February/2016 at 15:28
| Agree with all the above, we bought our apartment in 2006 best thing we ever did, one day we will move permanently but until then we have lots of weekends and week long holidays. |
Posted By: S1gh
Date Posted: 07/February/2016 at 20:00
| Thank you for your advice, always good to hear from people who actually have experience 👠|
Posted By: Irispad
Date Posted: 10/February/2016 at 19:37
| Definitely buy...we bought our house in 2007 ...we,and many friends and relatives,have had a lot of holidays there. Now we are retired we are there more often and for longer ...it's our home. |
Posted By: ClaireKildare
Date Posted: 11/February/2016 at 13:09
| Bought in 2011, best thing we ever did. Instead of shelling out €1,000 two or three times a year for a week in a villa. We go over every month from March to October for anything from 3 days to 2 weeks. Still have to work and have last lad in secondary school so can't stretch to longer breaks at the moment, looking forward to staying longer over the next few years. Made friends in Albufeira, its our second home. Go on, bite the bullet. |
Posted By: port princess
Date Posted: 11/February/2016 at 15:53
|
Yes best thing we've done is buy now we're both retired we go over whenever we want except July and August as too busy for us And you meet other owners / friends which is great . ------------- Portprincess |
Posted By: Richardk
Date Posted: 11/February/2016 at 19:05
|
Definitely buy - we are very glad we did. Make sure you get independent legal advisor though rather than one proposed by agent. If you take the same care as you would when buying in UK the you will be pleased . Good luck Richard |
Posted By: S1gh
Date Posted: 11/February/2016 at 21:35
|
100% in favour at the moment, not a balanced argument but obviously everyone is really happy they bought. Thank you everybody |
Posted By: DICEYUK
Date Posted: 11/February/2016 at 22:16
|
A note on renting out. As I said earlier we don't do it, although while we were working we did let friends, friends of friends and work colleagues use it for a very modest fee - enough to cover electricity, gas & water used. Rule of thumb - if you think you know someone and think you can trust them while they're over here then you probably don't know them that well & you probably can't trust them. Despite explicit requests & instructions, that were all part of the extremely cheap deal, the apartment was mostly left like a tip with things broken, rotten stuff in the fridge and marks on walls etc etc All of which took us a couple of days to sort out everytime we came back. If you're going to buy then keep it for your own use only. Otherwise you will be forever worrying as to what's going on & who has done what to your second home. Unless the potential income is needed to help fund a purchase then renting it out is just not worth all the hassle. You can leave all your personal stuff here, leave your clothes, you don't have worry about packing or putting your stuff away before you go home or unpacking when you arrive. More importantly when you arrive at the property you'll find it exactly how you left it and and exactly how you like it. That way you start your holiday immediately you walk through the door & not two days after you've arrived. ------------- I hate how peopleï compare Frank Zappa to God. I mean, he's cool and great and nice and everything, but he's no Zappa. |
Posted By: gerry
Date Posted: 11/February/2016 at 23:01
| Well said |
Posted By: ClaireKildare
Date Posted: 12/February/2016 at 10:07
| Totally agree with Dicey, we rented out our place for the first year we had it to people we knew, again for a very small fee. Our problem was, it was so popular we couldn't get into it ourselves when we wanted to, we had to book ourselves in, totally defeating the purpose of being able to pop over whenever. And I do love travelling with nothing more than a handbag to carry! Maybe not a balanced view S1gh but most people on this forum love Albufeira. |
Posted By: carolenclive
Date Posted: 12/February/2016 at 10:40
|
We also love Albufeira,after all we have been regular visitors 2/3 times a year for 26 yrs.My husband retired 20 yrs ago but I only retired 7 yrs ago and would have moved to Albufeira to live but my husband didnt want to.So we sold up and bought a small cottage in the Pennines and continue to visit whenever we can.His reasons for not wanting to go were our 10 grandchildren and the thought of not seeing them daily weekly etc.I am now in total agreement with him and have the best or both worlds. ------------- caz |
Posted By: Algarveaddick
Date Posted: 12/February/2016 at 11:10
|
We have several friends who rent out officially - some on this forum - I think for the most part they are more than happy with the income it brings in relation to the work involved. If you are going to do it, I think Dicey is right, don't do it at mates rates for friends and family, do it properly and officially. One friend (not on this forum) has a half share in a property with his mate, and the biggest problems are after said co-owner has been over... 
|
Posted By: ClaireKildare
Date Posted: 12/February/2016 at 13:12
| We are thinking of buying a second property, for the sole purpose of renting out. This would be "official", I heard it was a nightmare to register etc, is that true? |
Posted By: stuart123
Date Posted: 12/February/2016 at 13:35
|
ClaireKildare - Its not difficult, I'm just doing it at the moment. What is difficult, is trying to avoid the rip off ex-pat accountancy firms which want to charge you more in fees than you would ever make in profit ! |
Posted By: Algarveaddick
Date Posted: 12/February/2016 at 14:42
| I would echo what Stuart says (from talking to others, not personal experience). When they bought in the new law it was chaos, as all major law changes are in Portugal - they just make it up as they go along - with apparently no consultation with anyone with experience or a direct interest in the changes. They just steamroller in with their half baked ideas, often not even giving the correct information or paperwork to the civil servants and LGOs charged with administering the changes. After a lot of wringing of hands and shaking of heads, they then work out a more practical and efficient solution with people who actually have an idea about what they are doing, and it then settles down, and eventually it works. Which is where we are with the rental licence situation now. |
Posted By: bob d
Date Posted: 13/February/2016 at 14:23
|
My advice......Anyone having problems renting out are perhaps not doing it right. You need to find a good fiscal, they are out there, and they will do everything at a reasonable price and also a good management company for cleaning etc. We only started to rent out a few years ago because we don't come over in July and August. Last year we rented out all of May, June, July, August and September. We also dictate when we come over and did so in May, June and September . The income covers all running costs plus costs for us to spend half the winter in Albufeira. A good fiscal will do everything required to get you the AL licence. They will also do all your tax returns. A good management company will do meet and greet, cleaning, checking, laundrey etc. Some on here are mentioning breakages, we take a security deposit of £200 for every booking and have never had to retain it, it's amazing how well behaved guests are when they know they might lose 200. Also, the new laws state that you need the passport details of guests, similar to hotels, plus address and names of all in the party. If your property is built for 4, don't allow 6. No sofa beds. Our management company will know the apartment is booked for say 2 adults and 2 kids , if guests arrive and there are 6 adults then they don't get in. Never happened to us but it has for our management company. ------------- we're not brazil we're norn iron |
Posted By: stuart123
Date Posted: 14/February/2016 at 12:06
| Good point about the newer border control laws - you must register each visitor to the property within 3 days of them arriving (and leaving) - theres an online form to do this. |
Posted By: Big Col
Date Posted: 14/February/2016 at 13:15
|
We have rented private apartments or villas in the Algarve for many years, mostly in Albufeira (& perhaps from some on this forum) . It will be interesting to see this registration process in action as up to now we have only once had to provide passport information and that was last year to a German owner. The other two apartments last year did not ask. We will be staying in at least three apartments in 2016, the first in about 17 weeks and so far no requests other than lead name, address, number in group, arrival data/time & flight number.  ------------- Colin |
Posted By: stuart123
Date Posted: 15/February/2016 at 12:53
|
Big Col - there is a good chance they are not following the rules, paying tax or complying with the "AL" rules either then! |
Posted By: Big Col
Date Posted: 15/February/2016 at 13:11
I agree but if it wasn't for information provided through this forum, I wouldn't have been any the wiser. I should add that whilst browsing various websites for available properties, many still don't quote their licence number either. ------------- Colin |
stuart123 wrote:Posted By: DICEYUK
Date Posted: 15/February/2016 at 15:03
|
Aren't you supposed to have some sort of sign, certificate or licence on your door to show that you are legal if you rent out? 25 apartments in our block & I know for a fact that at least 14 do regular holiday lets. Not one single sign on any door here so you can bet that none of the other stuff is complied with either. And as BC says, how would the majority of owners, particulary, Foreign owners, know about this? ------------- I hate how peopleï compare Frank Zappa to God. I mean, he's cool and great and nice and everything, but he's no Zappa. |
Posted By: stuart123
Date Posted: 15/February/2016 at 16:22
|
Its not a requirement to have the old "AL" signs now - any any that were issued previously are likely to have the wrong number on them!! Anyone with the older "AL" sign should have re-applied via the council website for a new number - its free for all to apply, but you do have to make sure you comply with the safety requirements. Anyone advertising their property to rent, must include the "AL" number as part of the advert - or again you are in breach of the rules, although I'm not sure anyone is actually enforcing them!
|
Posted By: bob d
Date Posted: 15/February/2016 at 22:35
|
Stuart is correct.......in December 2014 when the new rules came in it was all over the press, Internet etc. Also, accountants/fiscals knew all about it so don't think even foreign owners have an excuse of not knowing. The authorities are always threatening to clamp down on non compliance and it should be easy enough as all they have to do is look at the rental sites and check the ones with no AL number showing. As Stuart says, all adverts have to have the AL number showing. I reckon the vast majority of renters don't have the license but it's a risk I wouldn't take as the fines for those that are caught are in the thousands. One more thought.....what if (God forbid) there was a bad/fatal accident in your property and you hadn't got the proper license with all the safety requirements that go with it, do you really think your insurance company would cover you never mind what the law would do. ------------- we're not brazil we're norn iron |
Posted By: stuart123
Date Posted: 16/February/2016 at 08:53
|
The "border control" reporting is also a joke, in the fact that you only report paying customers in your property! So if you have friends/family using it - then you don't need to register them! Surely if it really was about border control, they would want to know who was there no matter who they are? |
Posted By: ClaireKildare
Date Posted: 16/February/2016 at 11:11
| Agree totally Stuart, who knows when we are in our own properties, we all just show our passports at the airport and walk away. |
Posted By: cubsur
Date Posted: 16/February/2016 at 11:28
|
All this name and address reporting is I reckon more of a fiscal thing than anything else. If you are renting and not paying tax on income, it's another way of finding you out. And if you are renting 'illegally' no insurance will cover you in the event of an accident or damage caused. Border control is insisted upon by scared governments and airlines. Thousands of people drive across from Spain every day and show no ID to anyone. ------------- Albufeira Resident www.algarvebus.info public transport information for the Algarve |