I moved to Portugal last week with my wife and her father. For the past year, we have been looking at the houses for rent on sites like Idealista.com and felt very secure that we would be able to find something without much hassle.
So far, this has proven FALSE. Almost every house we had saved in our favorites list is only available for a few weeks or months at a time - but none of the advertisements say anything about that!
Even the places that DO rent long-term don’t update their ads - I can’t tell you how many people we have called or emailed who have told us the house is already rented.
What the heck do we do? I feel a little bit tricked by everything I’ve read about housing here but we’re already here! We only have this temporary rental (just outside Coimbra, in Vale de Colmeias) for 3 more weeks and we’re worried we won’t be able to find a place.
What am I missing?
Can someone recommend a realtor or something? At this point, we don’t even care what city the place is in, we just want to make sure we have a place to stay.
Your situation is not uncommon in any real estate market. I have been studying the southern markets in Portugal for several months now, and believe your claim as real…
While I have significant real estate training, I have been looking for realtors to assist me. Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet) has a country wide agency. They are the best “english speaking” professionals that I am currently aware of to get started.
Hi Kam, I was able to find a lot of long terms rentals in Lisbon on Idealista, but I’m not sure what it’s like in other areas (and this was during the summer). It did take a lot of effort to actually set up appointments to see places, though. I very rarely got responses through email, so I would recommend calling over emailing if you’re not doing that already. If they say a place is already rented, maybe try asking if they have other properties of the type you’re looking for.
I also stayed at a great place in Porto - https://firmeza388.com/ . I think it was mainly medium-term rentals, a few months at a time, but if you’re really okay with another city, then it could work until you find something longer term. (Maybe more will become available in the spring/summer.) The owner, Miguel, was very friendly and helpful, so it could be worth reaching out to see what he has available.
Thanks for the help, guys. I tried a bunch of different real estate companies (including ERA and REMAX) and they all specialize in buying/selling so that wasn’t much help.
We just kept calling and calling and calling until finally a few people answered and set up appointments. It was just frustratingly slow and sometimes discriminatory - several places cut off contact as soon as they found out I wasn’t Portuguese and another said they charge all foreigners 13 months rent up front (an illegal practice, according to my current real estate agent).
I think we’re ok for now, as long as this rental contract doesn’t fall through. Thanks again.
That would be their core business, yes, but they also include rentals - the amount of listings for that probably varies from region to region. A relative of mine just rented out their house through ERA (and extremely quickly), but that was around Lisbon Glad you could find a solution!
Glad you could find a solution!