Our house hunt kept circling back to a terraced house In Urgezes, a small community very close to Guimarães, just south of Braga, and about an hour train ride away from Porto. We were curious about the layout since the pictures seemed to show four bedrooms but the listing was for two. We researched Guimarães since we had never been there and the city seemed to have everything we wanted within walking distance of the house – movie theaters, medical facilities, restaurants, and the whole gamut of consumer needs.

We showed our friend Jorge the listing and he was also impressed, and not just because he loves the North. He thought the price looked fair but warned us that the cooler climate would definitely require replacing all the windows and outer doors to keep warm in the winter. The temperature in that region is similar to Portland with rainy winters and a handful of heatwaves during the summers.

The property seemed almost too good to be true, so we wanted to see it. On March 14th we requested a virtual tour through Idealista. A realtor named João contacted us, and we scheduled the tour for the next afternoon.

We started our house tour with João and were greeted by a very loud dog that lives next door. The house still had all the furnishings from the previous owner, including a car in the garage and an extra bed on the upstairs landing. João explained that the existing owners had added two small rooms on the lower level for personal reasons and they can’t technically be considered bedrooms since they don’t have windows. The house is about 1400 square feet not including the garage and three terraces (upper and lower levels and above the garage).

The unofficial bedrooms were perfect for us, we could use them as a media room and a yoga/relaxation space. Those rooms could also double as small extra bedrooms if we had a large group visiting. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a partial bathroom in the garage. The upstairs landing is also quite large and with the right shelving could hold our board game collection.

Our big question for João was “in your opinion is there anything that needs to be changed or repaired?”. He immediately gave the right answer, that the doors and windows need updating. He really solidified our trust by explaining that the roof needed to be assessed for repair and additional measures should be taken to ensure it would stay warm in the winter. He also said that he would make the downstairs into a single large open area by knocking out all the extra walls and that he would replace all the floors.

Michelle requested an inspection, and João offered to contact a local construction company about the changes and a few other things like adding a bathtub in one of the bathrooms. We received the quote the following Monday (March 18th).

Were we really going to buy a house in Portugal? This question nagged at us even as we talked about how we would make the house our own. The remodel bid seemed reasonable, especially since it included multiple things we hadn’t considered changing right away like the floors and a full kitchen update. Both those things would be on our list, but we didn’t see them as high priorities.

Since we had a school break for Easter we started planning a trip, arriving in Guimarães on Monday March 25th and viewing the house with João the next day. We rented a car and made the six hour drive north. Our primary goal was to try to feel out the city as though we lived there. We didn’t plan on doing anything touristy and didn’t even take any pictures.

Guimarães is known as the birthplace of Portugal and we’ll be doing some posts about the city in the future. For now I’ll just say that the city made a wonderful first impression. As we strolled along picturesque streets there were tons of charming shops, quirky bars, beautiful plazas, and a lively feel. We found a romantic restaurant tucked down an alley and enjoyed a fabulous dinner. The only thing concerning us was that we had invited João to lunch after the viewing and he hadn’t responded.

We were staying at an inn in the historic part of town and had no plans before the noon viewing. At 10:33 João texted and asked to move up our meeting to 11:00, we noticed that he still hadn’t addressed our lunch invitation. It’s hard to read nuance with text messages, but we had an uneasy feeling about this abrupt timing change. Was there another offer on the house? Had we offended João at some point? Has our American reputation hindered us in some way?

Arriving a few minutes early we parked in front of the garage and observed the neighborhood. It was quiet with an occasional car, some older women walking with their daily groceries, and that same dog barking incessantly. João arrived on time looking serious and we said “Hello” and introduced ourselves in Portuguese. He asked us “Do you speak Portuguese?”. We said “Yes…”. He said “Really, right now, you understand what I’m saying?”. Again from us, “Yes…” and immediately his demeanor changed. Although João can speak English, and had done so in our video tour, he wasn’t looking forward to answering all our technical questions, especially once the builder arrived. We would be talking about insulation and the potential remodel which he would have had to translate. He reconfirmed “the builder is coming and he doesn’t speak any English”, we said “that’s OK”. We also realized that the appointment time had been modified so that we could meet the builder in person.

Our tour of the house answered a few remaining questions. Some rooms seemed a little smaller than we imagined while others were larger. The house smelled like it had been vacant for awhile which it had been, the owners now live in France and use it as a holiday house. There were some ancient bits and bobs installed throughout, odd pulleys and switches that our grandparents probably would have recognized. Nothing popped up that dissuaded us from wanting to make the purchase.

We told João that we were going to walk in the neighborhood a bit before making a decision. We wanted to confirm that stores, restaurants, and groceries were as close as we hoped. He graciously offered to give us a tour of Urgezes, Guimarães, and even drove us up the mountain behind the house. We must not have made a horrible impression because while driving around he made lunch reservations and invited his wife to join us for the meal.

Lunch was a fun challenge since João preferred to converse in Portuguese and his wife in English. We had a great meal and they both were very open to sharing their insights and thoughts about the area. Outside of holidays (Easter and Christmas) Guimarães isn’t a major tourist destination. There are quite a few expats in the area, but most of them are from Brasil, Americans are definitely a rarity. João said our immediate neighbors are almost all Portuguese and that our language skills will be adequate but that we can expect them to improve quickly since we will be speaking Portuguese constantly in the North. We finished lunch and decided to go to João’s office to discuss what might happen next.

Once we arrived at the real estate agency, João walked us through some technical questions and explained how the purchase process would work. There were other showings scheduled over the next few days; we asked this question, João wasn’t using it to pressure us. A major difference when selling and buying in Portugal is that there isn’t as much, if any, back and forth negotiation. Also, a buyer can put 10% down in escrow and the property will be held for 30 days. This would be necessary in our case since we still had to transfer some funds from our U.S. banks to Portugal. This is a tedious and sometimes nerve-wracking process we won’t bore you with here.

We requested a few minutes to discuss things in private. We kept repeating variations of the same handful of questions which were “What do you think?”, “Are we crazy?”, and “Are we really doing this?”. This went on for about 15 more minutes before we called João back into his office and asked him to draw up the paperwork!

The sellers were in France and communications back and forth with them were slow over the next two weeks. We asked if we could keep a couple pieces of furniture for utilitarian reasons (it wasn’t in very good condition). Instead of giving us that furniture our agent got them to lower the price by €5,000 (yay!). The sellers also asked to extend the sale period from 30 days to 60 days because they needed more time to remove their belongings. Even though we were anxious to move into our new house, this timeline would actually work out better with the plans we had already scheduled for the summer months.

We signed a contract with the builders for the remodel work (which we will detail in a separate post) and made another trip to Guimarães to sign the final paperwork once the 60 days had passed. Everything went smoothly, but I have to admit that we definitely had some nerves. The lawyer speed read the whole purchase contract aloud in Portuguese. She also had some questions about Michelle and I’s property ownership from before we got married and the associated U.S. laws. We didn’t really know the legal answer other than we didn’t have a prenup or significant assets prior to marriage. We were handed the keys and given instructions to change the water and electricity to our names before we returned to Olhão.

So, we now own a house in Urgezes, Portugal! Renovations are expected to be done the last week in August and we should move in around August 25th. After getting the keys we walked to the house and made a little video which I’ll share with you now.