USING OUR FINDER SERVICES WILL NEVER COST YOU MORE THAN BUYING DIRECT.

A move to, or investment in, a new country inevitably begins with research. Getting to know your destination market is key. With a wealth of online resources available, becoming a “desktop expert” is not difficult. However, there is no substitute for visiting the region and getting “hands on” the location and the product. This implies, at some point, undertaking a Discovery Tour of the short-listed locations.

Often, we talk to clients who demonstrate they have spent significant time researching the target market and getting to know its real estate offering, usually by spending hundreds of hours on online research and on social media. We are here to save you that time, and to do the job more efficiently.

We are totally independent: you may think you wish to rent before you buy, but fall in love with a property. Or you may want to buy but then the government makes some changes to the tax laws and you decide that you wish to be more cautious and spend time experiencing the lifestyle before making a final commitment. We will not pressure you to do one or the other, but continue to provide independent opinion as to the pros and cons of each.

Our proven methodology, which includes approaching owners, developers (mainly for new product or resorts), agents, and in some cases banks, includes not only communication with people we know but also the wider market and first-time contacts.

You will rarely see any real estate on our finder site. An on-line search functionality is only appropriate for a fixed and limited number of properties and not for an individualised search.

IS OUR MODEL RIGHT FOR YOU?

A tennis coach once answered a fellow coach who was having difficulty defining how much to charge his students: I have 30 years of coaching experience. When a student takes a 30-minute lesson, they are not paying for the 30 minutes but for the 30 years.

Our model should appeal to almost everyone because it represents a very customer-centric approach. Unless you have lived in a location, you will not easily replace local knowledge. It is impossible to obtain the same level of contacts, experience and access as someone who has been involved with the market for a long time.

But the key practical benefit is financial: www.propertyfinderportugal.com is the only property finder that guarantees that you will not pay any more than the asking price of any property you may purchase, when you use our service. In other words, we GUARANTEE that our fees will be included within the property value and that they are linked to success*.

In the US and Canada, for example, with the existence of an MLS system and a buy-side and sell-side agent, this concept is easy to understand and well-accepted. In some areas of Spain such as Valencia, the concept of a buyer and seller representative has long existed. In many other markets, the principle of direct representation needs to be explained.

To ensure independence, it makes a lot of sense for the buyer to pay the commission for the agent that acts on their behalf. There is an often-held misconception that sellers pay the commission on a transaction. The first thing we do is dispel this myth: clients need to understand that the money for commission always comes from the buyer. The seller only pays a selling agent a commission because they take part of the money that the buyer pays them, and pay it on to the agent. The seller simply acts as an intermediary, or temporary fiduciary agent, for the portion of the buyer’s funds intended for agents.

If any of the descriptions below are a match, our service will be a good fit for you:

• Clients with little time, who travel extensively, who are working or have existing time-consuming commitments;
• Clients with urgency, such as wanting to submit a Golden Visa or a Non-Habitual Residency application quickly (both of these now, or soon to be, a thing of the past), or who need to move their family over to coincide with the start of a school year;
• Clients who are looking for a service that is more than just finding a property (although that is a key part of the process), such as wanting to compare areas, understand the market, find a school, benchmark an investment, etc.;
• Clients who live far away or are unable to make one or more visits until late in the decision-making process;
• Clients who prefer to have their representative on their side, rather than on the side of the seller or landlord, or are accustomed to having buyer representation, such as in the US or CA MLS system;
• See real estate, whether a property to buy or rent, as part of a bigger strategy and process;
• Like value for money AND saving money.

If, on the other hand, you see yourself matching one of the descriptions below, it is unlikely you will be convinced by the value of our service or a match to our way of thinking:

• Have spent years investigating the destination, making contacts, building an information base of direct contacts;
• Looking to “validate” your thinking, including checking opinions of others, such as those of social media “experts”;Have made multiple visits, already visited options, and not yet made a decision;
• Are already in contact with multiple real estate agencies (as we have a large network, the risk of overlap is large) which have undertaken work on your behalf;
• Come from a background where you absolutely need to vet every option on a long-list, as opposed to analysing only a pre-vetted short-list;
• Believe that sellers always pay the commission and do not, or refuse to, understand that the money for commission always comes from you as a buyer.
• See real estate as purely transactional;
• Hesitate to put a verbal commitment in writing.

We enjoy working with people of different backgrounds and experiences, which makes our job very interesting and rewarding. In return, clients find that a bond of mutual respect and often friendship is established. In a world where clients have so many choices, we value relationships borne out of mutual respect and shared objectives. When our clients are successful, we enjoy savouring the shared success.

Our Finder Service contains three key elements:

1. An exclusivity agreement
2. * A fee of €350 + VAT (applicable only to EU clients) to cover out of pocket expenses related to the Discovery Tour, payable up front
3. A finder’s fee which:
   • For a purchase, is 2.5% + VAT (applicable to EU clients only)
   • For a rental, will be a percentage of the monthly rent amount, plus VAT (where applicable)

If you purchase a property, we warrant (contractually) to negotiate a reduction in price of at least 2.5% OR claw back part of the commission from a selling agent. You will also save VAT on our services if you reside outside the EU.

We GUARANTEE that our fees will be included within the property value and that they are linked to success*.

www.propertyfinderportugal.com finder services are guaranteed net zero cost to you.  Moreover, we only earn a fee when we are successful.

Any questions on “How we work” feel free to contact us.