Over the years, I have noticed that international buyers almost always arrive with a picture in their minds of what life in Portugal is going to look like. Sometimes it’s a beautiful villa overlooking the ocean, sometimes it’s an apartment in the historic centre of Lisbon, and sometimes it’s a little farmhouse surrounded by olive trees.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, I think it’s part of the excitement. Most people have spent months, sometimes years, imagining this move before they ever get on a plane.
Then they arrive, and something starts to happen. The practical side of life quietly enters the conversation.
Most clients only have a few days in Portugal, so before I start planning viewings, I spend time understanding the family: how they live today and what they are hoping to create here. Every family is different, and those conversations help me focus the search on the locations most likely to suit their lifestyle.
We talk about work, children, schools, hobbies, travel and retirement. We talk about whether they enjoy being in the middle of everything or would rather have peace and privacy. Those conversations often tell me far more than a wish list of bedrooms and bathrooms ever could.
A client might tell me they want to live in the Algarve, but that is a bit like saying they want to live in California. It is a large and incredibly varied region, with each town offering a different lifestyle. The same applies to Lisbon, Cascais and almost anywhere else in Portugal. Finding the right property usually starts with finding the right location, and that starts with understanding the people.
Then the everyday details begin to matter. The school run. The supermarket. The drive to the airport. Whether friends and family are realistically going to visit as often as they had hoped. Whether they really want to spend every weekend maintaining a large garden, or whether walking to dinner and being able to lock the front door for a month feels much more like the life they actually want to live.
People often ask me how many properties they should see, and my answer is usually, “As many as possible.”
Not because I expect them to buy the twentieth property we visit, but because every viewing teaches us something. Someone buying in their own city already understands the neighbourhoods, the pricing and the small nuances that never appear in a brochure. Someone flying in from the United States, Hong Kong, Canada or the UK is learning all of that in just a few days.
The first viewing trip is not only about finding the right property. It is about understanding the market. It is about discovering why two houses with the same asking price can feel completely different, why one area feels alive and another does not, or why somewhere that looked perfect online suddenly does not feel quite right when you are standing there.
I have found that this is often when the search becomes much easier and clients become laser-focused on what they want. Not because we have seen hundreds of properties, but because the picture has become clearer.
Sometimes clients finish that first trip even more convinced that they were right from the beginning. Other times, they realise that the property they thought they wanted was not actually going to give them the lifestyle they were looking for.
There are also clients who arrive knowing exactly what they want because they’re not looking to reinvent their lifestyle. They simply want to recreate it in Portugal. In many cases, that’s entirely possible. However, every market has its own architecture, planning regulations, landscapes and ways of living, so there is almost always a trade-off to be made. The important part is understanding which trade-offs matter to you and which don’t. It might be the size of the plot, the style of the house, the proximity to the sea or the availability of certain amenities. Part of my role is helping clients understand those differences early on, so they can decide which really matter and which ones don’t.
Neither outcome surprises me anymore. It is simply part of the process.
For those clients making a more permanent move, I have often suggested that clients rent before they buy, especially when they are unsure of where they would like to settle. That advice occasionally catches people off guard. After all, I help people buy property, so surely I should be encouraging them to get on with it.
I have never seen it that way.
Buying a home is a significant decision, particularly in another country, and I do not believe anyone should feel rushed into it. Living somewhere for six months tells you things that no viewing, no YouTube video and no property portal ever can. You establish routines. You discover where you naturally gravitate on a Saturday morning. You begin to understand what everyday life actually feels like once the excitement of arriving has settled.
Many clients eventually buy exactly what they imagined before they came to Portugal. Others buy something completely different.
The difference is that, by then, the decision is based on experience rather than expectation.
And in my experience, those are usually the decisions people are happiest with years later.
