How Our Buyer's Agent Service Works
From your first call to the keys in your hand, here is exactly what happens, who does what, and how long each stage really takes. No jargon, no vague promises, and no cost to you at any point.
Why Buying in Portugal Works Differently
In most of Europe and North America, buyers expect someone in the room to be on their side. In Portugal, almost nobody is.
Portuguese estate agencies are instructed by the seller, paid by the seller, and legally act for the seller. That is not a criticism, it is simply how the market is structured. But it produces three problems for anyone buying from abroad:
You only ever see one agency’s stock. Portugal has no shared MLS in the way the US does. Every agency shows you its own listings and no others. To see the market you would need to contact dozens of agencies individually, in a foreign language, and manage every one of them.
Nobody is negotiating for you. The agent showing you the property earns a percentage of what you pay for it. Their duty is to the seller.
Nobody is checking the paperwork on your behalf. In the Algarve specifically, a significant share of older properties carry unlicensed extensions, pools or annexes that never appear in the sales listing. The registered area and the actual built area do not always match. Finding out after you have signed the promissory contract is expensive.
We exist to sit on the other side of that table. We never take seller instructions, we never list property, and we have no inventory to push you towards.
The Process
The Six Stages, End to End
Each stage below is spaced to reflect how long it actually takes, so you can see where the time really goes.
- 1 Strategy Call 15 minutes
- 2 Market-Wide Search 1 to 3 weeks
- 3 Viewing Trip 2 to 4 days
- 4 Offer & Negotiation 3 days to 3 weeks
- 5 Due Diligence & CPCV 3 to 6 weeks
- 6 Escritura & Keys 4 to 10 weeks
Most purchases complete 10 to 16 weeks from accepted offer. Cash buyers move faster, often in six to eight. A mortgage adds four to six weeks, and longer in July and August when banks and notaries are stretched.
1.
The Strategy Call
We start with a short call. Not a sales pitch, a reality check.
You tell us what you are looking for, roughly where, and what you want to spend. We tell you honestly what that budget buys in the Algarve right now, which areas fit what you have described, and where your expectations and the market do not currently line up. That last part is the useful bit, and it is the part most agents skip.
By the end of the call you will know whether the Algarve is right for you, whether your budget is realistic, and whether we are the right people to help. Sometimes the honest answer is no, and we will tell you.
What we need from you: a rough budget, a rough area, and what the property is for. Holiday home, permanent move, or investment.
What you get: a clear picture of what is achievable, and a written brief we both agree on.
2.
The Market-Wide Search
Typically 1 to 3 weeks.
This is where a buyer’s agent earns their place.
We take your brief once, and search our entire partner network of over 5,000 Algarve properties. That includes stock from agencies you would never find, new developments not yet marketed, and off-market properties where the owner will sell but has not listed publicly.
You do not contact anybody. You do not fill in twenty enquiry forms. You do not get added to twenty mailing lists.
What you get back is a shortlist we have already filtered, with the properties that superficially match your brief but fail on something important already removed, and the reason why noted. A stunning villa with a road planned behind it. An apartment with condominium arrears. A townhouse whose registered area is 40m² smaller than what is being advertised.
What we do: search the full network, filter, verify basics, prepare a shortlist with honest commentary on each.
What you do: review the shortlist and tell us what is working and what is not. Usually we refine once or twice.
3.
The Viewing Trip
Typically 2 to 4 days on the ground.
Most buyers get one shot at a viewing trip. Wasting it on unsuitable properties is the most common and most expensive mistake in this market.
We plan the trip geographically so you are not driving the length of the Algarve twice a day, we book every viewing, and we come with you. Not to sell, but to point out what you would not think to ask.
Where the sun actually falls in February. What the street sounds like in August. Whether that pool has a licence. Which neighbour is planning to build. How far the nearest hospital genuinely is, not how far the listing claims.
If you cannot travel, we run video viewings and walk the property with you live, asking your questions in Portuguese and showing you the things a marketing video never shows.
What we do: plan the route, book everything, attend every viewing, take notes and photographs, flag concerns immediately.
What you do: turn up. We handle the rest.
Design note: This is the best section for a photo carousel of you actually at properties with clients. Real, not stock. It is also the natural place for a short testimonial pull-quote once you have genuine ones.
4.
Offer and Negotiation
Typically 3 days to 3 weeks.
When you find the one, we tell you what it is actually worth, not what it is listed at.
Algarve asking prices and Algarve selling prices are frequently not the same number. We know what comparable properties in that area have genuinely transacted for, how long the listing has been sitting, and whether the seller has already reduced. That is the information that decides your opening number.
Then we negotiate. Because we never represent sellers, there is no version of this where we are quietly on both sides of the deal.
Price is only part of it. We also negotiate the completion timeline, what fixtures and furnishings are included, the deposit percentage, and the conditions written into the contract, including making the purchase conditional on mortgage approval if you need finance.
Once terms are agreed, a reservation agreement takes the property off the market, usually for two to four weeks while the legal work begins. A reservation deposit is typical at this point.
5.
Due Diligence and the CPCV
Typically 3 to 6 weeks. This is the stage that protects you.
Your lawyer, who is independent and instructed by you, checks the property properly. We coordinate the process and make sure nothing gets skipped. The core documents are:
Caderneta Predial. The tax register entry. Confirms how the property is officially described and taxed.
Certidão Permanente. The land registry record. Confirms who actually owns it and whether any mortgages, charges or disputes are registered against it.
Licença de Utilização. The habitation licence. Confirms the property is legally authorised for residential use. Properties without one, or with one that does not match what has actually been built, are a genuine and common problem in the Algarve.
Ficha Técnica de Habitação. The technical datasheet, required for properties built or substantially altered after March 2004.
Energy certificate. Legally required for any sale.
We also check that the registered built area matches the property as it stands, that condominium fees are up to date, and that there are no outstanding debts attached to the property.
Only once that is clean do you sign the CPCV, the Contrato de Promessa de Compra e Venda. This is the promissory contract and it is legally binding on both sides. A deposit is paid at signature, commonly ten percent, though it is negotiable.
Understand what the CPCV means before you sign it: if you pull out, you lose the deposit. If the seller pulls out, they generally owe you double it. That protection is real, and it is why what goes into this contract matters more than almost anything else in the transaction.
6.
Escritura and Keys
Typically 6 to 10 weeks after the CPCV.
The escritura is the final deed of sale, signed in front of a notary. It is the moment ownership transfers and you get the keys.
Before that day, several things have to be in place. IMT, Portugal’s property transfer tax, and stamp duty must both be paid. If you are financing, the mortgage must be fully approved and the bank present at signing. Your remaining balance must have cleared into the right account, which for international transfers needs planning rather than optimism.
We attend the escritura with you. If you cannot be in Portugal, it can be completed by power of attorney, which we will have arranged well in advance rather than in the final week.
Afterwards, the purchase is registered at the Conservatória do Registo Predial and your details updated at Finanças. Your lawyer handles the filing. We make sure it actually happens, because this is the stage where things quietly stall.
After the Keys
The transaction ends at the escritura. Your life in the Algarve starts there, and that part is usually harder for someone arriving from abroad.
We help you get water, electricity and internet connected and transferred into your name. We introduce you to builders, architects, pool maintenance, gardeners and property managers we have actually used and would use again. If you plan to let the property, we explain how AL licensing works and where the local restrictions bite. And we make sure you understand IMI, the annual municipal property tax, and when it falls due.
None of this is billed separately. It is part of the service.
Frequently
Asked Questions
Find answers to the most common questions about our buyer’s agent service and what to expect when buying property in the Algarve.
Do I have to pay you anything?
No. Not at any stage.
We’re paid a share of the commission the selling agency earns when a sale completes. That commission is already built into the property’s price whether you use a buyer’s agent or not, so using us doesn’t add anything to what you pay, and not using us doesn’t reduce it.
If you’d rather we had no connection to the sale price at all, we also offer a fixed-fee retainer. You pay us directly, we take nothing from the transaction, and the question of alignment disappears entirely. Ask us about it on the call.
How is this different from using a normal estate agent?
A Portuguese estate agency is instructed by the seller, paid by the seller, and acts for the seller. That’s the standard structure here, and it works perfectly well for the person selling.
It creates two problems if you’re the one buying.
First, each agency can only show you its own listings. Portugal has no shared MLS the way the US does. Seeing the actual market means contacting dozens of agencies yourself, in Portuguese, and managing every one of them.
Second, the person negotiating in the room earns more when you pay more.
We list nothing. We take no seller instructions. We have no inventory to steer you towards. We search the whole market on your behalf, and we negotiate against the seller’s agent rather than alongside them.
Can you help if I've already found a property myself?
Usually yes, and it’s a common way clients come to us. We can step in to run the due diligence, handle the negotiation, and manage the process through to completion.
One practical thing worth knowing: tell us before you formally register your interest with the listing agency. In Portugal, whichever agency introduces a buyer to a property generally claims that introduction, which can affect whether we’re able to act on a commission-share basis. If you’ve already been introduced, our fixed-fee retainer still works and we can represent you regardless.
Short version: come to us early if you can, but come to us either way.
Do I need to be in Portugal to buy?
No. The entire purchase can be completed remotely. Your NIF can be obtained through a fiscal representative, contracts can be signed by power of attorney, and we attend the escritura on your behalf. We do this regularly and it works.
But we’ll say plainly that we don’t recommend buying a home you’ve never stood in. Photographs don’t tell you what the road sounds like, where the sun falls in January, or how a neighbourhood feels on a Tuesday in February rather than a Saturday in July.
If you genuinely can’t travel, we’ll walk the property on video with you live and ask everything you’d ask if you were standing there. Most clients still choose to come out once, and we think they’re right to.
How long does the whole process take?
Ten to sixteen weeks from accepted offer to keys, in most cases.
Cash purchases can complete in six to eight weeks. A mortgage adds four to six weeks, sometimes more in July and August when banks and notaries are stretched. Properties with licensing or registration problems can add months, which is exactly why we check for them before you’re committed rather than after.
Add search time on top of that. Finding the right property typically takes one to three weeks of searching, plus your viewing trip.
What is a CPCV and why does it matter?
The Contrato de Promessa de Compra e Venda is Portugal’s promissory contract. It’s the point at which the purchase becomes legally binding on both sides, and it comes well before the final deed.
You pay a deposit when you sign it, commonly ten percent, though the figure is negotiable. If you pull out afterwards, you lose it. If the seller pulls out, they generally owe you double it back. That protection cuts both ways and it is real.
Which is why everything that needs checking has to be checked before you sign, not after: ownership, registered charges and mortgages, the habitation licence, whether the built area matches what’s on the register, and any condominium arrears. It’s also where conditions get written in, such as making the purchase dependent on your mortgage being approved.
The CPCV is the most important document in the transaction, and the one buyers most often sign too quickly.
Can I get a mortgage in Portugal as a non-resident?
Yes. Portuguese banks lend to non-residents, including buyers from outside the EU.
Expect to put down more than a resident would. Non-residents are typically offered around 60 to 70 percent of the purchase price or the bank’s valuation, whichever is lower, against up to 80 or 90 percent for residents. Banks also stress-test your total debt payments against your net income, and roughly 35 percent is the usual ceiling.
You’ll need proof of income, recent tax returns, bank statements and a credit report from your home country. Approval usually takes four to eight weeks.
Rates move, and both fixed and Euribor-linked variable products exist, so ask us for the current picture rather than trusting any number written on a website. For American buyers specifically, some banks handle US documentation far more comfortably than others. We’ll point you at those.
Does buying property give me residency in Portugal?
No. Buying property does not give you residency.
Property investment stopped qualifying for the Golden Visa in October 2023. A number of Algarve agency websites still imply otherwise. It isn’t true, and anyone telling you it is has either not updated their site or is hoping you won’t check.
Residency routes that do still exist include the D7, for people with stable passive income, and the D8 for remote workers. Both are applications in their own right, and owning property neither qualifies you nor speeds them up.
Worth knowing if you’re American: owning a home here does not extend how long you can stay. The Schengen limit of 90 days in any 180 applies to you exactly as it does to any other visitor, house or no house.
If residency is part of your plan, tell us early and we’ll point you toward proper advice on it.
What areas of the Algarve do you cover?
All of it. The Algarve runs roughly 150km from Vila Real de Santo António on the Spanish border to Sagres at the south-western tip, and we work across the whole of it, coast and inland.
In practice, most of our work sits in the central Algarve: Quinta do Lago, Vale do Lobo, Vilamoura, Almancil, Loulé, Albufeira and Carvoeiro. We work regularly in the west around Lagos, Lagoa and Praia da Luz, and in the east around Tavira and Olhão, where prices are lower and the towns stay open through the winter.
If you’re not sure which part suits you, that’s the best possible use of a first call. It’s usually the question that matters most and the one buyers have thought about least.
What if I want to walk away partway through?
Before the CPCV, you can walk away at any time and it costs you nothing with us. We don’t work on contracts that tie you in and we don’t bill for time spent.
If you’ve paid a reservation deposit to take a property off the market, whether that’s returnable depends entirely on what the reservation agreement says. We negotiate those terms on your behalf and we’ll tell you exactly what you’re agreeing to before you pay anything.
After the CPCV is signed, the position changes. That contract is legally binding, and pulling out means losing your deposit. It’s precisely why we’re thorough before that signature rather than after it.