New in town :-)

[Stefan]

My wife Anna and I just bought a nice villa in town that we intend to use for holidays and rent out weekly. We are very excited and will now start the process to understand how everything works, build contacts to services companies and start working on various improvements. We live in Sweden and will stay in our house for the first time the second week of November. Some questions that I am sure you know on this forum:

1. I guess we need a Portuguese bank account to pay electricity and stuff and also for payments for rentals. Any recommendations for bank, type of account, etc?
2. We will need Internet for work ourselves but will only be there very irregularly. Any advice for a reasonable method to get this?
3. Any recommendations for a good local individual or company for general repairs, renovations, paint work, etc?

Many, many more questions and I am reading up on the great information on this site!

[logicbob]

Welcome to CVO you will enjoy the ride.

If you are renting then then you will need a property manager to look after your clients, if you pick a good one then they will look after all your bills and services so no need for a bank account.

Internet put a search in on this forum there are no end of topics on the subject and pick what is suitable for your needs.

As far as DIY help is concerned then again you have plenty of choices on this forum. If you need help send me a PM and I will try to help you.

[Mike Burton]

We have usedBarclays in Lagoa for over 7 years now, they have given us excellent service over this period, better than any we receive from our UK bank

For our property management we use Elite Property Management, again, excellent service

[SatRoger]

Welcome to Carvoeiro!

1. On the bank account, I would recommend open one, it makes things easier when you are in Portugal. All Portuguese banks have options for foreign residents. I personally use Millennium BCP, they have a branch in Carvoeiro. The catch is you need to maintain a minimum average balance on the account to avoid monthly fees. Usually 3000 euros average daily balance.
Credito Agricola, Caixa Geral de Depositos and Santander Totta are the other banks with branches in Carvoeiro, as far as I know.
There sites are:
http://www.bcp.pt
http://www.creditoagricola.pt
http://www.cgd.pt
http://www.santandertotta.pt

2. On the Internet it really depends on the area you are. If its really in town, you can probably install ADSL or Cable, but those require monthly payments even if you are not using it. On the plus side, if you are renting, having Internet is a added value. The monthly fee for those can be between €25-€50
Check http://www.meo.pt http://www.vodafone.pt http://www.nos.pt http://www.cabovisao.pt (sorry but all are in Portuguese, don't see a english version on any of those site). All those have stores in either Algarve Shopping or Aqua Portimao (or on both shopping centers) with staff that speaks english.
Another option is to buy a 3G/4G Hotspot device (they cost around €80 for the 4G and €30 for a 3G device) and buy data as need it - 1GB is around €10/20. Depending on your work, and if you use a lot of data, the monthly option might be better because it has unlimited data and it should give you a more stable internet access.

3. I use Mark Schrama, he is a realtor from Remax who also does property management. I bought an apartment he had listed and he is now doing the property management on it. http://www.remax.pt/mschrama

[ceh]

I bank with Millennium bcp and have been with them for about 8 years. When I occasionally go into the branch they are always very helpful patiently sorting things out for me. Isabel in particular is execellent.

[sam]

I bank with Millennium bcp and have been with them for about 8 years. When I occasionally go into the branch they are always very helpful patiently sorting things out for me. Isabel in particular is execellent.

Agreed. Do get a bank account and pay bills yourself - Millennium have online banking, but get a card reader as texts from them can be a bit iffy. However reliable an agent seems if they go bust or run off with your money (see warning at top of this section) you will end up paying again plus any fines for late payments/reconnections. I do not keep the minimum balance in Millennium and pay 6 euros a month, gives me authorised overdraft of 100euros.

[LICY]

We needed a bank account before completing on our property and initially used Caixa and then briefly Barclays. However Barclays fees were crazy despite having quite a bit of money in the account. We changed to Santander with our mortgage. We have sufficient funds so no charges. Watch out with charges. Like Mike we use Elite, but there are a number of good firms. Most will rent your property, possibly taking 15%. Warning you need a tourism license to rent legally. At that point welcome to the PT tax system. Repairs etc probably through the villa manager.
Internet not much choice and expensive. Need to consider do you want English TV. If you do then chances are when you get internet you will want to include that. Expect €50/60 a month for cable TV/internet.
You will have MANY questions, we did.

[Stefan]

Thanks all for welcoming and good proposals!
We spent a nice couple of days last week. I knew we had done the right decision when I sat on the patio after a cold swim in the pool, seeing dolphins jumping in the ocean right in front of us and getting ready to prune my wines

We have met with Isabel at Millennium BCP and are in the process of getting an account with them.

We will get ADSL, probably with Meo, potentially also get TV through this channel.

Still deciding on the property manager and thinking about marketing cahnnels. Lots of thinks to buy, we are getting new linnens and twowels and lots of other stuff. It adds up, 48 pillow cases!!

[Bruce Wallis]

Internet not much choice and expensive. Need to consider do you want English TV. If you do then chances are when you get internet you will want to include that. Expect €50/60 a month for cable TV/internet.

50 0r 60 a month for TV and broadband???

What have you got some goldstar package?? We pay cabo-visao 30 a month for their broadband/TV/phone package.

We have an excellent internet TV system including catchup, for 12 euros a month from MARC TV at Portimao

[logicbob]

Bruce where can we get some information on the TV system you use at €12 a month?

What channels do you get?

[LICY]

Bruce cable TV. How long have you had your package. Presume internet is unlimited. Widge has the cable package I am talking about. Certainly I don't rate our current system if you want sports. Are you saying 40 plus 12 plus IVA???

[Mike Burton]

Licy,
If you want sports then Marc , as per Bruce, offer different packages - we have one that we can get all the sports programmes we need plus other Sky channels and about 300 foreign channels, we pay 35 euros per month on a pay as you go basis, it is much cheaper on an annual contract.

[LICY]

Thanks MB. For me, I don't care so much about sport, but hubby likes footie and tennis mainly with a bit of F1 thrown in. I just really want my freesat back pre February. our internet has been very poor this trip. We really need to change what ever this shared system is.

[pato]

Thanks MB. For me, I don't care so much about sport, but hubby likes footie and tennis mainly with a bit of F1 thrown in. I just really want my freesat back pre February. our internet has been very poor this trip. We really need to change what ever this shared system is.

Don't know why you're watching tele all day, get him in that shower/

[widge]

Bruce cable TV. How long have you had your package. Presume internet is unlimited. Widge has the cable package I am talking about. Certainly I don't rate our current system if you want sports. Are you saying 40 plus 12 plus IVA???

My TV subscription is €18 a month inc. IVA . This excludes any Sky Sport but gives us UK terrestrial + catch up. Bruce is always 50% cheaper than anyone else but he neglected to mention that he can't get a signal where he lives so ( as the Irish say) it's immemorial!

Licy in my experience you get what you pay for and quality is appreciated long after price is forgotten. Alternatively …….get back in the shower