The real standing costs of ownership

[cereza]

Some of these costs must seem frightening
For example a maid is a complete luxury which only a very few very rich people (like Bruce Wallis ) would contemplate?

Steve, apart from the size of your villa your costs will also vary depending on how you use it.
If you are going to use it as your home and you are fit and prepared to do your own work as you would in the UK, then maids, gardeners or pool men are not necessary.
Water is more expensive than in the UK but rates are lower - other than those you won't go that far wrong by using similar costs to those in the UK for a ball park figure.

If you are only going to use the villa for part of the year and leave it empty for the rest then you will need someone to maintain the pool while you aren't there. A gardener may be necessary for when you are not there but this cost will depend on how difficult the garden is to maintain and how frequent your visits are.

If you are going to rent the villa then that's a different game altogether where your costs will increase but will be paid for by the rental income.

[joeysoap]

Amazing game eh Joey. I can't believe the situation where one team lets the other score and the scoring team desperately tries not to score

apologies for 2nd hijack,

yeah, so funny, looked like he lost his balance and fell over the line I was cheering for the Patriots though

[cereza]

Amazing game eh Joey. I can't believe the situation where one team lets the other score and the scoring team desperately tries not to score

apologies for 2nd hijack,

yeah, so funny, looked like he lost his balance and fell over the line I was cheering for the Patriots though

Yes and they didn't really celebrate at the time did they?? - amazing
I've been a Giants fan since the 80's when they had Phil Simms and LT

Back to the villa expenses now - Sorry folks

[laserblazer]

Back to the villa expenses now

Aston?

[HampshireRich]

Some of these costs must seem frightening
For example a maid is a complete luxury which only a very few very rich people (like Bruce Wallis ) would contemplate?

Presumably though, you would only hire a maid if you are contemplating renting out the property for some time during the year - then work out if its worthwhile have the maid service full time or not.

[cereza]

Some of these costs must seem frightening
For example a maid is a complete luxury which only a very few very rich people (like Bruce Wallis ) would contemplate?

Presumably though, you would only hire a maid if you are contemplating renting out the property for some time during the year - then work out if its worthwhile have the maid service full time or not.

Well yes - if you are renting then you need to keep the place clean etc and employ a maid or more likely a management company to organise the cleaning, laundry, garden and pool but the costs are off set against the rental income - that is a business.
To have a maid for the rest of the year when the place is empty or while you are staying is really a luxury unless you are incapable of doing it yourself in which case you obviously have to hire help wherever you live.
If the cost of employing a maid for 12 months is not a lot greater than say 6 months then fine but that is pretty rare I would have thought!
Everyone will have different requirements or expectations which in the main would cost similar to here in the UK.

Personally I don't have a maid either here in the UK or in Portugal - my wife does it all !!!!

[Bruce Wallis]

Some of these costs must seem frightening
For example a maid is a complete luxury which only a very few very rich people (like Bruce Wallis ) would contemplate?

Presumably though, you would only hire a maid if you are contemplating renting out the property for some time during the year - then work out if its worthwhile have the maid service full time or not.

Well yes - if you are renting then you need to keep the place clean etc and employ a maid or more likely a management company to organise the cleaning, laundry, garden and pool but the costs are off set against the rental income - that is a business.
To have a maid for the rest of the year when the place is empty or while you are staying is really a luxury unless you are incapable of doing it yourself in which case you obviously have to hire help wherever you live.
If the cost of employing a maid for 12 months is not a lot greater than say 6 months then fine but that is pretty rare I would have thought!
Everyone will have different requirements or expectations which in the main would cost similar to here in the UK.

Personally I don't have a maid either here in the UK or in Portugal - my wife does it all !!!!

I was going to explain the economics of running a place out here, of maintaining a trustworthy team from management company right through to pool cleaner, and acknowledging all this falls into a business plan whereas the business is sustainable, even if, at the end of the day you dont make a real paper profit, beyond owning a lovely home in the Algarve...........

.............. Then I thought, what is the point of trying to explain that to a sarf Londin luddite who gets his wife to do it all, whilst climbing over his empty beer cans and Crystal Palace programmes

[cereza]

.............. Then I thought, what is the point of trying to explain that to a sarf Londin luddite who gets his wife to do it all, whilst climbing over his empty beer cans and Crystal Palace programmes

Hahahaha - not quite true - I never buy a programme

I got the impression that Steve was looking to buy a place for his personal use whereby the costs would be much lower than for a rental business - I feared he would be put off by the thought of 10 k per annum

ps I always think that sarf rhymes with scarf which would indicate a very posh accent probably used by people who employ a maid I fail to see why people use that spelling.
Anyone from the area knows that Sowf London would more resemble how we say it

[Bruce Wallis]

You see what happens????
I move away from the area.....and 2 years later I forget the language!!
Fear not.......when we go back to the UK in May, we will go and stay with our son in South Croydon for a refresher.

On a more serious note......
I made my comments based on the assumption that Steve would be looking to rent out the property.

If he is buying just for his own family and friends to use, then the scale does alter significantly.

Whatever.....here's hoping that Steve gets as much pleasure from buying in Carvoeiro, as we have these last few years.

[cereza]

You see what happens????
I move away from the area.....and 2 years later I forget the language!!
Fear not.......when we go back to the UK in May, we will go and stay with our son in South Croydon for a refresher.

On a more serious note......
I made my comments based on the assumption that Steve would be looking to rent out the property.

If he is buying just for his own family and friends to use, then the scale does alter significantly.

Whatever.....here's hoping that Steve gets as much pleasure from buying in Carvoeiro, as we have these last few years.

Hear hear

ps - You will see a lot of changes after 2 years

[LICY]

Whilst I cannot add too much advice, CVO is fabulous and we will live and learn about overheads. I think if you have a new house your insulAtion should be better than a property of about 20 plus years. On that basis electricity could be vastly different. We noticed overall how warm our new villa was when we stayed over new year and barely needed any air conditioning heating on. Our pool is small but was told about 65 euros a month as guidance, with a maid on an ad hoc basis between 7-10 euros ph. Cannot comment yet on electricity as we barely used any. As to water you can be sensible in the garden and forgo grass and put in a dry garden so the water usage should not be so high. Villa management will be a must if you do not stay most of the year, even if its on and off and that will be one of the biggest fees at between 135-150 euros per month. If you install a phone/wifi expect to pay €35 a month. We do not have that as it is so expensive. We have freesat so no charge for that. Yet to hear house tax as we were paying for a plot. I say if you have the funds and you do not have to make the villa pay for itself before you end up struggling financiAlly go for it.

[steve53]

Thanks for all the replies to my question earlier in the year and I hope the guys enjoyed the game!

We are in CVO in May and will be viewing a couple of properties. It would be our intent to keep it only for our own and family and friends use not to rent. Prices still seem to be falling and some of the agents are saying 15% off asking price is normal for a sale. Does anyone have a view? Any further advice would be most welcome.

Hopefully we will end up enjoyng the same lifestyle as you guys before too long.

Steve

[sunman]

hi again Steve,

I'd recommend some serious homework if you're thinking of parting with your hard-earned

there are properties out there up for sale at €1m which are actually only worth €500k but does that make them a 50% discount?, no, it's 100% of what they're worth

as you know, property here is is the doldrums big time and looks like being so for a long time to come so IMO THE single biggest determining factor in buying is that you buy something that YOU want, that you want to live in and accept that you'll own it for a long time, if you can find that at a price you can afford then by definition you have a good deal.
If you buy something that's up for sale at €600k for €500k you might enjoy the discount element but that will wear off.

wandering round with a cheque in your back pocket will make you very popular for a while, enjoy the moment of fame

sunman

[Bruce Wallis]

It is definately a buyers market at the moment. I think it is fair to say that nobody who doesn't need to sell, will be on the market at the moment, so you will have a definate edge.

It's stating the obvious, but local knowledge is prime.

When we bought, the agents led us to where they wanted to sell, rather than where we wanted to go. Once again, an obvious statement....but worth repeating.

Good luck.