Many thanks for the views on the estate agencey side. Fortunatly for me and my husband we did check out our agent and would recommend him. After working in the US. he thinks with a different mind too : )
We bought our house yesterday after a long wait and paper work. The thing that I would like to bring to your attention is an old Law in Portugal that if your land is registed as rural your neighbours have the right to buy/take the land from you for the price you paid. This is fromm the time that they know about the sale...... so for example your neigbour could be working in Brazil for example and not be aware that the land has sold....... 5 years later He returns and finds that land belongs to you...... He then goes to the local council gets a copy of the deeds for a small fee from the deeds office..... then..... Bang...... your land /house is his.
To stop this happening...... which is why we waited for the papper work trail in the buying of our house in the Minho valley...... you have to change the land into urban......

So you have been warned...... be safe in your buying and patient

Philippa Fox