Please help me with my dilema

[helen_t]

I would like to say hi to everyone already in Sunny Portugal and hope to see you all there soon. I am a 24 year old with partner 26 and we have two children.

We really want to move to rural Portugal and are looking at a large number of properties in total need of renovation. We have about 90k Euros to buy a plot and renovate.i would do a good proportion of work myself. We would probably have double if I sell in UK but really really really want to keep a foot in the UK just incase we decide it's not for us.

My dilema is I have a good carpentry business in UK and I am worried about the headache of trying to run it from Portugal so am considering setting a business up in Portugal.

I have a couple of friends who work as estate agents and am considering this field. I have absolutely no experience on the Portuguese system but what I do have is the ability to market ANYTHING extremely well as my good friend is a leading expert with search engine manipulation. I have spoken to him and he thinks getting to the top of Google for terms like 'Portugal Property' and 'Rural Portugal Property' will be easy but will take nine months. It will be expensive but I would like to know if I would be wasting my money and should wait a few more years and earn a bigger pot to fend for my growing family in Portugal.

Is there any viability to leaving a thriving business and setting up in a relatively low area of expertise in search of a better lifestyle. Any input whether positive or negative would be greatly appreciated as this is probably the biggest decision we will make in a long time. Many Thanks and sorry it's so long winded - have tried to cut it down as much as possible

[locovida]

We are also considering a move to portugal in the future depending on financial situation! I personally think you should go for it,my partner met an english man in portugal who has his own estate agents and left england 20 yrs ago,seems to be doing well now.good luck with whatever you decide,we also have two small children and think it would be a nice lifestyle for them.

[omostra06]

Hi Helen, welcome to the forum, good luck with your plans.

[Suenneil]

Hi Helen, Locovida

I am not in Portugal but just down the coast in Spain - I dont think it is too different in Portugal now to how it is here, so with that in mind if you already have a business in the UK that is doing ok I would do my very best to look at any way of keeping it running. The unemployment here is horrendous (3.5 million in Spain at the moment with a much smaller population than the UK!).

I am lucky and have had a job all the time I have been here (5 years) but the Real Estate markets in particular are taking a massive hit - so although you may know people who moved over to Portugal 20 yrs ago and did well .. the likelihood now is that they wont be doing well at all.

I want to be really positive about this as I think moving overseas can be exciting and rewarding - but please please be careful about burning your bridges in the uk at the moment - nowhere is escaping the recession and this part of the world is feeling it extremely badly particularly in the property and construction markets which were once its lifeline.

All the best to you all.