Hi and Welcome. May I suggest an alternative as the rental market here does not operate for the convenience of the renter as often landlords/ladies are only interested in permanent or peak time holiday lettings. Assuming you do not know Oporto/Porto - it would be better to have somewhere to stay and give yourself time to look a different places/districts, as some you will probably hate, before committing to a longer term rental. The Airport at Porto has 20ish car rental suppliers all book in advance and will pick you up personally and take you to their rental place all of 1/2 mile away, two weeks ago I was paying 7 euro a day for an almost new car via Arguscar (many other sites are available). An Hotel in Porto (check for parking + internet) booked via any of the online hotel sites, just looked and there are 852 properties available for several nights till you find your feet and look for the area you want to stay then just book the next area to stay when you are ready. Ask locally for agents/places, as most agents will deal with the local market and many will not advertise especially in the winter. Try Airbnb for a better local connection or longer accommodation. There is no substitute for spending time in different places BEFORE deciding where you want to live longterm. If interested in the Porto area make sure you have a map and sat nav or app with latest Portuguese road data, you can get a PT mobile mobile phone sim at the airport arrivals hall so an unlocked phone can be useful. And good luck.

 

Thank you for taking the time to answer our post. You offer some very good suggestions and information. We were curious about why the realtors were not calling us back, now we know. Apparently, we must be in country to prove that we are serious about long-term rental. Again, thank you for pointing out how the rental market operates.

 

Things here are more local but there is a growing fraction aimed at the "foreigner" which distorts their perception. Hint 2** a lot of serious rentals and other "official" stuff require a "tax" number (search on this forum for more info) so a PT bank account and "tax" number should be near the top of your list. A lot of Portuguese will understand English and be very helpful if you speak to them as they are not obsessed by social media. Everything takes 10 times as long as you think it will so slow down and take it easy.

 

Strontium is giving excellent advice. To back up what he has said, you will find it very difficult to get a reply to any emails here, especially from estate agents and even if yours are written in Portuguese.

We contacted a local business by email several times recently in Portuguese, using the email address shown on their website. We finally managed to make contact by telephone only to be told, "We don't check that email address, but just empty the inbox from time to time!"

As far as social media is concerned, you will be surprised how many businesses here think that the world revolves around Facebook. One local restaurant will not accept reservations by telephone or at the door. You either have to be extremely fortunate and get a 'walk in' or use Facebook. Needless to say, as I don't have a Facebook account, we don't get to eat there very often.

As far as getting a tax number is concerned, I can help you to open a bank account here before you leave the US which will come with a temporary fiscal number. Once you are in the country you simply have to visit the local IRS office to exchange your temporary number for a permanent one.

 

Thank you for the information. How can you be of help in regards to a bank account? Do you know if this bank offers health insurance? One person we spoke to told us he was able to purchase health insurance through his bank that satisfies the requirement for the residence visa/permit but we have lost contact with him and cannot get additional information. Any help you can give us is appreciated.

 

Insurance from banks tends to be expensive & you might like to look at afpop.com for health insurance

 

a place in Porto



Hi dkw-

It is true that estate agents here, are not very good at replying to emails about rented property. We have had a similar experience. We got around it by renting a holiday rental for a few weeks, then went to visit the agents in person. We struck lucky with an agent called iat.pt -who specialise in condo management. They were happy to accept our passport as ID, and we did not have a bank account. We paid the deposit one month, plus a month in advance , signed the contract, and moved right in. We go in to their office every month to pay in cash.
Once we had an address, we then went to the camera ( town hall) to get our papers in order. We got our residency easily enough, ( five years)-then we got signed on with the health centre. This proved a bit tricky, but as EU citizens we proved to them that we should have the same rights to care as local peoples. As we live in an area with few expats, we had to make several visits to get permanent health care status. This was due to a misunderstanding on behalf of the administration of the health centre. We got it sorted out when we contacted the government online portal, called ACM, web site acm.gov.pt.
Now, We have a nice apartment, in a nice condo up the coast about 40 minutes from Porto. We are in our seventh month here, and it is a great base, whilst we look for a house or apartment. We are holding off buying until Brexit deals are ironed out. Most companies want you to rent for at least a year, but normally, you can go out after six months. Some apartments are only available, short term, during winter, this suits us, so you will need to be specific about your needs.
I suggest this may be one way of going about it, whilst looking for a long term rental. Porto district covers a wide area. You should also look at vila nova de Gaia or Gaia, as the locals call it. V>N>de Gaia, has some beautiful areas within a short tram ride to the city.
The areas I particularly like are, Sao Felix da Marinha, and Granja. We found two websites helpful, when looking to familiarise ourselves with the areas available near Porto. they are- idealista.pt which is available in English, has a very good search facility where you can search for parishes in the Porto district. Once familiar with that, I suggest custojusto.pt , also olx.pt.

Take your time, get to know which areas are for you, and whatever else, enjoy the discovery that is this amazing, and beautiful part of Portugal.