We closed on our apartment in Matosinhos (pronounced mat-o-zeen-yoush) on the evening of February 28. As reformed real estate agents ourselves, it was fascinating to observe how very differently the sale and transfer of properties are handled here compared to what we did for all those years. Once you find and negotiate for a place, closing can be quite quick if all parties agree.  Once we all agreed verbally on terms, we signed a “promise” contract with the seller after our attorney reviewed it and paid 10% directly to the seller (no escrow accounts here.)  No appraisal, inspections, or the like. We had closing about 18 days after our verbal agreement . We did a final walk-through just before closing only because we requested it. They are not very common here.  Closing took place at our agent’s Re/Max office.  It was a crowded room: the two of us, our agent, two junior attorneys representing our attorney, two attorneys for the real estate firm, the seller and her agent, and a representative of the bank where the seller had her mortgage. They read the entire contract out loud as required by Portuguese law. One of our attorneys whispered the translation into my ear.  We had a bank check for the full 90% balance made out to the seller.  We paid transfer taxes and stamp fees totaling about 4.7% of the purchase price to the authorities using our local debit card right there in the office. We paid another fee to the real estate firm for “celebrating” the contract (I could have bought several cases of wine and had a better celebration for that price.) The attorneys filed everything directly with the municipality online right then and there. The seller paid her real estate commissions using a credit card machine before being allowed to leave. At about 8:00 pm,  we left with keys. We went straight back to our rental apartment to finish packing.

The next morning we were up early to have the place tidied up and to be ready for the van/driver we hired to take us and our mountain of suitcases from Vila Nova de Gaia to Matosinhos.  We found this guy on OLX, the local equivalent of Craig’s List. He was prompt, efficient, and very affordable. We were in our new place checking it out in detail by 10:15. Fabiola (our real estate agent) came by shortly after and drove us to the Junta de Freguesia (local government offices) to get our certificate of residency in Matosinhos needed for SEF, applying for favorable tax status, and possibly our shippers. After dropping Wayne back at the apartment to wait for scheduled deliveries, Saint Fabiola also took me to get gas/electric and water bills set up in my name. I could never have done either without her help. Not just for translating, but also for explaining how things are different. For electric, you can choose the base rate you want to pay. There are different levels that effectively determine how many appliances you can run at one time without causing it to be cut off. It was all quite complicated. I also learned that when you have natural gas you are required to have an inspection done every 5 years at a cost of about 80 euros. Since the seller hadn’t had one done in several years, I had to get that ordered right away. Water was a relatively easy change but with a fee. For each service, Fabiola showed them the photos she had taken of the meter readings when we did the walk-through. If the seller had not agreed to do it this way and had shut the utilities off, the cost to reconnect would have been significant. Again – Fabiola was worth her weight in gold. And she did all of this for us while going through a most horrific health scare with her husband. She is, indeed, as she says, “a problem solver.”

Our two packing crates of household goods (the time lapse video on the Crate & Ship Day post) were delivered that first day. We paid extra to have the goods sent from Rotterdam to local movers in Portugal to deliver to the apartment and carry up into the apartment. The cost was a splurge but so worth it. Even with an extra week on the rough winter seas, everything we packed arrived in pristine condition! Not so much as a scuff mark on a box after over two months of travel. We were stunned.  Even the 65″ TV survived and functions.

The internet technician came a couple days later to get us connected with TV/WiFi/cell service (and a land line we won’t use.) It was like a Laurel & Hardy movie trying to communicate all the technical things with him since he spoke no English. He was very patient with us and laughed at us trying to use my iTranslate app. We’ll have to figure out how to run the cable line half-way around the room as inconspicuously as possible. Having ceilings & walls of plaster and concrete, we learned, means you can’t run wires through them like we are accustomed to. Also, because of those walls, we needed to buy a booster to get the WiFi into the office at the back of the apartment. One nice surprise was that we could get everything for TV/WiFi and 2 cell phones for just 60 euros ($69) per month.  No installation fees. We paid four times that monthly in the US for equivalent services. And they lock that price forever; no routine increases like in the states. 

Our new apartment has many warts and flaws and will require a lot of work over the upcoming weeks and months to make it comfortable. Some things about it will bug us forever. Wayne will be painting every square inch of the place. Most of it has never been painted since built in 2003. Being retired means we will have to be very disciplined and resist improving everything the way we’d like to. We’ll need to be selective on where the money goes. But, we will enjoy making it our own. Our neighborhood is loaded with character and characters. We discovered that we have the Goodwill store concept with no middle man. Anything we don’t want (like the seller’s musty old drapes, or empty boxes), we just place neatly next to the dumpsters by our building. Within minutes, someone who needs them will take them. We can watch it all from our windows. It is often an elderly couple. Every time we walk down a new street we discover some small independent shop or adorable building. There are more bakeries and cafes then I can count. We could eat fresh fish at a restaurant every day for a year or more without visiting the same one twice. But, we are happy to have everything we need now to start cooking more meals at home.

We got a rental car for 3 weeks so that we could do a lot of shopping and errands. They are so cheap in this off season. We got a Class A Mercedes automatic with unlimited miles for 3 weeks for 149 euros ($175.) The only issue is that I really wanted something smaller (it’s practically a station wagon) but they were out of the sedans. We have two parking spaces in the underground garage of our apartment. Getting in & out up the very steep curving ramp is a very tight, white-knuckle, squeeze that requires me to get out and direct every time. We will never rent anything this big again even if smaller costs more. After we make some dent in our projects (& not the car), our reward will be to take the car for a getaway to see other parts of Portugal for a few days.

Right now our furnishings consist of a mattress on the floor and a desk & chair in my office. We eat most meals with me sitting at the desk and Wayne sitting on the seat of his rowing machine.  There are some “before” photos below. I guarantee the “after” photos in a couple months will be at least modestly better.