I've been recently posting on our Instagram account about some of the 26 real estate properties we saw earlier this year. For those who are interested, here is a selection of the highlights:
Starting in the order in which we viewed them, note the *** (stars) next to the names. 3-stars indicates that the property was very interesting to us; 1-star is a low level of interest.
Property 1: Reguengos de Monsaraz - Alentejo ***
A 20,000 sq ft palace once used by the King of Spain in the 15th century as a hunting lodge.
Property 2: Reguengos de Monsaraz - Alentejo **
An urban farm, occupying nearly an entire city block. We thought this property might be our favourite, but compared to Property 1, its spaces lacked grandeur, and it needed a tremendous amount of renovation.
Property 3: Elvas - Alentejo ***
Our second favourite listing of the entire search, this urban palace is situated in the center of a stunning, yet quiet UNESCO-world heritage listed town.
Property 4: Olhao - Algarve ***
The smallest of properties we viewed, this charming and well-founded house is situated in the heart of the Arabic old town of Olhao, just minutes from the ocean.
Property 6: Olhao - Algarve ***
This home is also in the center of the Arabic old town in lovely Olhao. Its rooftop has a view of the ocean.
Properties 7 & 8: Portimao - Algarve *
While the town of Portimao had lots of character, these two properties were a disappointment. Property 7 photographed well, but needs a lot of work and was overpriced; Property 8 is situated in the old town by the water, but has architectural flaws that renders poor interior spaces.
Property 9: Ferragudo - Algarve *
A stunning location, and an empty plot, except for a wall.
Property 10: Lagoa - Algarve *
The awkward layout of this corner courtyard building, as well as the rather lackluster neighborhood took this property out of the running.
Property 11: Silves - Algarve *
A shell, and nothing more. We thought this building in the center of charming Silves would have potential, but it was so overgrown and ruined, that this is all we saw of it. We couldn't enter inside.
Properties 12 & 14: Tomar - Central Portugal *
These two apartment buildings across from one another in lovely Tomar, seat of the Knights of Templar, are compact and feature a retail shop on their street level.
Property 13: Tomar - Central Portugal **
An entire building in the center of historic Tomar features 3 separate retail shops on the ground level, and a lovely penthouse above. The property is riverfront, and is next to the Headquarters of the Knights of Templar.
Properties 16 & 18: Avintes, Vila Nova de Gaia - Porto **
These two properties on the southern banks of the Douro River face the city of Porto, and have multiple buildings and large urban gardens. Avintes is like a countryside village, yet five minutes from the center of Porto.
Property 19: Grijo - South Porto **
While located a bit too far into the suburbs, this old manor is absolutely charming.
Property 20: Caminha - Costa Verde ***
Casa da Portela, the twentieth property we saw, and the clear winner!
Property 21: Leca da Palmeira - Porto *
From best to worst, this was clearly the least desirable property we saw of the whole trip: a complete tear-down, and horribly over-priced to say the least.
Property 22: Matosinhos - Porto **
We had hoped for the potential to turn this into an apartment or condo building in the trendy part of ocean-front Porto, but years of water damage were a major deterrent.
Property 23: Matosinhos - Porto *
We were charmed by the tiled-facade of this apartment building-duo in trendy Matosinhos. But dark, compacted architectural spaces and a location next to an unsavory nightclub were obvious impediments.
Property 24: Santa Comba Dao - Central Portugal ***
Santa Comba Dao was the "dark horse" of our property search. We did not expect to love this property so much, and it exemplified the notion of all these beautiful works of art and architecture we had seen on our search, just melting in to the Earth. Had we millions of Euros to renovate this one, it would have become such a grand dame, just like it once had been.
Property 25: Coimbra - Central Portugal *
The location next to one of Portugal's oldest universities was the attraction of this compound of hillside buildings, but we had to machete our way inside this ruin. After bats flew at our faces and we found the homeless encampment upstairs, we were out of there.
Property 26: Vinha da Rainha - Figueira da Foz **
The final viewing on our round-the-country tour took us to this lovely farm with a soul. And at under 60k EUR, it was the least expensive property we saw. We left hoping that someone finds this one and gives it the face-lift it deserves.
留言