am I crazy - Move to Portugal

following on from this https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/where-to-overwinter-in-spain.226205/

Recently MrsMac semi jokingly brought up retirement in south of France. It was an interesting subject as a distraction but it grew legs to retiring in Portugal to actually looking at property sites and locations and now heading over for a few days holiday (we've been there a few times) and thinking a move over could be done a lot earlier than retirement.

We took the month of January off and stayed in a holiday home we have and I was able to do most of my work (operate online retail store) and only one trip to base with a single overnight. This surprised me.

Why Portugal? - weather, (looking at just North of Lisbon), Golf, ease of travel via Lisbon Airport, beach, new challenges, strong level of English speaking (#7 in Europe and equal to Netherlands) Reasonable house prices (350k for new build 200sqm 5 minutes walk from beach and 10min from main town - equity in current house circa 600k), decent ex-pat community

Family ties - no kids, so just siblings and parents.

We have a holiday home here that is about an hour's drive from work that we'd use if here for more than a few days

About 80% of my work can be done remotely. Key period is Nov/Dec and we'd come home for that time. Otherwise I'd come back for 2/3 nights every 3/4 weeks.


So are we crazy - or is it something that is doable with Portugal as our main base?

peemac said:

So are we crazy - or is it something that is doable with Portugal as our main base?

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When I talked about giving up working in the family business years ago everybody and I mean everybody thought I had lost the plot
I talked to everyone that I thought would have an opinion on what I was going to do, family, friends, work colleague's, people I got to know and respect through business and of course my doctor who really thought I was off my rocker
But I kept coming back to one question, Am I going to regret not doing this??
Ten years later I have absolutely no regrets but I do know that If I had stayed I would have been always been questioning that decision
So I would say, No your not crazy, far from it but only you can really answer that question!!

The only thing I would suggest at this moment is forget about buying a property, rent first and see how you get on for a year or two
I'm saying this because as you probably know I'm in Spain at the moment back in the town that I've stayed near for four winter trips now
and for the first three winters I loved it and even thought about buying a place here but this year something has changed and I'm not loving it anymore in fact I'm heading home next Thursday two and a half months earlier then I was originally planning

Don't know what the property market is like in Portugal in terms of time to sell a property but here in this area you might get lucky and sell relatively quickly but more often than not it takes years. I just happened to be talking to the owners of the place where I'm staying today and they after four years here are putting the place on the market and moving down to Mojacar but are expecting that it could take between three to six years to sell if they don't sell quickly and their not the only ones here that I've bumped into recently that have had regrets, not about moving to Spain but about the area that they bought their property in

So my advise is rent in the area for a year or two, get to know it as best you can before pulling the trigger and buying
As they say "Measure thrice, check twice and cut once"

Other than that I'd say give it a go, what have you got to loose ( Famous last words )

Some good advice there from Cervelo. Before you move permanently to Portugal you'll need to get tax advice on your world earnings because once you reside there for 183 days in one twelve months period you will be expected to pay tax there. Rent or sell your Irish home and you will be expected to pay appropriate taxes in Portugal too. You will also need to advise Revenue Commissioners in Ireland of your intended move.

The good news is that Portugal is more open than most EU countries to giving permanent official residence to other EU and non EU nationals. Acquire all information required including Health insurance before you sign anything. Once you have acquired all the information, I suggest you employ a solicitor in Portugal to act for you to complete the deal. I hear the cost for legal services there will cost circa €1000.

Point of Information:- Portugal is a country on the Schengen List. Therefore, legally you can spend only 182 days in a rolling year there before you acquire residency status. Renting in Portugal makes sense in your case and six months residency without changing anything ain't half bad.

Thanks for above. Seems its quite feasible.

So the plan is to take 3 short breaks this year in the area we are interested in and if its what we like take a couple of more meaningful 3-4 week breaks in early 2023 where "working" can be tested with the idea of maybe a prolonged stay in autumn 2023 or early 2024 that will see the final decision being made.

The Porto region is where we are looking at as there's good weather from March to October and doesn't get too hot but is pleasantly warm from March to October. English is also very widely spoken in the region. Nearby golf and beach will be the pre-requisites for any long term commitment.