All Forum Posts by: Mark C.

@Ricardo Matos what are your thoughts on Coimbra? I am renting in Santa Clara at the moment but looking for something interesting. Maybe a T6-T12 to fix & AirBnB ... Assuming the tourists return.

Although there is a potential for a good secondary market in expats that need accommodation set up in advance for SEF.

There are also the students.

@Howard Barrett We started renting by-the-room in Denver about 5 years ago. At that time it was only common for students or for renting out a spare room in your own house. It has now become more common there. Like London, Brum, and many other large cities that have been doing it for decades, it will likely become common here too. Although there is a cultural gap, the tradition here is for multi-generational family sharing of a single property - so you may have 3 generations in a T3 rather than strangers sharing.

The numbers look great on this with the cash-out. Time to go shopping for a new investment. Are you seeing much of a drop in prices there? We are seeing a few small drops here, and estate agents are hungry for buyers / offers. I have heard that offering around 20% under ask is a good place to start, but I don't have a good feel for this market yet so any advice there is welcomed.

We were managing our properties ourselves until we left Denver. At that point we took on a direct hire to manage for us. He was a previous tenant that moved out to start an AirBnB house-hack in his own place, and was keen to learn about investing, so it is a good match, but a bit of a learning experience for all of us. We intend to manage PT properties ourselves, but language skills need to improve first.

Plans are firming up for that weekend, and maybe we can meet on Friday 31st. 

@Howard Barrett hi, I am British/American (Birmingham to Denver in '93), but now I am in Coimbra. My American girlfriend and I, have been here for about a year and looking for our first Portuguese house hack similar to what you have done. We have prior experience with 12 properties in Colorado (that we still own), some of which are rented by-the-room. However we are not renting them to students. Have you considered renting to older tenants?

Lisbon/Porto/Denver share a similar affordability problem, and single people working in the city have a huge issue finding reasonable accommodation. We have found that renting to this older group leads to less problems, better income stability, higher profits, and easy lease renewals. The tenants tend to be stable long-term since they cannot find as good a deal elsewhere.

For our Denver properties we have set them up with nicer furnishings than you would for students, but similar services - we pay for internet/TV & utilities then offer the rooms as "all in" with no squabbling over who pays the bill. This will change your tax category from B (STR) to F (LTR).

If you have the option to re-finance then I would take as much cash out as possible for a new investment. I am guessing that this property will still be cash positive, but maybe only just. That's OK, it should also be stable since you may only have one or perhaps two rooms that are vacant at any time.

Also who are you using for mortgages? How investor friendly are they? Will they cash-out re-fi after a refurb / appreciation?

Let me know if you want to meet for a chat, I am probably going to be in Porto for the weekend of Aug 1st.

-- Mark

A friend of mine used a video notary for document requirements in TX from Portugal. Try searching for a similar service in your state.

@Riaan Knoetze I have heard that the GV is closing, but have not seen an official announcement. I have not been particularly following it

@Ricardo Goulart Ah, so you have to switch banks to refinance. This makes sense, when we asked the bank about a re-finance of a loan at a later time, they said it was not possible, but probably because they don't want you moving the loan.

I have done BRRRR in the US, and we still have properties there. We are renting in Coimbra, and looking for an investment property to live in, and fix. Set up an AL in part of the house while we are there, then full AL when we move onto another.

What banks are offering re-financing in PT? What are their terms?

@Ricardo Matos yes, i think they are still processing the applications that were in progress, but not accepting new ones. 

Hi, 

I am a BRRRR investor in Colorado but moved to Coimbra, and looking to invest here. Where are you?

There is a thread that has a lot of local PT investors .... 
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/76/topics/658137-property-investment-in-portugal?highlight_post=4922270&page=6#p4922270

Yes, CoC will be low in PT, it is the same in Colorado too, but property appreciation is very high. The way to increase CoC will be to look at sub-letting / house-hacking / student accommodation, or short-term rental (STR). For example you can take a T4+, and rent out each room separately, or go for T0-T2 and look at STR. It will depend on what fits the property find and the area it is in. So a T0 near a beach is ideal for STR, a T6 near a Coimbra Polo is great for students.

There are some additional items you can deduct in taxes under STR, but you get a lower rate of tax under LTR that continues to reduce as you renew those tenants. So it might help to look at the taxes too.