THE SELLING PROCESS

Now that you have contacted us about selling your property, one of our team - either Liam or Ruth - will have been in touch with you and will have made an appointment to come and meet you at your property but, before we make that visit there are a few things that need to be in order first.

DOCUMENTATION

When you decide to put your property up for sale, it is very important to make sure that you have all the documentation in order. For a privately owned property you will need the following documentation: 

• Caderneta Predial
• Certidão de Teor (Registered in the conservatória) 
• Licença de utilização (Habitation License)
• Certificado energético (Energy certificate)
• Copy of owners identification
• Copy of owners Numero de Contribuinte (fiscal number)
• Ideally we would love you to provide us with the floor plans of the property as well, this is not a legal requirement, however it does assist when we are speaking to prospective buyers prior to their visit to give them as much information as we can about your property.

Some of these property documents do have expiry dates so make sure that these are all up to date. Please also make sure that any alterations, extensions and other changes to the property have been correctly registered. Make sure that your pool, garage, borehole and septic tank are all correctly registered and have the respective documentation. It is very important to have this 100% in order at the start so as not to jeopardise a sale at a later stage. If there are items which are missing or not correct, we recommend for you consult your lawyer and/or architect to apply for/correct the documentation. 

MEDIATION CONTRACT

Once we have received all documentation of the property and identification of the vendors we can then draw up a mediation contract. This is required by Portuguese law - without a signed mediation contract and copy of all documents belonging to the property we will not be able to market your property. The mediation contract will have all our details, your details and the commission agreed on for the sale of your property.

LOOKING GOOD

It is very important that the property is looking its absolute best - not just for the photographs but for each and every viewing. It is best to have any outstanding maintenance and painting jobs done before officially putting the property up for sale. Make sure the garden and pool are pristine and the property is clean and cleared from any clutter. 

IT'S PHOTO TIME

We always take pictures on a sunny day - luckily in the Algarve we have 300 days to choose from - as this ensures the property is presented on our website in the best possible way. All our marketing is done via the internet and good quality pictures really do make a huge difference. From our research a large proportion of our buyers look at websites and property portals on their mobile phones or tablets and so having crystal clear pictures is vital to grab their attention when scrolling through options. As well as the photographs we will write up a property description to give more detail and will highlight all the features of your property. 

MARKETING YOUR PROPERTY

Now we have the documents and photographs you can sit back, relax and let us do our thing. Firstly we will upload your property to our website, then we add it to all the luxury portals and worldwide sites that we advertise on. This gives your property the widest possible audience, clients can view your property at any time, day or night and in any country around the globe. We advertise on portals which reach millions of clients every day and we are always making sure that our website and its properties are updated to be easily "found" by clients searching on Google for their dream home. With our social media pages we have built up a great community, which is always growing, so your property will also be liked, commented on and shared through FaceBook and Instagram. 

ENQUIRIES

From when the property goes online we will generally get the first enquiries within a few days. These enquiries go to our property advisor who will contact the clients as soon as possible to talk about your property and answer any questions about it. We receive enquiries from new potential buyers on a daily basis, however most of these are from overseas and not from clients here in Portugal. It will generally take a few weeks before the first visits can be scheduled. 

VIEWINGS

Our property advisor is there to ensure we only show your property to clients who are genuine buyers, we will not show your property to time wasters or to clients whose requirements do not match what your property has to offer. This means that all viewings for your property are from real buyers. Once we have the right client we will establish when they are here in Portugal and arrange a viewing of your property. Once we know when we will be meeting our client we will get in touch to confirm the best day and time to view your property. We try to ensure we give at least 24 hours notice prior to wishing to view. Once a client has an interest in placing an offer on your property we will communicate this to you immediately and negotiate a price which both you and the buyer are happy with.  From here your lawyer will take over all the formalities with drawing up promissory contracts etc