RAMLin
3/11/2013 10:39 EST
My wife and I live in Calif. (US Born) we are researching overseas retirement, Portugal is on our short list in part because my grandparents were born in Azores and I may have a chance for citizenship - our concern is budget - is 3,200 to 3,800 Euros a month a reasonable budget for prop taxes, utilities, groceries, private medical, gym, a few dinners and lunches/coffees a week, language lessosn, and the basic grooming and day to day personal items for living in Lisbon or Cascais, bascially all livign expenses except travel? Also is under 400,000 Euros doable for a 2 bedroom condo in a neighborhood you can walk to services? Thanks for any help
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emanuel
3/11/2013 11:36 EST
3200€ per month will be more than enough to have a relaxed lifestyle. If you set aside 1000€ for the mandatory expenses like taxes, medical, utilities, transport and another 1000€ for rent, you'll still have 1200€ leftover, which equates to about 40€ a day. Eating out will cost you about 10/15€ per person, so you're absolutely fine.
As for a 2 bedroom condo under 400k, that's very easy to find too. I would recommend Estoril or Carcavelos. You'd be close to the beach and each "freguesia" will have all the services you need.
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bebeshor
3/11/2013 12:19 EST
I agree that 3200 Euros per month would give you a comfortable lifestyle. I would say that the 1000 estimate for taxes, medical, etc. is quite high. Private medical insurance here is nothing like in the US. For example, the most expensive policy with Tranquilidade (one of the leading ins. companies here), which also provides coverage abroad is around 2000 Euros per year for 2 people (OK - my husband and I are in the late 30s, I assume it would be more expensive for older people, but you get the idea). The advantage of Lisbon and Cascais/Estoril/Oeiras is that many neighborhoods are walkable and you have services everywhere.
You might get better deals right now renting than buying, though. With a budget of 400,000 Euros you would be able to get a nice property, but in this range property taxes are not cheap. Renting a similar property in my opinion is better. This is our experience. We were looking to buy a property, but ultimately, after doing the math, we decided on renting. The other advantage of renting is that you do not have to deal with Portuguese bureaucracy and when you have a problem, you just call your landlord (in this price range many of them speak English). Getting repairs done in Portugal is not a pleasant experience. In general, you have to learn to be patient here :-) All in all, with your budget you can have a great life in Portugal.
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RAMLin
3/11/2013 13:11 EST
Thank You both for responding; it has been harder to get budget info for Portugal compared to other countries - and we did a lot of searching before we narrowed it down to Portugal - Linda and I have about 1 and 1/2 years to go assuming the citizenship goes well - I am sure I will be asking more questions and hopefully one day I can provide help to someone, Thanks again
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Treza
3/11/2013 14:51 EST
My husband and I just moved to Portugal from the US. Your budget sounds pretty wonderful and should provide for a comfortable stay here. Even in Cascais. The only advice I would give is.....rent for a while before you buy. Good luck. Lots of wonderful folks here to help when you have more questions.
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ofilha
3/12/2013 06:42 EST
You might be aware that most portuguese live on much less than that even when they are working. The average wage is around 1200 euros.
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RAMLin
3/12/2013 08:39 EST
Thanks, I have looked at Portugese incomes; I haven't been able to find anyhting on income and expense speads for higher cost areas like Lisbon and Cascais; here for example in the part of CA where my wife and I live we have pretty large house on a large lot in a gated area that would not even buy us a studio in San Francisco -- thanks for the help, we plan on living pretty simply
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