{"id":645,"date":"2020-01-15T23:56:17","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T23:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.go4digital-web.pt\/dev\/portugalagent\/?page_id=645"},"modified":"2021-11-11T09:30:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T09:30:53","slug":"portugal-agent-the-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/portugalagent.com\/en\/contact\/portugal-agent-the-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal Agent – The Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It all started with a unique meeting between Portugal and Sweden that rendered into real estate company in 2015. The team at Portugal Agent combines a unique experience of real estate in Portugal with global business, sales and marketing skills.\u00a0 Why is Portugal Agent a better choice if you are in the process of buying or selling property in Portugal? Read Niklas\u00b4 story. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two founders of Portugal Agent, Niklas Fors\u00e9n and Calle Sj\u00f6berg, both have long experience from entrepreneurship combined with a big interest in windsurfing. Calle competed in the World Cup during the 90\u00b4s. Niklas ran several sports magazines; SurfSport with windsurfing and FunSport covering snowboard, surfing, mountainbike, skiing and skateboard. The two have traveled to numerous beaches all over the world. During a world championship in windsurfing in Florida 2011 they made the decision: \u201cwe want to find a second home close to a nice beach in a nice country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Florida to Portugal or Spain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They started looking in Florida and ended up in Portugal and Nazar\u00e9. How did that happen? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how they thought: A second home in another country\nthat eventually maybe will be a first home, should not have the time difference\nlike Florida or Thailand. And it should not be too far way \u2013 we want to be able\nto enjoy long weekends at our second home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa was also taken away from the list. No time difference but a very long flight. Australia and New Zeeland were taken away due to both time difference and distance, but of course very nice places as well! Left was Europe; little time difference if any, many destinations with direct flights and max 4 \u2013 5 hours away. Turkey? Yes and No, Calle went to Bodrum and looked at many properties. A bit too far away from the beach, very hot summers and actually surprisingly cold winters. Furthermore, a political climate that doesn\u00b4t feel good. Greece? No, the economy there is not good\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually all countries by the Mediterranean were rejected\nfor different reasons; usually very high prices per square meter if you would\nlike to find a place close to the sea and with sea view, too many tourists in\nmany places during the summer and empty during the wintertime, too hot summers\netc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about the Canary Islands? Calle and Niklas had spent\nseveral years there and they always liked it. Nice islands, perfect for windsurfing,\nnice hiking, mountain biking, surfing but\u2026 Flying time is a bit long and having\na property on an island feels a bit limiting. And due to the climate change\nbeing dependent on flights feels risky. Having a second home in a place that\nyou can access by train and car feels better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Left were countries in Europe by the Atlantic Ocean. Fresh water, a bit cooler during summertime and mild winters. Who wants to live with 30 \u2013 40 degrees several months per year? Nice for short vacations yes, but not for very long. You need to get quite far south to have mild winters. Southern France could be ok but is more expensive than Spain and Portugal. And how would we survive with our poor French? The French people are known for wanting to speak French as we know\u2026 Left are Spain and Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spain or Portugal? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Calle and Niklas had spent a lot of time in Spain before \u2013\nthey felt that they knew the country pretty well. Niklas had been in Portugal a\ncouple of times mountain biking and he had also been at the famous windsurfing\nspot Guincho. Calle had never been to Portugal. At that time, in 2011 back home\nin Sweden, they started to read more about Portugal. It was easy to find\nseveral nice things about the country; low prices on property relatively speaking\nand good outlook, very favorable tax rules, beautiful landscape, the Atlantic\ncoast with endless beaches and elevated landscape inside the coastline that\nalways offers a sunset in the sea (not the Algarve), nice and honest people,\ninteresting culture and beautiful genuine towns. The culture enthusiasts have\nplenty to explore: castles, churches, monasteries, the legacy of the sailors\nand the Moors, fishing villages, vineyards and much, much more.  In\naddition, a lot of sport possibilities: golfing, surfing, mountain biking, road\nbiking, hiking trails, horseback riding and even a small ski resort!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They both agreed that most important factors are location,\nthe city and the country as such. If these things get a thumbs up the favorable\ntax rules come as a nice bonus.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discovery\ntour of Portugal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In February 2012, they went on a \u201cdiscovery tour\u201d in\nPortugal with the aim of finding the spot they were looking for. They went in\nFebruary, just to ensure that they would witness what the places looked like\nduring the low season. They wanted to find a place that offered a lively city\nlife with open shops and restaurants also during wintertime. Would they find\nthat place in Portugal or would Spain win?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flight to Lisbon, rental car and first stops in Estoril and\nCascais. Pleasant and beautiful, close to Lisbon airport but prices on\nproperties were too high; like the most fashionable places in Sweden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Silver Coast<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The continued their tour going north. One night in beautiful old Sintra \u2013 a really nice place in the mountains, not by the ocean though – and then further up north by the Atlantic coast. Ericeira, Peniche and Baleal \u2013 all nice surf spots. They were invited by a British real estate agent to stay at the 5-star hotel on the exclusive golf resort Praya del Rey. The day after he showed them several nice houses with high standards. However, their families are not golfers. They went on further north. Long stay in Foz do Arelho and S\u00e3o Martinho do Porto. The heart rate started to increase. Here, they had found a very interesting part of the Silver coast and Portugal. Breath taking views over the ocean and the hilly landscape. Yes! Now they had found a couple of really good candidates for a futures second home north of Lisbon. Worthwhile continuing further north? They needed to ensure that they had enough time to visit all the coastline south of Lisbon and Algarve as well\u2026 They decided that they had time for one more city north of Lisbon before turning to the south. Out on the highway \u2013 fast and almost always empty \u2013 and up to Nazar\u00e9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nazar\u00e9 \u2013 Wow!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When driving down the main street to the\u00a0Marginal<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 the street inside the boardwalk of the big city beach (a bit like Copacabana but without the people crowd) \u2013 they\u00a0 looked at each other and said: Wow! What a city and what a view! They went through their checklist: nice beach \u2013 Check, good harbor for yachts and fishing fleet \u2013 Check, nice city center with alleys and restaurants \u2013 Check, food market \u2013 Check, house for sale with sea views \u2013 Check! Furthermore, a funicular from downtown Nazar\u00e9 to the oldest part of Nazar\u00e9, Sitio,\u00a0100 meters above the sea level. Fantastic! \u00a0They took another turn with the car and\u00a0found a real estate agent. He showed them a bunch of nice apartments and houses, all with nice sea views and prices way below what they had seen outside of Lisbon. Nazar\u00e9 is located on hills facing west \u2013 some parts more than 100 meters above sea level \u2013 therefore, many properties give fantastic sea views and ocean sunset. Next day Calle and Niklas turn south, driving the coast road up on the Salgado hill. They conclude: the area from Peniche up to Nazar\u00e9 feels very good, with Nazar\u00e9 being no 1 for them. But there is still a lot to see in Portugal! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Southwest and Algarve<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Their first stop on the tour going south is Set\u00fabal \u2013 a\nfamous holiday place with nice beaches south of Lisbon. However, not exactly\nwhat they were looking for. And it doesn\u00b4t have the ocean sunset. Jump back into\nthe car and next stop is Sines located approximately on the middle of the\ncoastline between Lisbon and Sagres where the coastline turns 90 degrees and\nbecomes a south coast: the Algarve coast. Sines is not what they are looking\nfor \u2013 mostly a heavy industry city. Next stop is Vila Nova de Milfontes. A nice\nlittle town where the river Mira enters the ocean. The town is protected from\nthe ocean a bit upstream and doesn\u00b4t have much of ocean view. But the hiking\ntrails around here are fantastic! Further down to Cabo de S\u00e3o Vicente and\nSagres. Nice surfing here! Sagres has a nice location, genuine old fishing town\nbut no ocean sunset and empty in the winter time. They continue eastward\nvisiting Lagos, Portim\u00e3o and Albufeira. A lot of restaurants, hotels and shops\nare closed due to low season. This is the reason they went in February \u2013 to get\nthe feeling of if the place is living all year around or not. One of the musts\non their wish list. Who would like to go on vacation to an empty city? They\ncontinue their tour further east, to Tavira, Vila Nova de Cacela and Cila Real\nde Santo Antonio by the Spanish border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal is the clear winner<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They have now seen quite a few Portuguese coastal places,\nmet numerous real estate agents from Nazar\u00e9 in the north to Sagres in southwest\nand all the way to the Spanish border to the east. They feel that they are\nready to make the comparison with Spain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They started summarizing their impressions on the flight\nback to Sweden and Portugal won over Spain. Nice, easygoing and honest people\nwho speak English. Less expensive than Spain and of course much cheaper than\nSweden. Back in Sweden they summarized everything like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Algarve is beautiful, and the temperature is a bit higher than on the Silver coast, especially during summertime. However, in February some places felt empty, closed down. Furthermore, holiday on a beach is not the main reason for their second home. They want more of activities, nature, culture and sports. They did not find the west coast south of Lisbon as nice and interesting as the Silver coast and the beautiful, short coastal part from Lisbon to Cascais was simply too high priced for the locations they were looking for. The favorite ended up being the coastal strip between Peniche and Nazar\u00e9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After February 2011 this has happened: The families made\nseveral trips at different times of the year. Real estate agents in Foz do\nArelho and Nazar\u00e9 were asked to find properties for them. They found several in\nNazar\u00e9 and a few trips later Calle bought a plot in S\u00edtio da Nazar\u00e9 and Niklas\nbought an attached villa nearby. This was during the fall of 2013. A year later\nCalle bought another house in S\u00edtio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Portugal Agent and later\nalso Imo Nazar\u00e9?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The combination of having long experience of property development and sales (Calle) and yacht broker, web publishing and several sports magazines (Niklas) made the two of them feel that they can start a company together, Portugalagent Sweden AB, with the aim of attracting people to the Silver coast. During the winter of 2014\/2015 Portugalagent built a deep relationship with two local real estate agents in Nazar\u00e9 and during spring 2015 Portugalagent invested in a new agency in Nazar\u00e9. Grand opening day was April 30, 2015. Short after, Calle decided to focus only on property development in Nazar\u00e9. Kari (Niklas\u00b4 wife) and Niklas bought his part of Portugalagent and in 2017 Kari and Niklas moved to Nazar\u00e9 permanently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business idea is to be the helping hand with all things around buying and selling property on the Silver coast and Nazar\u00e9. We are next to client from the beginning and also after the purchase\/sale. We also have a big network of specialists who can assist when needed. Happy clients – not by coincidence!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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Happy clients \u2013 not by coincidence!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are many real estate agents on the Silver Coast in Portugal but there is no other that combine the local expertise in real estate with international network and unique knowledge of web-based marketing. We help you before the decision, during the purchase process and also afterwards with our After-Sales services. If you are thinking of selling your property you should know that potential clients will find the objects on our website even outside of Portugal. We know SEO (Search Engine Optimization), we market in Swedish for Sweden and reach the rest of Europe in English and German. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal Agent goes independet <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, after 5 years working working together with the two local agents, Portugal Agent sold its part in the local agency. A close business partnering continued until the fall of 2021. From now on Portugal Agent is independent and builds close relationships with selected local agencies and builders that we trust. We focus on clients speaking Swedish, English and from December 2021 also German.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Portugal Agent \u2013 whether you\u2019re buying or\nselling!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niklas Fors\u00e9n, Founder<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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