Relive our “Living and investing in Portugal” conference

Today, I’m sharing with you a memorable moment in my life, our conference on living and investing in Portugal, which took place on May 20, 2017 in Strasbourg

1. Preparing for the event

In January 2017, my husband and I decided to organize a conference on living and investing in Portugal, integrating 3 important aspects when acquiring property in Portugal: real estate, taxation and financial solutions. The aim was to answer the many unanswered questions of French people who want to live and invest in Portugal

To do this, we had to surround ourselves with the right people! It was obvious that our lawyer, Catia Neves, would be one of the speakers. It didn’t take us long to persuade her! The same applied to the BCP bank with André José De Jésus, manager of the BCP bank in Strasbourg. He immediately passed on the information to his management in Paris, and we were honored to have Mr. Vitor Martins, BCP’s Director of Animation and Distribution, among us

We had the speakers, now we had to present our project to theAssociation Culturelle Portugaise de Strasbourg (ACPS), with whom we wanted to form a partnership. It seemed essential to us to surround ourselves with the Portuguese community for such an event. We were very well received by Isabel Cardoso, President of the ACPS, Rui Ribeiro Barata, Vice-President and the rest of their team. We felt a real sense of support and dynamism on their part. We also wanted to hold our conference on their premises, to make the ACPS more visible to those Alsatians who wish to live in Portugal

The day of our meeting with the directors of ACPS

We had the speakers, the room and the support of ACPS, not to mention the friends and family who helped us make interesting connections. The support of people who took a liking to our project was decisive

In fact, a year earlier, the CSPA had organized an event on “golden retirement” which attracted 70 people, which reassured us a little. This information conference covered taxation and financial solutions. What was missing was the real estate aspect, which we integrated into our conference. In Strasbourg, it was a first to present real estate investment in Portugal to a wider audience than just retirees and Franco-Portuguese. Our goal was to gather at least 50 people, which was already ambitious for a^1st conference

The pressure was palpable: would the participants be there? How many people living in Strasbourg really want to live in Portugal? Won’t our speakers be traveling for nothing?

Lots of questions and fears, but instead of discouraging us, they gave us the determination and conviction to go all the way. So we focused all our efforts on sharing our passion by communicating about our event on social networks, in newspapers and on the radio. We wanted to make sure we reached all categories of people likely to be interested in a life, or at least part of their life, in Portugal

Our article in the DNA (Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace)

We were featured in a number of newspapers:

• lepetitjournal de Lisbonne, Maria Sobral, Lisbon Edition Director, devoted an article to us to promote our conference.

• the DNA (Dernière Nouvelle d’Alsace), journalist Valérie Walch took the time to meet me so I could tell her our story. It’s a beautiful article that reflects our story and our passion. (see photo above).

• LusoJornal, Carla Teixeria, journalist, wrote an article about our conference and summed up our accompanying work well (see page 9 of this May 2017 edition).

I can’t hide the fact that a month before the event, we had very few registrations, but we were keeping the faith. Then, all of a sudden, the registrations started coming in … 20 registrants, then 30, then 50(target reached) to end up with 95 registrants! For us, it was already an incredible success!

Number of registrations for our conference day by day

As well as welcoming our Lisbon lawyer to Strasbourg, our Portuguese builders Joaquim and Pedro surprised us by joining us. Everything was in place for an excellent weekend: conviviality, passion and sharing!

The whole team enjoying a meal at my parents-in-law’s house

2. D-Day: the conference in Strasbourg

So here we are, arriving at D-Day: Saturday, May 20, 2017! We prepare the room for 100 people, the ACPS team at our side, the speakers ready to share and exchange and the participants arriving little by little

Then more and more people keep arriving. My mother-in-law at the entrance quickly becomes overwhelmed! I come to the rescue and the room fills up again, until we have to add rows of chairs. We reach 180 people! WAHOU! It’s amazing to see so many people interested in Portugal!

4 p.m.: it’s time to start the conference, with a live broadcast on Facebook enabling those unable to attend to participate remotely. You too can watch our Facebook live video below. I apologize for the poor quality!

Here’s the full video recording of the event

I’m now going to outline the content of our conference on living and investing in Portugal in 3 main parts: real estate, taxation and financial solutions.

Part 1 of the conference: real estate in Portugal

Virginie Henriques from Villa Feria

We begin the conference by introducing Villa Feria. My husband, Greg, welcomes everyone and introduces me so that I can tell our story and the reasons why we organized this conference. Then he reminds us “Why live in Portugal?”, which may sound obvious, but it’s always good to remember:

• Quality of life: 300 days of sunshine a year, beaches, golf, fresh local produce..
• Tax advantages: no inheritance tax, no tax on pensions, RNH status, etc
• Investment opportunities: a dynamic and still profitable real estate market, attractive prices, financial solutions with Franco-Portuguese banks..

Greg Henriques of Villa Feria

With a dynamic real estate market, it was important to stop by and say a few words and give some figures. It’s worth noting that the Portuguese real estate market has returned to its pre-crisis level, without experiencing a real estate bubble like Spain. For the past 2-3 years, we’ve been seeing growth, prices are still attractive and there are great opportunities for investors

Key figures :

• 25,000 French residents in Portugal
• 1 in 5 property purchases are made by foreigners, including 27% by French nationals
• 7% average increase in purchases between 2015 and 2016
• 73 properties purchased per day by foreigners

After talking about the real estate context in Portugal, Greg presented the different regions of Portugal, all of which have their own specificities and suit different lifestyles.

We focused on the 4 regions most popular with foreigners. For each of them, Greg described the regions and outlined their pluses and minuses, giving a price per m2. If you’d like to see this content in detail, please contact me

Greg finished the real estate section by presenting our Villa Feria construction project in Aroeira. A 36-home development of the highest quality, delivered in 2 phases in late 2018 and late 2019:

• 3 bedrooms, 180 m2
• 8x4m infinity pool
• Fully equipped
• 3km from the beach
• Residential neighborhood on the Aroeira golf course
• 30mins from Lisbon and airport

He specified that we are making an introductory offer at €345,000 all-inclusive until 30/06/17. To reassure and relieve our customers, there is only a down payment of 10% on signature of the preliminary sales agreement (estimated for September 2017) and 90% on handover of the keys. We monitor the construction site on site with regular reports and photos, support our customers throughout the building process, and offer an attractive financial solution

Click here for moreinformation on our construction project

To date, only 4 houses out of 16 remain for sale in the^1st phase, which was delivered at the end of 2018. Greg has therefore invited potentially interested customers to contact us. If you’d like to find out more about the project, please visit our website or/and contact me by email

Part 2 of the conference: taxation in Portugal

Greg then handed over to our lawyer, Maître Catia Neves, a Franco-Portuguese jurist specializing in real estate and corporate taxation

Catia Neves, who had come specially from Lisbon

She began by introducing the concept of the NIF (Tax Identification Number), the first administrative step to be taken when a person decides to acquire property in Portugal. It is essential and required in a number of situations: signing a lease, buying property, opening a bank account, registering a car, registering for social security, etc. It can be obtained from the local office of the tax authorities. It is obtained from the local tax office (“Serviço de Finanças”)

If you hear the term “Numéro de Identificação fiscal” or “Número de Contribuinte”, it’s the NIF

She then developed the notion of RNH (Non-Habitual Resident) status, which allows the absence of double taxation. She gave us some very interesting figures: did you know that between 2009 and 2016, 10,684 people applied for RNH status in Portugal?

Applications for RNG status according to data from the “Ministério das Finanças”:

• In 2009: 16 applications
• In 2013: 837 applications
• In 2014: 2126 applications
• In 2016: 6003 requests!

The nationalities most concerned are Sweden, France, England and Spain

The advantages of RNH status:

• For retirees: for a period of 10 years, exempt from paying pension taxes. To date, we have no details on what happens after this 10-year period, but for the moment the official version is that this 10-year period is not renewable.

• For assets: Taxation, for a period of 10 years, at a flat personal income tax (IRS) rate of 20% on income from a high value-added activity earned in Portugal.

Catia Neves pointed out that RNH status has no tax effect in France, so you continue to pay your local taxes if you own property in France.

The following conditions must be met before you can benefit from the advantages:

• Become a tax resident under Portuguese law

• Not have been resident in Portugal for the last five years

• Register with the tax authorities as a RNH

A person is considered a tax resident in Portugal under Portuguese law in the following cases:

• have stayed in Portugal for more than 183 days, consecutively or not,

• have a dwelling on December 31 of the same year that you intend to keep and occupy as your usual place of residence

It’s important to know that the RNH regime is not automatic, and Catia Neves strongly advises us to consult a lawyer to make sure we can benefit from this special status. She tells us about several mistakes to avoid, one of which is not to restructure your assets before setting up. When necessary, she advises us not only to organize and plan our departure, but also to seek advice on restructuring our assets in France before moving to Portugal

She then gives us the example of several clients who came to her for advice after having tried to take the necessary steps on their own, and who could no longer benefit from the status for various reasons

If you would like to know more about the tax impact of RNH status, you can request a consultation from Catia Neves by contacting us. Catia will even offer you a promotional price for your^1st consultation from Villa Feria!

Finally, Catia concluded her presentation by informing us about the specifics of taxes in Portugal:

• Wealth tax: there is no wealth tax in Portugal, only local property taxes are applicable to real estate.

• Municipal Tax on Real Estate Transactions (IMT): Portugal imposes a municipal tax on the acquisition of Portuguese real estate of between 0 and 6%.

• Inheritance tax: There is no inheritance tax for direct heirs on property owned in Portugal.

• Property tax (IMI): Portugal imposes an annual municipal tax on the registered value of real estate of between 0.3% and 0.8% (rates depend on the municipality and type of property). An annual stamp tax is also levied on residential properties with a tax value equal to or greater than €1,000,000.00.

• Gift tax: Gift tax is levied at 10%, except on gifts to direct heirs. An additional rate of 0.8% applies to the donation of real estate.

Note to readers:

In Portugal, a lawyer is ESSENTIAL and even preferable if you want to be sure of benefiting from your rights or optimizing your tax situation. I’d like to make a comment that I didn’t make in the conference, but which I’ll share with you. My husband and I were one of those people who thought we could take care of the administrative formalities on our own, but it took us a lot of time, money and energy to finally decide to go through a lawyer. So here’s some friendly advice: get a lawyer!

To arrange a consultation with Maître Catia Neves (in French) and benefit from a special Villa Feria discount on the 1st consultation, contact us

Part 3 of the conference: financing in Portugal

Then Catia Neves gave way to Vitor Martins, Director of Animation and Distribution at BCP bank in Paris

Vitor Martins, Animation and Distribution Director, BCP bank

He began by introducing us to the bank and its specific features. Banque BCP is a French bank in the BPCE Group, whose majority shareholder is CEIDF – Caisse d’Epargne d’Ile-de-France, and which has a long-standing partnership with Millennium BCP in Portugal. It supports the projects of individual, corporate and professional real estate customers in France and Portugal. It offers financing in France for investments in Portugal

Banque BCP has developed real expertise in financing real estate acquisitions in Portugal. It does so on the same terms as in France, notably with a fixed rate. If the customer owns a property in France or holds an investment, Banque BCP can finance the purchase without a mortgage, the guarantee being provided, in the form of a surety, by the group company CEGC – Compagnie Européenne de Garanties et Cautions

Vitor Martins emphasized the simplicity of the process for investor customers in Portugal. Indeed, the BCP bank in France opens all bank accounts in France and Portugal without the customer having to worry about it. This beautiful mix between France and Portugal brings security, ease and a financial solution to BCP’s customers. Of course, all bank employees speak Portuguese and French. If you would like a loan simulation, or if you have any questions, please contact BCP, specifying that you are from Villa Feria

Part 4 of the conference: our Villa Feria offer

After giving all this information to the participants, I took the floor again and gave some concrete actions to take on leaving the conference. I presented the Villa Feria packages, which include real estate, tax and financial services

Villa Feria offers complete real estate support:

IMMO PACK

• From finding a property based on your criteria to signing at the notary’s office
• Verification of the property’s market value
• Confirmation of the absence of hidden defects
• Search for a financial solution

How can we help? We have created partnerships with national and local Portuguese real estate agencies and builders, with whom we share the commission. For the construction part, we monitor the site and provide regular reports to our customers.

Cost? 0 additional cost, as agency fees are paid by the seller

ADMIN PACK

Villa Feria offers full administrative support: social security registration, NIF, RNH status, vehicle registration, wills..

How can we help? We work with a Franco-Portuguese lawyer specialized in real estate, taxation and corporate law, who operates throughout Portugal (Maître Catia Neves).

Cost? Depending on the services provided, and ensuring good value for money

SERVICES PACKAGE

Villa Feria offers a complete service package: garden and/or pool maintenance, housekeeping, rental management..

How do we do it? We work with or seek out trusted service providers or manage the property ourselves, depending on its location.

Cost? Depends on the services provided

These 3 packages enable us to offer comprehensive, personalized support to each and every one of our customers. Impartial and transparent, we are here to advise, provide real estate expertise and accompany you through the process of acquiring a property and/or settling in Portugal

Our aim is to simplify the process of buying a property and settling in Portugal, by acting as a single point of contact to give our customers peace of mind. We work with a network of trusted real estate partners and builders throughout Portugal, so we can offer you a wide choice of properties to suit YOUR needs

We’re not a real estate agency, and we don’t have any properties of our own, so we don’t focus on any one particular property. Our job is to find our customers the property of their dreams! We put the customer at the heart of their project, we work FOR them. We created these 3 packs because we wish we could have benefited from them when we bought our property 2 years ago

I ended by inviting interested parties to contact us or visit our website. Then I invited ACPS president Isabel Cardoso to tell us about the association’s upcoming activities and events, so that anyone interested in Portugal could get a feel for the culture before moving there.

Isabelle Cardoso, Portuguese Cultural Association of Strasbourg

We continued with a question-and-answer session with the participants, and then invited them to join us for a friendly glass of fado. In the spirit of conviviality, we served vinho verde, chorizo cake and homemade kougelhofs (thanks to my mother-in-law who cooks so well!) to underline this beautiful mix of cultures. It was a real opportunity to share with the participants after the conference

Once everyone had left, Greg and I invited our entire team and our customers to an Alsatian restaurant to introduce our Portuguese friends to our fine cuisine. A moment of relaxation, laughter and celebration of this wonderful day.

No sardines for the Villa Feria team, today it’s Choucroute!

3. Villa Feria radio interview

The next morning, Catia Neves, our builders Pedro and Joaquim and I were invited by RBS radio to take part in the Portuguese program “Voz de Portugal”. The Chama Strasbourg association warmly welcomed us and gave us the opportunity to share our trades, our collaborative work and our aspirations with them and their listeners. The broadcast was in Portuguese and French, and I invite you to discover it below

The Villa Feria team on RBS radio!

Part 1: tips for French and Portuguese

In this first part, Maître Catia Neves provides important and useful advice and information on settling in Portugal for both French and Portuguese people living in France who wish to return to Portugal for their retirement.

Part 2: history of the Villa Feria team

For those of you who’ve just discovered us, “Villa Feria” is the name of our project to build a 36-home residence in the Aroeira region south of Lisbon (more information here). In this section, each team member introduces themselves and tells the story of how we met and the series of events that led us to create our partnership.

Part 3: Advice for investors

In this third part, we go into more detail, sharing some real estate and legal advice that we feel is imperative to follow in order to move to Portugal.

Part 4: An internship at Villa Feria?

This final part ends with an overture to our listeners and readers at the start of their careers: why not apply for a one-year internship in Portugal?

In conclusion

It was a memorable weekend of encounters, discoveries and sharing! Greg and I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks:

• Our 180 conference participants for their attention and participation
• Our speakers Catia Neves, Vitor Martins and Isabel Cardoso for their excellent presentations
• The entire ACPS team (Elizabet, Rui, Laetitia…) for the venue and, above all, for their invaluable and much appreciated help
• Our partner builders Joaquim and Pedro for their travel and support
• André José de Jesus, Oscar Lopes, Henrique Augusto and the Vinhos Teixeira store for their unquestionable support
• Our families and friends for their help and encouragement throughout the organization of the event and during the conference. A special mention to my parents-in-law Sylvie and Luis Henriques, who created the magnificent homemade buffet and helped us so much

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