When Tom McAvoy and his girlfriend Claire visited a recent property exhibition at London's Excel centre, they had no intention of buying a property in Brazil. In spite of having enjoyed a holiday in Rio two years ago, their purpose was to purchase an investment home in Cape Verde. "The trouble was, that all of the people selling Cape Verde property reminded us of used-car salesmen," jokes Tom. "When we finally found an agent that we trusted, he
convinced us that property in Brazil was the way to go."

In a big leap of faith, Tom and Claire decided to 'buy a property in Brazil blind'. After researching the area of Natal thoroughly on the Internet, they purchased a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in the city through Anthony Fernandes at SPC Overseas.  "The property is an apartment in a residential flat in an up-and-coming area of Natal," says Tom. "It is on the top floor, so there are sea views even though it is a few miles from the sea. "We bought off-plan, and the block of flats will be completed in August 2008."

In February, Tom and Claire decided to take a trip to the Natal are of Brazil to take a look at the site of their property – but there was a surprise in store. "While we were in Brazil, Anthony contacted us to say that the same developer who was building the apartment was building 40 houses ten miles down the coast," recalls Tom. "Since we were there on the spot, we arranged to meet up with him and take a look. He took us to a great area to the south of Natal. The plan looked good to us, so we decided to buy one of the houses off-plan."

Tom claims that the legal process has, so far, been reasonably straightforward. "Once we had decided on solicitors, it was easy. We left it all up to them, and they were fantastic – they arranged everything. We had to give them the equivalent of power of attorney to conduct our business in Brazil, and at first they emailed us on a daily basis to update us on how things were going. The combination of having a good agent and a good solicitor with offices in both Britain and Brazil made everything go very smoothly. "The other thing that was pleasantly surprising was that we didn't have to do much more to purchase two properties that we would have had to do to purchase one property. Most of the legwork had already been done for buying the apartment in Brazil, and it cost very little more on top of that to buy the house. The solicitor's fees in total cost us around 3,500 euros."

Tom and Claire now own two very different properties in the region of Natal. "The house is in a quieter area, further to the south," Tom explains. "The beaches are nicer down there, and there is a freshwater stream running through the complex which is full of carp. It cost us a little more than the apartment, but its market value has already increased hugely." When Tom purchased the property two months ago he paid 98,000 euros. The market price is now 115,000 euros. The value of the apartment, which cost 52,000, euros has also increased. "At the moment, we're planning purely to 'churn and burn'," Tom says. "Once the
developments have been finished, we'll be selling them." However, he admits that he would consider buying a permanent property base in Brazil sometime in the future. "My girlfriend and I both work for HSBC, so there is the opportunity to work anywhere in the world. Brazil's a great country, and the people are so nice and friendly. In some ways, it's a third world country, but the sun shines, there's fruit on the trees and everybody is happy."

If you're considering following in Tom and Claire's footsteps and buying a property in Brazil, then Tom recommends getting out to the country and doing your research. "We were very lucky – we bought on the advice of Anthony and we now own two great properties – but we could have ended up with a place in central Natal which isn't that nice. "If we were buying property in Brazil again, I would definitely go and have a look first."

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For further information about property in Brazil:
SPC Overseas 

Read other related articles about property in Brazil:
Brazil property has huge potential
Latin property boom
Brazil property catches the eyes of Brits

Article published in June 2007