Rent Or Buy In Portugal With Someone On Your Side

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Graciosa and the entire team at Savvy Cat. Moving to a new country is overwhelming enough, but trying to figure out where to live when you don’t really know the areas makes it even more daunting. Graciosa was incredibly patient, kind, and helpful throughout the entire process.

When we started, I honestly had no idea where in Portugal I wanted to live. Graciosa took the time to understand what I was looking for and helped me explore different options until we found the right fit. I never would have discovered Sesimbra without her, and now that I’m here, I absolutely love it. She helped me find not just the perfect apartment, but a town that truly feels right for me.

What makes Savvy Cat especially valuable is that the support goes far beyond finding a home. Graciosa also helped me set up my Portuguese bank account and utilities, which made processes that could have been incredibly stressful so much easier to navigate.

Relocating internationally comes with a seemingly endless list of things to figure out, and having someone knowledgeable, patient, and genuinely invested in helping you through it makes an enormous difference. Graciosa and Savvy Cat made my move to Portugal so much easier, and I’m incredibly grateful for all of their help.

I would wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone considering a move to Portugal. Thank you, Graciosa, for helping me find my little corner of Portugal and making the journey here so much smoother!

We had an outstanding experience with Diana Santos from Savvy Cat Realty. She helped us obtain NIFs, open a bank account, get inspections, set up utilities, meet with a notary, and most important of all - find a home that checked every box on our wish list.

Throughout the process, Diana was knowledgeable, responsive, patient, and genuinely invested in helping us succeed. She took the time to understand what we were looking for and found us a beautiful home in a location we absolutely love.

What could have been a very stressful process became an exciting experience thanks to her expertise and support. We always felt like we had someone in our corner who was looking out for our best interests.

We highly recommend Savvy Cat Realty and Diana to anyone relocating to Portugal or looking to buy a home. Their professionalism, local knowledge, and personalized service exceeded our expectations. Thank you for helping us start this new chapter in such a wonderful way!

Savvy Cat, specifically Diana Santos, were our main resource when moving from the U.S. to central Portugal. She helped hook us up with other resources in addition to helping us find our perfect apartment. She helped to negotiate our contract, using the company lawyers to insure that everything was registered. She and her associates set up our utilities and cell phones so we could arrive with everything ready to go. Diana was waiting for us when we arrived to walk us through our apartment and welcome us to Portugal. They were wonderful to work with and I highly recommend Savvy Cat.

Our agent, Diana Dos Santos, was an absolute life saver. She helped us find our first apartment in Portugal while we were stuck in the US and then helped us find our next one after we'd been in country for a while.

She is knowledgeable, very personable, encouraging, hard working and so kind. She helped us navigate a confusing process when we spoke no Portuguese and helped get services turned on for us ahead of our arrival. She even scouted the neighborhood a little to make sure it would work for our beloved dog too! (She found Puddin a patch of grass about a block away which we absolutely needed.) She was so helpful and reassuring. We could not have moved here without our dear Diana and Savvy Cat Realty! Highly Recommended.

Diana in Caldas da Rainha has helped us through 2 home purchases and one apartment rental. The first condo was never completed and we had to navigate the court system. She found us a lovely apartment. A full year later we bought another unfinished condo which is now our forever home. Diana and Savvy Cat have been instrumental in helping us settle into our new home and she is still a good friend.

Through Savvy Cat I was helped by the amazing Grace who not only changed the direction of my search but was also immediatly reactive after I found the appropriate house on idealista. My search was very specific.

The additional services (utilities, getting the tax number, the lawyer who reviews the contract) makes the procces feel very smooth.

Once everything got rolling I was very satisfied with the service.

Savvy Cat Realty. We literally could not have done it without them--not with our sanity intact. The process of moving my father to Portugal for his retirement has been long, laborious, and filled with pitfalls and brutal surprises. On top of the usual issues with moving country, we faced countless hurdles trying to get him his visa and residency permit. Legal changes caught us off guard many times and pulled several rugs out from under us.

Through it all, Savvy Cat kept us going on the accommodation side of things. They facilitated my father's rental, utilities, and eventually helped us find him his own apartment, handling every detail of the process and even helping occasionally (when we really needed them) outside of the arena of their responsibilities.

Our agent was Marco, a man of infinite patience and a genuinely kind and compassionate spirit. He was always there to assist with questions and problems, guiding us through an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar language. He helped out with everything from finding places for my father to rent/buy, to driving him to viewings, to connecting me with a mortgage broker, to helping my Dad pay his water bill when he wasn't sure how to do it. I am not exaggerating when I say we simply could not have done this without him. Somewhere along the line, I'd have given up the struggle. Savvy Cat's support and efforts brought us through safely to the other side, and I will always be grateful to them for their professional work, their accessibility and attention to detail, and their customer-focused business philosophy. Thank you so so so so much!!

Savvy Cat Realty, especially Graciosa, was incredible when I moved to Portugal from Cyprus. They found apartments, checked everything carefully, gave honest opinions, and supported me through the whole relocation process. Always professional, present, and truly helpful. I highly recommend them.

Savvy Cat is very good at what they do. We reached out in Feb 2025 for information to move by 2027, but by March 2026 we're here in Portugal, and we are very grateful to say the least.

By March we had a Portuguese Lawyer to assist with agencies, legalities, and necessary documents. By April we had a Portuguese Bank Account. By Sept my spouse was now retired so we began the Visa application and with necessary prerequisites met, Savvy Cat looked into and coordinated the apartment we wanted. We had a signed Lease Agreement by the end of September.

At this point, we were just waiting to go to our October VISA appointment (Visa applications are historically high). 5 Months after our appointment, we had our Visas. End to end, 15 months from initial contact to being here.

The Savvy Cat company assigned us a direct representative (Marco) and he would zoom/WhatsApp as often as necessary. An absolute professional. There was never a time when we didn't know or understand what needed to be done. He coordinated our meeting with the Apartment manager, and together they showed us the place room by room via videocall showing and describing every aspect of the apartment. We digitally signed the lease agreement, and with a secure signed lease, we now met that particular criterion of obtaining a Visa- which is you must already have a residence contract.

When we physically arrived here, Marco was at the Apartment with keys in hand. The Apartment looked exactly like the WhatsApp walkthrough of every room. He showed us how to access the garage, use the remotes, and show the features of the place.

We are off and running, and it would have been very difficult to DIY opening Portuguese bank accounts, getting Portuguese translated legal documents, contracts signed, etc. on our own without this agency to assist.

Since a condition of the Visa requirement, you must have a lease in your name, (which means you will be paying rent before you get here). you need to avoid the horror story and avoid shady deals. Savvy Cat will vett/screen the rentals or home so you can have peace of mind. Getting our internet, phone, utilities, NIF (Tax identification number) Address, and Visa process has made it very easy to conduct business and hit the ground running.

If you are even considering Portugal, the very first thing you should do is reach out to Savvy Cat Realty. With such a catchy name, how can you go wrong?

Hiring Savvy Cat was the best thing I did when I thought about moving to Lisbon. Graciosa has helped me with everything; walking around Lisbon to show me the towns, setting up my utilities (she actually arranged this with a great man, Fernando), helping me understand the Portuguese system better (like where to go shopping, of course), and finding a lovely apartment in a nice area of Lisbon. If you're reading this review, do yourself a favor and hire Savvy Cat to facilitate your move. I can guarantee with 99.99% certainty that you won't regret it!

I moved to Portugal in September 2025 and couldn't have done it without Savvy Cat. I used their services twice in the same year and couldn't have been happier with the results. All my sincere thanks to Diana who was amazing throughout the entire process! She was very communicative, answered all of our questions, and found us the apartment we wanted in the location we desired. She was professional and friendly- recommend Savvy Cat 100%!

João and Savvy cat were absolutely amazing during our relocation journey. João was patient with our requests and acted on open apartments immediately. João guided us through the entire process from locating an apartment to the viewings. When it was time to sign the lease that we had all agreed upon unfortunately a family emergency prevented us from moving. However that had nothing to do with João/savvy cats work or process. Savvy Cat was also extremely helpful with all our visa and legal questions/paperwork. We would highly recommend them for all your Portugal relocation needs. 10/10

We researched a number of real estate companies that specifically cater to the needs of Expats moving to Portugal. We attended a local meet up hosted by Savvy Cat and met the owner Ana, and Diana who works in the Silver Coast area. I was impressed with Diana’s knowledge and professionalism, and after detailed analysis of few companies offering similar services, I decided to work with Savvy Cat.

Diana is extremely knowledgeable about the area that we were looking in, and walked us through the entire process from planning and budgeting for taxes, purchasing, renovations and moving in. She listens to her clients carefully. She is thoughtful and diligent about providing detailed information, making sure all our questions were answered about a property before taking the plunge and making an offer.

Diana also helped us get quotes from reliable contractors for our renovations, and helped us get utilities set up in our new home.

We are extremely happy and grateful that we had the opportunity to work with Diana to buy our new home.

Savvy Cat was exceptionally helpful throughout the whole process of purchasing a home. Our agent, Graciosa, went above and beyond, not only to help us find a home, but also in helping us set up our life in Portugal. We could immediately tell that Graciosa and the rest of the Savvy Cat associates genuinely cared about our success and comfort throughout the whole process. Graciosa's help saved us untold amounts of time and stress, and it was the best use of money spent on anything since our relocation. Aside from money, we feel like we gained a friend and mentor through the process as well.

Super highly recommend working with Savvy Cat! My husband and I are now living in an apartment in our first choice neighborhood in Porto priced at about 65% of our (very realistic) budget. When we first began investigating moving here, we knew we wanted expert guidance since we heard there could be a lot of nuances/considerations when moving to Portugal. Kalie at Expats Everywhere recommended Savvy Cat when it came time to find an apartment. We had an amazing experience starting with our first outreach for information; Catia was very friendly and responsive. We were unsure which of the rental packages would best suit our needs so she put us in touch with João who answered all of our questions. We ended up opting for the Platinum Package which, in hindsight, was 100% the right choice for us. We were so lucky to get Marco as our primary contact. The main highlights: 1) Marco carefully listens and knows the area well 2) he was always prompt, professional, and friendly in all of his communications 3) he sent us apartment listings that were always in our price range, met most or all of our requirements, but still pushed us to consider outside of our top neighborhood 4) he took care of EVERYTHING when it came to setting up a bank account and getting our utilities activated so that everything was turn-key when we moved in. We also worked with Hugo, who reviewed our visa application and answered all of our questions that required attorney expertise. Overall, we feel extremely grateful to Savvy Cat and would recommend them to anyone interested in moving to Portugal.

I had the pleasure of working with Savvy Cat Realty for the second time, my first time was when I moved to Portugal two years ago. Despite being new to this country and not knowing anyone, they made me feel less alone throughout the process. Recently they helped me find my new apartment. Everything went smoothly and I’m deeply grateful for the support Graciosa has provided. She’s a wonderful kind human being. With her assistance, I found the absolute best apartment. This company genuinely want to the best for their clients.

I also want to thank Catia, as well as Diana who’ve helped me in my rental search two years ago. The whole team is simply amazing.

I highly recommend Savvy Cat Realty!

My wife and I just moved to the Porto, Portugal area from the United States. Finding a long-term rental for our visa application on our own was a seemingly impossible task because of the hot rental market here, the distance and time difference, and the language barrier. Our friends Josh and Kalie at Expats Everywhere recommended Savvy Cat, and we are so glad we took that recommendation. Teresa was awesome every step of the way. She found us a fantastic apartment in our budget very quickly. She walked through the apartment for us and sent video as we were not able to make a trip over. She was incredibly responsive to texts and answered all our questions with patience. Savvy Cat reviewed the lease for us and explained its provisions clearly, and Teresa acted as liaison for us with all the utility companies (including going to our apartment in a suburb of Porto multiple times), so when we arrived we already had our phone, Internet, water, gas, and electric connected. Teresa truly went above and beyond and exceeded our expectations. While we accomplished many of the tasks associated with the visa and moving process on our own, "outsourcing" the procurement of a long-term lease and getting the utilities set up was one of the best decisions we could have made. It was definitely money well spent, an excellent value for the services provided. Highly recommend.

Teresa Athayde is a professional person who provided excellent customer service in securing our rental unit, follow up utilities and she went above and beyond for us to help us as we, who are two expats, ran into a few unexpected issues. Teresa was there to contact utility companies, hired a cleaning service, had a mattress hauled out, and these things cost us a reasonable and fair price. One of our passports got lost in the airport along with some very important additional documents and thanks to her knowledge and intervention, they were returned in a very short period of time. She knew exactly what to do. Even though we haven't known her long, she has shown a level of caring that is rare in the world today. We cannot speak highly enough of her customer service, caring ways and professionalism. If you are lucky enough to have her as your representative, you will be lucky indeed. Savvy Cat Realty had not only hired caring professionals, they have TRAINED them to know how to provide a level of customer service that is exceptional. We are so pleased and to be honest, relieved, that we had Teresa Athayde as our representative.

After unsuccessfully looking for an apartment to rent in Lisbon area with multiple agents, I decided to give Savvy Cat a go and it was one of the best decisions I made since I moved to Portugal. After purchasing the pack, Savvy Cat assigned me Teresa to help find me the apartment I was looking for and she did exactly that in a matter of few days when all other agencies found it difficult. Teresa looked at every option out there including less popular private posts to help me find my new place to live. I really appreciate her effort.

João listened carefully to our wish list and used his expertise in the Algarve to narrow our search, saving us time and frustration. He also provided legal feedback on the proposed lease, creating a better document.

Yes, we obtained our D7 visas and are happily settling in Portugal.

The efficiency of communication with João! Professional and accurate!

João was very hard-working, focused and a great communicator. He got results very quickly!

I immediately started the D7 visa process and wanted to get my Visa and move to Portugal as soon as possible. However, although I gathered all required paperwork quickly, I was not able to find a 1-year lease in the Algarve! After 4 months I found nothing! This was holding up the Visa process.

I heard about Savvy Cat Realty and contacted them. I met João and talked to him at length about what I was looking for. He was very thorough and responsive. I sent him a photo of a flat I absolutely loved, but it was advertised for holiday rental only. João went the extra mile. He contacted the owner anyway, and voila! I was able to rent the flat for one year. I had looked for 4 months, and João found me a flat in 2 weeks. Of course he also took care of preparing and getting the lease signed.

I have been in my beautiful flat in Armação de Pêra for almost 4 months, and am very happy here. João and Savvy Cat Realty get the job done! Thank you.

Thank you, SavvyCat! João and Andreia were quick to respond to our many questions with patience, kindness, knowledge, and professionalism. We relied on them to help us secure a 12-month rental in The Algarve and to hold our hands navigating the lease; they were ALWAYS there for us with good advice, humor, and resources.

Everything was spot on. 5-star experience! Looking forward to working with SavvyCat on the next Portugal chapter.

I highly recommend Savvy Cat Realty and specifically, Teresa who worked directly with us. Teresa was very helpful in locating an apartment for us in Porto as we currently live in the states. Starting with finding an apartment to providing a lease in English. Savvy Cat & Teresa know about the challenges that folks moving to Portugal from out of the country face, and they were very well prepared to help us manage those challenges. Teresa is very kind and we look forward to continuing to work with her when we finally arrive in our new country.

We wanted to let you know how much we enjoy working with Marco! He has made our move to Portugal so much easier than we had experienced in other countries. He is always friendly, upbeat, and available. He helped us get settled in our temporary rental this past September in Porto , helped us find a condo to purchase in Praia Granja, and helped us in the move to and set up in our new condo.

He is the best!

I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed working with Graciosa so far! She has been so kind, encouraging, and responsive. We have just gotten started, but I can tell how hard she is working and how much care she puts into everything she does. I’m so happy it worked out for us to work with her, and I wanted to let Savvy Cat know!

Thank you!

We worked with Savvy Cat Realty to find an apartment and what a great experience! Both Ana and Teresa were great. They offer several buying and renting packages that fit everyone’s housing needs and they really support you as a buyer and/or renter. We highly recommend them and will use them again in the future. Muito Obrigada Savvy Cat Realty!

We ended up with an amazing home and João was so patient and helpful with advice on looking and buying here, thru the process. We ended up being one of three offers but our Savvy Cat attorney got the paperwork done first. They also advised how to handle a missing pool permit and made the seller deal with the concelho to get the paperwork so that we wouldn't be fined later. And he helped us afterwards finding a trustworthy contractor do do a roofing and fencing project we couldn't do ourselves. João comes highly recommended and is a life long friend and we refer to him as our Portugues son :). We highly recommend them. They helped us secure our rental for our D7 visa while we were in the states too.

We can confirm that it’s very comfortable to do business with your company. Your agents are real professionals and provide us with the best advices. They actively think along and are very customer-friendly. Indeed, Cátia as well as João always respond very quickly and accurately to every question asked. It feels really trustworthy to have your and your agents’ expertise “on the other side”. We’re glad we hired Savvycatrealty and we can recommend your company to anyone considering buying property in Portugal. Thanks for being a great representative!

We are writing this email to express our appreciation and utmost satisfaction with working with your real estate agent João (from the Algarve). He was very professional and truly dependable. Despite the challenges of working remotely, João worked patiently with us making sure that he understood our needs and kept our best interest in mind. He did not waste time showing properties that did not meet our requirements. He was also very responsive to our questions, often responding immediately to our late night emails and sometimes even weekends. To expedite communication, he also accommodated our request to meet with him via Skype. He showed great attention to our timeline enabling our rental transaction to get done in time.

We are very happy to inform you that after complying, which included our apartment lease agreement, and submitting our D7 applications to the Portuguese Embassy in Washington DC, we have received our residency visas, and we are now scheduled to fly to Portugal at the end of this month.

Savvy Cat Realty has been part of this exciting journey, and we are truly grateful for your assistance. We hope that we can continue our good relationship and who knows, buy a home with your assistance. Of course, we will seek your professional guidance when the day comes to purchase our home in Portugal.

Savvy Cat Realty is terrific. João was very responsive, thorough, and patient with all of our questions, and instrumental in helping us rent an apartment. Would recommend Savvy Cat to anyone in the market.

We can not be happier with Savvy Cat. Not only is the staff incredibly helpful, João Branquinho was phenominally gifted in helping us secure an apartment in the Algarve. His insight into the area and ability to work with the utility companies was more than helpful. Also nice is having an attorney to not only support the renting contract but also the visa process. Thank you, Savvy Cat.

Don't spend any time thinking about whether to hire Savvy Cat or not, JUST DO IT! My husband and I have been so incredibly happy with the service we've received. Our specialist João, found us the perfect property in the Algarve. Going the extra mile (or kilometer as it were) doesn't even begin to say how very dedicated Savvy Cat is to their clients. João was able to dig up properties that weren't even listed on the typical online places and was very knowledgeable about the different towns and areas, services and the kinds of things that we were interested in for our ideal retirement life. Very promptly replying to all of our contacts, always meeting us in person and dedicating so much time to us, showing us around to some of the most interesting local sites, we felt very special! (Even though we know we were not his only client.) Once the property was purchased and closed, Savvy Cat assisted in getting all the services set up including internet, water electricity, everything!

Until we are able to relocate Savvy Cat is also handling the rental of our place as well. They have made arrangements for some of the upkeep and being the intermediary with our renter.

I cannot give them a higher recommendation. Savvy Cat has made the process so very smooth and really have made our Portuguese dreams come true!

We decided to move to Portugal in 2022 and got in contact with Savvy Cat to look at a few areas and houses to get started. Met with João in the Algarve at the end of October 2022 and did a tour of a few towns and properties. We ended up buying much quicker and Savvy Cat helped us in getting a builder to get a number of jobs done over the next 18 months. We finally moved in August 2024 and couldn't be happier. Many thanks to João and Savvy Cat for their help and advice over the nearly 2 years. Highly recommend them for anyone out of country looking to find the right place in Portugal for themselves.

I have been dealing with João Branquinho to help me rent a property in the Algarve to satisfy the immigration requirements. My spouse is having problems obtaining one of the documents required and it has delayed our move. João has been extremely helpful and supportive and he has given us some peace of mind. We couldn’t be any happier with his work, help, and understanding of our process. Also, I have been watching the videos send out weekly by Ana and the videos have been very enlightening. I highly recommend Savvy Cat Realty.

My husband and I needed to find an apartment in Porto for ourselves and our two schnauzers. SavvyCat was recommended to us by some friends who had successfully used them in the Algarve. We were paired up with Theresa, who grew up in Porto, and her advice was excellent. We are SO glad that we listened to her about Boavista and her opinions about some of the properties she visited for us. We love living in Boavista instead of the more touristy areas of Porto, and feel like Theresa ensured we could have a more authentic experience here in Porto. It's also heartwarming to run into Theresa around the neighborhood - it makes us feel like we are already locals after only being here for just over a month. Thanks, Theresa & Savvy Cat!

We’ve had a fantastic experience working with Marco and Savvy Cat Realty. From our very first contact with Savvy Cat, communication has been easy and effective. Emails and text messages were answered in a timely manner, and Marco checked in regularly to give us updates on our rental property hunt.

We’re really happy we chose to work with Savvy Cat to find our rental property. From our point of view, the whole process was straightforward and painless. Added bonuses included having Marco here driving the streets and keeping an eye out for properties that hadn’t been listed online, having Savvy Cat’s lawyer check the rental contract before we signed anything and having Marco’s help to set up our utilities and show us around town when we arrived!

We had seen great reviews for Savvy Cat before requesting their services, but we didn’t expect a tour of the town on arrival. That was a wonderful and thoughtful surprise. Thank you Marco for taking such great care of us. You and the Savvy Cat team have made our first few weeks in Portugal especially welcoming and easy!

Our experience has been, and continues to be excellent with Savvy Cat. Our main contact João is wonderful, knowledgeable and goes above and beyond continually! We’ve learned so much about where we are going to live, the ins and outs of Portugal and he provides regular updates on our new home construction. I honestly can’t recommend them enough if you’re thinking of moving to Portugal to either visit or move. The entire staff is beyond gracious. In fact we had an incident in Lisbon and I needed a new passport quickly. Gracie from SC (who we’d never met) went to the Consular Office to get it for me and met up with us on a Sunday afternoon to hand it over. That’s the kind of service you can expect from SC.

Teresa is a high quality team member of Savvy Cat. She was expert in coordinating our move in Porto. I'm looking forward to her expertise in our next move as we complete building our primary residence.

The entire process was professional, yet very personal. We were able to rent the apartment we were looking for. Thank you to Teresa and SCR! We highly recommend them.