Building land plot for sale to build a villa / house / riverside cottage

Adjacent to the villa / quinta (the property featured on this site), the current owners have separated 3,200 sqm of land for sale onto which to build one or perhaps two houses. The price of this land is €90,000. The current, newly approved zoning allows for one good sized family house or possibly two semi detatched homes to built on this land, with outbuildings and of course a pool as an option. The land tax for building land is 6.5% plus 0.8% stamp duty.

As well as being in one of the very best locations locally onto which to build one large or two smaller quality homes, the land plot would also make an excellent location for a house and tourism rental cabins (gites) or a tourism business (fishing shop, restaurant, etc.) as you will learn below.

The above map is the official, newly approved "PDM" (Plano Director Municipal) for the area; the land for sale has been marked by us with a large white "L". The peach coloured zone around the village of Reiriz is land suitable / zoned for limited construction (restrictions such as height and density do exist). The green area means construction is generally prohibited (some exceptions do exist such as being able to extend a building for a number of meters from the peach zone into the green zone). The large red area directly adjacent to the land plot is for the planned holiday / tourism campground; although this will occur it is questionable whether the local camara / council can afford to buy all of the land it has earmarked. The woodland next to the land plot would however still be protected even if it became council owned; the actual camp ground being further west and served by the road adjacent the light blue zone.

The red zone yet still further west is the existing camara owned recreation zone with picnic area, river walks, playgrounds and outdoor gym. The creation of the 2nd recreational area with camp ground, while not significantly affecting the land plot's tranquility, would provide both an opportunity for a tourism related business and create a pathway through stunning riverside woodland and countryside all the way to Monção town centre.

The land plot is in a very quiet location, next to protected woodland to the West, the quinta grounds to the North, a really friendly elderly Portuguese couple to the East and farm land to the south; although to be candid the immediately adjacent farmland is likely to be put up for sale at some stage which likely would mean new houses and neighbours (not a bad thing). Access is via a local, winding country lane, but there are moves to improve this shortly. The land would be ideal for a south facing family home with swimming pool and spacious grounds, or perhaps for small scale multiple housing.

Although this is a quiet spot, the area and especially just across the river in Spain is thriving despite the down turn in other (tourism related) areas of Spain and also the UK. This is because an area on the other side of the border / river is being developed as a low rise "dry port" extension to Vigo. As a result there is a housing boom which has only just started on both sides of the river.

Building a house

The approximate architect house design / drawing cost and council filing charges to get a building permit are around 2,500 Euros (plus council fees); you need to submit actual architect plans. The approximate total build cost for a conventional 4 bedroom home is around €95,000 including internal / external doors and finished (tiled, sanitary ware) bathrooms / kitchen (excluding any fitted units). An approximate build cost for a 2 storey villa similar to the one below (but without the granite) is around €110,000. A builder would contract to a certain guaranteed build cost with staged payments to cover work done.

The market value of a villa like this with grounds at this location would be over 300,000 Euros and rising, so a buyer can expect to save themselves at least 100,000 Euros by "doing it themselves". If it were not for the fact the quinta owners were considering moving (hence the reason for selling the land), the above house is exactly what they would build in order to sell at a profit. We would be prepared to help a buyer source a good architect and builder (who would do the project management aspect as well) and liaise between the buyer and builder to a reasonable extent.

Other possibilities for something a little and / or traditional like the following "shista" style fisherman's riverside cottage exist;

The beauty of buying land and having your own house built is that you get exactly what your dream of and a brand new home; the other is the money you save. It takes under a year from start to finish to build a house and generally you will appoint a single builder (the vendors can recommend an excellent one) who will contract to a fixed cost and manage the project for you. Typically you pay in 3 or 4 stages in arrears (maybe with materials in advance) and then pay when you are happy with each stage.

Another local style of modern family home villa style;

Land for sale (details)

3,200 sqm with public road access, mains electricity, mains water and terrestrial telephone service available. Includes a 1 meter high granite wall (faces south next to the land's access road and farmland) and large double access gates. A buyer could either increase the height of this wall with extra granite blocks, plant a screen alongside it, mount a metal screen on top (many locals like this option), or even put supports for vines on the wall on which to grow grapes (a perfect location for grapes). To the west there is protected (no-one can build there) woodland which is separated from the building plot by a 2 meter high fence. To the north is a perimeter fence (with the quinta) and Italian Cypress screen; this fence is actually owned by the quinta but they do not mind if any buyer for this building plot does not erect their own second wall / fence. To the east are the aforementioned friendly neighbours (it is their sheep you can see in the pictures).

Any interested party should be aware the Cypress trees the quinta owners have planted the other side of the northerly fence will grow to around 20 meters in height. This will obscure a lot of view but they will also protect this plot of land from soil erosion and provide a very, very useful windbreak from the cold northerly and north easterly winds you can get in the winter. Although it often reaches 40 degrees Celsius here in the height of summer, it can get down to -3 degrees Celsius in early January with strong winds making it feel bitter (this is rare). The Cypress trees will therefore not just protect the buyer's privacy from the quinta, but also their house from those cold winds!

A 5 minute walk away is the Monção football stadium to the south. A 3 minute walk away to the north are public footpath steps down to one of the very best fishing spots on the River Minho. Monção town center is a 5 minute drive from here. Although the land is very well located for immediate access to a wide range of facilities and the River Minho, the land plot is exceptionally tranquil. For details on the area and local facilities, please refer to the main villa / quinta pages.