Property Development or Tourism Accommodations Use

This property could be kept as it is right now as a quality private residence; the existing owners poured money into the villa and grounds in 2004 / 2005 and have lovingly maintained it in excellent condition, so it is perfect to enjoy selfishly. Or it could be developed in a number of ways as below. Combined with excellent nearby employment and business opportunities, the right owners could earn a very healthy living indeed here. The new council operated camp grounds being sited just out of view and around the corner past the woodland making this a perfect location for some more upmarket accommodations.

Tourist Accommodations Business Use: Since 2008 it is now very simple, quick, inexpensive and easy to obtain a tourist accommodations license in Portugal (see: Alojamento Local). In fact, you can advertise and take in paying guests the moment you file your application at the local town hall.

Using the upper floor as a Bed & Breakfast
The top floor of this property lends itself perfectly for upscale holiday "Bed & Breakfast" lets. With 2 double bedrooms and a single / twin bedroom (currently used as an office), a good sized shower bathroom, lounge and area for dining / breakfast, its own access door, together with possibly the best riverfront and mountain views in Europe, it would be easy to charge tourist families in excess of €700 Euros per week based on other accommodations providers in the area (happy to provide links to relevant web sites upon request, so you can verify this). Nobody else in the area offers such stunning views, direct river / watersports access, a quality pool and superb grounds.

Log cabins - Tourist accommodations business
As log cabins do not require the same permits as normal buildings, it should be possible to put up to 5 good sized log cabins in the main and upper grounds with plenty of space to spare. Also, if someone bought the additional adjacent 3200 sqm of land, 4 log cabins could well be placed there. In addition, if someone bought the adjacent woodland section the local council is not planning to compulsory purchase, it is likely permission would be granted to site perhaps 3 log cabins there too. The property itself also lends itself to easily converting the lower floor's very large TV lounge and dining room, outdoor dining area all with large adjacent kitchen, into a restaurant / dining area for guests. As the local council intend building a campsite nearby (details on Extra Building Land page), a very viable tourism / holiday business with around 12 log cabins could be built / operated here, still leaving the owners with a large amount of personal living space.

N.B. If you wanted to offer tourism accommodations but on a smaller scale, thus limiting the effect on your own enjoyment of this property and its grounds, there is a perfect spot for a large 2 bedroom log cabin on the upper grounds, next to woodland, views down to the river, yet screened off by a row of cypress trees from the main property itself.

Log cabin costs depend on whether you want to be involved in the erection / construction / decoration process or have someone come in and do everything for you. Normally priced in sqm, a small single bedroom log cabin would be around 25 sqm, a larger 2 bedroom log cabin around 60 sqm. There are many suppliers throughout Europe supplying the kits where you or a local builder could erect the cabins, or you could appoint a supplier to do everything for you. A Portuguese log cabin supplier offering self-assembly through to full turn key finished installations is Paradise in Portugal (go to bottom of their page for holiday cabin prices). Based on other holiday cabin lets nearby, a 2 bedroom cabin should rent out for around €600 Euros per week, while a 1 bedroom cabin should realize around €450 Euros per week.

If you would like to build something a little more solid, there is an excellent company CircaMateria just inside Spain.

Using the lower floor as a restaurant, bar and guest area
The entire lower floor lends itself for use as a guest restaurant and TV lounge, to offer facilities above and beyond B&B / self-catering log cabins. The large dining area / bar area, outdoor dining area and lounge are served by the main kitchen and utility rooms of this property. Owners could comfortably live on the middle floor alone which has its own smaller kitchen and extensive, very high quality living quarters. The lower floor could easily be separated off from the middle floor with a door if required.

Additional properties in the grounds (development or tourism)
Because the main 9000 square meters of the grounds is Urbano title, it is feasible that one or two houses could be built here. In fact, the current owners toyed with the idea of building an additional 3 bedroom detached house in what is now the vineyard. Their thoughts were to offer a second property either as a holiday let or long term rental (there is a very healthy house rental market in Moncao). If the new buyers took up the option of the Extra Building Land, perhaps two small semi-detached houses could be built there for the local rental market without impacting the villa and main grounds at all.

Free Marketing Assistance
The present owner of this property is a semi-retired Internet marketing professional who, until recently, owned a successful villa resort with his wife on the island of Bali. They never used their / this property in Portugal for tourism only because they have a young family, had their operation in Bali to focus on, and then wanted to take a break (after many years) for a while. However, if someone buys this property on the basis of part use for tourism accommodations, he is prepared to make his help part of the sales agreement. Such as search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.) and user friendly web design and content (he will make you a good web site), Internet promotion and sound advice on how to get good quality travel agents and arrange synergetic industry partnerships. With his help you would be assured of having a prominent presence within a few weeks, rather than years.

Many sellers of existing licensed tourist accommodations try to kid buyers that it is difficult to get a tourism license; this is not true since the new law / decree in 2008 as now the process is automatic / instant. In fact, buying a property that has never operated as tourism accommodations before is a big benefit, as buyers only have to perform one due diligence check, on the property itself. Buying an existing tourism business requires two due diligence checks (one on the property, the other on the business); if you buy an existing business in Portugal, you become liable for any debts and other legal issues. So starting with a "clean slate" and "blank canvas" will likely yield a dream come true, rather than a possible nightmare.