Weather: Sunny and 17C (63F) at 11am in Carvoeiro
Lovely day with the temperature about where I like it. The air is dry and the temperature will probably hit 20C by afternoon. As March approaches the daytime temperature will increase but the air stays dry and it is very comfortable for walking or flopping.
We went for a swim this morning. While in the pool Mary met a lady from France who owns a unit here at Monte Santo (see rentals below). She had forgotten that this weekend (actually Feb. 18--22) is a school holiday and of course it is 'carnival' time. In spite of the holiday the pool only had about 10 people in it and given that it is a 50'x30' pool there is lots of room. Some are just parents enjoying time with their little kids. Nice actually.
How do Rentals and Ownership work?
I believe that most Canadians and Americans believe that they are renting an apartment, etc. from a huge euro corporation. In fact most of the apartments are actually owned by individuals who invest in new properties or buy out an existing owner. The properties are in turn run by property companies that rent the units out as holiday properties for we poorer folk who come for a week, month or whatever. The property owner pays a yearly fee to the property company and the apartment owner gets a slice of the pie from the rent. Of course some people own a unit and live here all year and simply pay their fee.
The whole point of this system is to give you eventual total ownership of your unit although you will still pay an annual fee that goes towards maintenance of your property. Some property companies do total maintenance while others only maintain the exterior. We have found that resorts where the companies take total responsibility for maintenance are far better than resorts where the owner maintains (or doesn't) the inside.
2 comments:
Just testing to see if this option still works.
Sophie is going swimming today too, but definitely won’t have the ambiance of swimming outdoors in Portugal!!
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