International Buyers
Buy from anywhere. We are already here.
Full buy-side representation for buyers who cannot — or need not — be on the ground.
Most international buyers assume a property search in the Algarve or Sotogrande means repeated flights, lost weeks and decisions made under time pressure at the end of a short visit. It doesn’t have to. SotoAlgarve acts as your eyes, ears and judgement on the ground — from first search to legal completion — so you travel when it matters, or not at all.
Why American Buyers Work With Ashley
Where Ashley’s career began.
He knows what you expect
Ashley’s career began in real estate across the United States and the Caribbean — clear title, structured diligence, professional standards. He knows exactly what you expect, because he learned the business where you did.
He manages the differences
The European process differs from the American one in ways that surprise buyers — how offers bind, how diligence runs, who does what. Ashley knows exactly where the gaps are, and closes them before they cost you.
He explains it in plain English
No jargon, no “that’s just how it works here.” What is the same, what is not, and what it means for you — stated plainly at every stage.
What We Solve
Buying from 4,000 miles away
The viewing-trip trap
A five-day visit creates five days of pressure. Agents know when you fly home. Decisions get made because the trip is ending — not because the property is right.
Everything looks good in the listing
Photographs are marketing. From another continent you cannot smell the damp, hear the road, see what’s being built next door, or know that the “five minutes to the beach” is twenty.
Time zones, language, and a market you don’t know
Negotiating in a second language, across a six-hour time difference, against professionals who transact in this market every week: the information asymmetry alone costs remote buyers money.
The Answer
What “we do the legwork” actually means
Search & shortlist — without a flight
Ashley walks every candidate property personally, including off-market opportunities you would never see from abroad, and reports back with unedited video walkthroughs, honest commentary and a clear recommendation — including everything that’s wrong with each property.
Live, scheduled video viewings
Private video calls from inside each shortlisted property, scheduled around your time zone — morning on the U.S. East Coast is mid-afternoon here. You direct the camera: open that cupboard, show me the boundary, walk the road outside.
Independent due diligence, before you commit
Structural, legal and financial analysis coordinated on the ground with your appointed solicitor — completed and reported to you in plain English before you spend a cent on travel or commitment.
Negotiation & completion — with or without you present
Ashley leads all negotiation on your behalf. Completion can be executed remotely through a power of attorney granted to your own solicitor — a standard, well-established mechanism in both Portugal and Spain — meaning many clients never need to travel at all until they collect the keys.
Built for American Buyers
Straight answers to U.S. questions
- Currency & payment: guidance on FX strategy and introductions to specialist currency partners — on a purchase of this size, the exchange rate can matter more than the negotiation.
- Tax & structure: introductions to advisers experienced with U.S. persons buying in Portugal and Spain — cross-border considerations addressed before purchase, not discovered after.
- Residency & visas: honest, current guidance on what property ownership does and does not provide — rules in both countries have changed in recent years, and much online information is out of date.
- Process differences: no MLS, no buyer’s-agent culture, different roles for notaries and solicitors — Ashley translates the Iberian process into terms a U.S. buyer will recognise.
Step by Step
A remote search in practice
- Week 1 — a scheduled video consultation in your time zone; brief, budget and criteria agreed in writing.
- Weeks 2–5 — search and shortlist, including off-market; video walkthroughs and written assessments delivered as they happen.
- Shortlist — live video viewings; independent due diligence; a clear recommendation, given straight — whichever way it falls.
- Offer to completion — Ashley negotiates; your solicitor executes, with power of attorney if you choose not to travel.
- One optional trip — many clients visit once, to confirm the final choice. Some don’t visit until the property is theirs. Both are normal.
Worried about what can go wrong from 4,000 miles away? Ten problems, ten answers. Buying from abroad raises its own questions too — most are answered in the FAQs.
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