I am a Brit who lives and works in NE Brazil, with a permanent visa, and I own property here.
I have read the thread and a couple of questions come to me:
1/ Why has no one mentioned obtaining a CPF card? It is impossible to legally buy property here without one.
2/ I trust all your contracts are in Portuguese and officially notarised here in Brazil otherwise they are not worth a cent under Brazil law. Naturally you have to be present if you have not given a power of attorney.
3/ The Brazilian Real, (by the way the plural is Reais - it concerns me that some investors appear not to have even researched the currency!), IS traded internationally, you CAN pay from the UK in Reais, and your funds MUST go through the Brazil central bank if you ever want to get your money out. Furthermore you can only buy property in Brazil in Reais. Only European developers here deal in Euros - probably because you CANNOT have a bank account here if you are not resident.
4/ Please do not forget that Brazil is not part of the EU, and the laws and practices are distinctly different. What you might expect in Europe from a developer has no relevance here, and there are numerous examples of foreigners being ripped off by unscrupulous foreign estate agents and developers who sell at inflated prices. If you want a good deal buy through a Brazilian licensed broker from a Brazilian.
5/ I hope that this has not put you all off because it is a great place to invest, but do it wisely...it is still possible here, and quite acceptable, to escape a speeding ticket by buying the policman his lunch!
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