There is so much property available in the Algarve, that it can seem pretty overwhelming at times. You can see by the statistics on my website, that there are over 500 estate agents all competing to sell you something, and that is only the licenced ones!

Some of these agents are better at using the internet than others, but this doesn't necessarily mean that they have better properties.

This is the first thing to recognise - exclusivity is very rare - the same property can be on with many agents, and often with different asking prices. (There are many reasons for this - for instance, sometimes the price is reduced and the agent is not informed). This means when you do eventually find your dream Villa your starting point for negotiation can be up to 20% more - (yes I see these kind of fluctuations regularly) - just because you chose the wrong agent!

This means that on a €500000 house, there could be a €100000 difference, so it really pays to do your research, and the easiest way to that is to use the internet.

The following sections detail how to go about an effective search for property in the Algarve.

• Finding Algarve property using estate agents websites

  The problem with using search engines is that it becomes a bit of an art to be able to sift through the billions of possible results to get the property you want. And even if you get the right search result, the property could have already been sold, as search engines take "snapshots" of websites that are constantly changing with new and sold properties.

  A more methodical approach is to find estate agents websites and search each individual agents property portfolio.
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• Help! Their website is in Portuguese

  Do not worry, a lot of agents recognise that international buyers do not necessarily speak the lingo, and their websites will have an option to change the language to English.

  Quite often there is a British flag somewhere on the page which you can click on to change the language.

• International Property Portal Sites

  Property portal sites are websites that display property listings from many different agents. Type in "International Property" in the google search box and click on the first link that comes up, and you will see what I mean.
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• Portugal Property using Franchise Agents

  There are quite a large number of estate agents in the Algarve running under a franchise. The advantage about this, is that the franchise usually has just one large website that all agents use. It can help in your property search.

  Here is a link I have provided listing some of the more common franchise agents: Algarve Franchise Estate Agents

• Understanding that not all properties are advertised on websites

  Because exclusivity is rare amongst estate agents, it is important to realise that agents only put a certain proportion of their properties on their own websites for public view.

  That is, a website will not reflect the complete range of an agents portfolio.

  Buying a property is a big purchase, and ultimately it is best to visit the agent in person. - Some agents even organise viewing packages, whereby the flights and accomodation are arranged for you!

• Using search engines to find Portugal property

  A search engine is a website that you can use, to type in a a phrase and get a list of other websites that pertain to your "searched" phrase. Search engines list the results usually in order of relevance and importance to your particular query, but the way they sort out what is relevant and what is important differs from search engine to search engine. So the first piece of advice is - Do not limit your searches to just one search engine as the results will often differ.

  Using search engines such as Google or Yahoo to search for specific property can be a bit frustrating as it is very easy not be specific enough, and just get too much information to make any sense.

  Have you noticed the adverts on the right and bottom of AlgarveAgents.com?

  These are called google "adwords". Don't be afraid of them, they are just adverts people have paid to be there, and they can sometimes be more relevant than the terms you searched with. The reason why people pay for these adverts is that it is extremely difficult for a website to get within the first 2 pages of a google search. - (statistically people only look at the first 2 pages when they use search engines).

  Adwords are context sensitive, which means they only show advertisments that are relevant to the website you are looking at.

  
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