You inherited a house you have never lived in
The deeds are with a cousin, the keys are with a neighbour, and nobody has been inside in years. You would like to know where you stand before you decide anything.
Santa Maria, Azores
The house your family left in Santa Maria. What is it worth today?
If you inherited property on the island and you are not sure what to do with it, the useful first step is finding out what it is actually worth. I live here, I sell here, and I will tell you in plain English, without you having to get on a plane.
Free, with no obligation to sell. If the answer is to keep the house, I will tell you that too.
Rather talk first? Message me on WhatsApp or call +351 911 158 880.
2012
Selling property in the Azores since then
100% Club
RE/MAX award, every year since 2020
Gold
RE/MAX Gold Award in 2024
English
Every call, email and document
Who this is for
You are probably in one of these three situations
Every week I talk to families in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California and Ontario who own a piece of Santa Maria and have no idea what to do with it. It usually looks like this.
There are four owners in four different cities
One of you wants to sell, one wants to hold on to it, and the conversation goes nowhere because nobody knows what the house is actually worth to begin with.
The house has been closed for years
The bills keep arriving, the roof keeps getting older, and flying over to sort it out is a week of holiday you would rather spend with your family.
What you get
A straight answer, in writing, in English
This is not an online estimate produced by a calculator that has never seen the island. I go to the property myself.
- A realistic price range for today's market, based on what has actually been selling on Santa Maria rather than on what the neighbours say the house is worth.
- Photographs and a short video of the property as it stands today, so you can finally see the condition of it with your own eyes.
- An honest read on what selling would involve, including what is worth fixing first and, more often than people expect, what is not worth touching at all.
- A conversation at a time that suits you, not me. I am four hours ahead of New York and Toronto, and I am used to working around that.
How it works
Three steps, and none of them cost you anything
You tell me about the house
The parish and a rough location are enough to start. If you have documents, good, and if you do not, that is normal and we work with what there is.
I go and see it
I visit the property, photograph it, film a short walkthrough and write down the condition as it really is, not as it would look in an advert.
We talk it through
A call or a video call, in English, and you get the valuation in writing. After that you decide what happens next, and deciding to do nothing for now is a perfectly good outcome.
José Lima
RE/MAX 4 You Ilha do Sol
Rua Dr. Luís Bettencourt 43, Vila do Porto, Santa Maria
Who you would be dealing with
Someone on the island, not a call centre on the mainland
I have been selling property in the Azores since 2012 and Santa Maria is where I work every day. A good part of what I sell starts exactly like this, with a family abroad that owns something here and needs someone on the ground they can trust to go and look at it.
I will give you the number I believe in, even when it is lower than the one you were hoping for. That is the only way this is worth anything to you.
- In real estate since 2012
- RE/MAX 100% Club since 2020
- RE/MAX Gold Award 2024
- Santa Maria, São Miguel, Terceira and Pico
Homes that have changed hands
Some of the houses I have sold
Nearly all of them on Santa Maria, with the odd one on another island. Some had been shut up for years, others were ready to move into, and in most of them the owners lived abroad and handled everything from a distance.
Sold
House
Santo Espírito, Santa Maria
Sold
House
Pico Island, Azores
Sold
House
Malbusca, Santa Maria
Sold
House
Fonte do Jordão, Santa Maria
Sold
Urban plot
Vila do Porto, Santa Maria
If your family's house looks anything like these, the next step is the same one, finding out what it is worth today. Ask for the free valuation.
Before you write to me
The questions I get every week
I am not sure I want to sell. Is that a problem?
Not at all, and most people who write to me are exactly at that point. A valuation is not a listing agreement and it does not commit you to anything. You end up with a number, which is what you need in order to have the conversation with the rest of the family.
The house is still in my grandparents' name.
That is the case with almost every inherited property on the island, so it does not surprise me and it does not stop us. It has no effect on finding out what the house is worth, and when the time comes I can point you to the people who deal with that paperwork properly.
My Portuguese is not good. Some of us do not speak it at all.
That is the reason this page exists. Emails, calls, documents and explanations all in English, for as long as you need them to be.
Do I have to fly over?
Not for this. I go to the property, you see it through the photos and the video, and we talk from wherever you are.
What if it is land and not a house?
Same thing. I sell land on the island fairly regularly, some of it urban plots you can build on, some of it pasture or scrub that has been sitting there for decades. What changes is the way the value is worked out, not the fact that I go and look at it and tell you what it is worth.
What does the valuation cost?
Nothing. I do this because a fair share of these conversations turn into a sale months or years later, and the ones that never do have still been worth my time.
One step, and it costs nothing
Find out what the house is worth
You end up with a number and a clear picture of the property as it stands today. What you do with that is entirely up to you, and doing nothing for now is a perfectly good answer.
- WhatsApp+351 911 158 880
- Emailjelima@remax.pt
- Where I amSanta Maria, Azores, four hours ahead of New York