Ei! Migration Agency<\/a>, whose owner, Gilda Pereira, suggested they look at Set\u00fabal, a small city about an hour outside of Lisbon.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cSet\u00fabal wasn\u2019t on our radar, because we were thinking closer to Lisbon, but we decided to check it out,\u201d said Ms. Miller.<\/p>\n
The port city with about 120,000 residents has become increasingly popular among foreigners and Portuguese alike for its maritime culture and seafood, protected natural areas and comparatively affordable cost of living: A typical two-bedroom apartment in Set\u00fabal can cost around \u20ac300,000, compared with roughly \u20ac450,000 in Lisbon. The town is anchored by an old-world fish market, and its sandy beach is dotted with restaurants serving choco frito, or fried cuttlefish, the regional specialty. A reliable commuter rail line connects Set\u00fabal to Lisbon in under an hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Millers first visited in January of 2025. \u201cThere was no turning back,\u201d said Ms. Miller. \u201cWe loved the area, the waterfront, how walkable it was, its proximity to Lisbon and the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
On subsequent visits, they saw several apartments with Carla Carvalho, an agent with Ei!. After they returned to the United States, Ms. Carvalho continued to send video tours of new options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They sought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment within walking distance of a grocery store, cafes and a park. They wanted a well-maintained building and a unit that was \u201cas turnkey as possible,\u201d said Mr. Miller. A view would be great.<\/p>\n
Their budget topped-out at around \u20ac350,000 ($406,000) and they were preapproved for a loan by a Portuguese bank, a strong negotiating position.<\/p>\n
Among their options:<\/p>\n
No. 1Under Budget with a Nice View<\/p>\n
This two bedroom, one-and-a-half bath condo was closest to the center of town, about a five-minute walk. On the fifth floor of an eight-story building, it had a small balcony off one bedroom, offered an expansive view of Set\u00fabal and a glimpse of the ocean, and had parking for residents. But the galley kitchen was simple and uninspired, and the bathrooms were outdated and worn. <\/p>\n
The asking price, under budget at \u20ac288,000 ($329,000) left room for renovations, including potentially turning the half bath into a full bath. However, the Millers were wary about how much that could cost and how hard it would be to undertake in a new country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No.2Open Kitchen with a Living Room Balcony<\/p>\n
This two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment on the fourth floor of a well-maintained, modern building with only a few units per floor, was about a 10-minute walk from town. There was only street parking and the building was on a main road, which could be noisy. <\/p>\n
The kitchen was \u201cAmerican style,\u201d with an island that opened to the living room. In the back of the living room was a balcony with just enough room for a bistro set, overlooking a parking lot and dilapidated buildings. The asking price was the highest of the three, \u20ac335,000 ($388,000).<\/p>\n
No. 3First Floor with a Garden Terrace<\/p>\n
This three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit was on the first floor of a building that was the farthest from town, but just a five-minute walk from the rail line to Lisbon. The apartment included two garage parking spots. Inside was a renovated galley kitchen, a spacious living room and a separate laundry area. A backyard terrace was the highlight, with a built-in brick barbecue and a covered space that the former owners used as a home gym. <\/p>\n
The terrace had a question mark over it: It backed up onto the ruins of an old building slated for restoration. But they did not know when construction would begin and end, or how intrusive it would be. The asking price was \u20ac325,000 ($372,000).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Find out what happened next by answering these two questions:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After raising their children in the small town of Macungie, Pa., near Allentown, Ann and Matt Miller dreamed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-326343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}