Florianópolis Travel Answers

Are you sure,3000 is sufficient? If yes - you will need quite a few Dollars in saving to move. And there are many pitfalls with such a move. I am 50 and we "semi-retired" to Europe, the place where a parental part of me and the parents of my wife are from. We have following advantages compared with you: - We are both immigrants ( = did not forget how it was / is in Europe) - We speak the local language that no one would think, we are American - We (kind-of) know how to deal with people - We have a higher income than yours and the place where we live (Hungary) is probably as expensive as Brasil - We have own house here, no need to rent, the house is fully furnished with my parents and my wife's parents furniture, appliances, etc. With all this some random thoughts: - the move did cost about20000 all together. - the cars in Brasil (and in Hungary, too) cost a fortune. It is simply ridiculous. "I don't need a car outside of USA" is a urban legend. Once you got used to them (and to American models) - you want to use them. The Japanese cars sold in the States (Honda, Toyota, etc.) are "geared" to American comfort demands and American price expectations. You will be shocked to learn that a15000 sub-compact could cost in South America or Europe well over30000... and that without A/C and with manual transmission. Hence: who retires... usually takes their American car with them abroad. And usually a good idea is to get a new one. For two retired people and given the more expensive gasoline overseas that should be probably a Toyota Prius. But it's not cheap. Next step is the banking. Look at military-related banks like USAA, Andrews CU, Pentagon CU. They do allow non-military members under certain conditions (nearly everyone can be approved, call the bank, talk to the advisor, they will tell you what to do). These banks have very low or no FOREX FEE on their ATM cards. In particular, Andrews has a flat1 ATM fee and no Forex Exchange fee. - travel a lot to the area before moving. Otherwise it may well happen that you go there and freak out. We did freak out in Europe on regular basis and still do! NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE CULTURE SHOCK. I did not even speak about things like healthcare, etc. - here every country is different, do your paperwork. IMO such move takes about a year to execute and about two-three years to be finally "in place". Same was with our move from Europe to USA begin 90-s.

One caveat: You state that you have " a monthly fixed income of about 3,000 USD", but please note that the requirement for a retirement visa in Brazil is that U$2K per month be in the form of a pension, which you must show proof of, rather than investment or other income sources.

Oh ,and I would also suggest posting on the forum of the expat site for Brazil www.gringoes.com some of whose members have dogs and some of whom live in Floripa.

I don't want to say anything about it could be there, surely you think is good for you both, safe and confortable. Just one question.. have you ever been in Floripa during winter? it changes a little bit. and a note.. last few years prices have grown a lot in Brazil and it does not seem they stop, think about it.

On the positive side, I retired to Brazil (Rio) two years ago and bought an apartment here, and am very happy with our decision. But I've lived here before and speak fluent Portuguese, my wife is Brazilian, and my income is somewhat higher than yours. The bureaucracy (as well as the expense) of moving is frightening - in order to import our luggage, I had to provide (amongst other things) FOUR notarised photocopies of every page of my passport, including the blank ones! The import duty on cars is prohibitive. Prices aren't low and continue to rise, and the appreciation of the real means that foreigners earning in dollars or (even more) sterling are less well off now than they used to be 4 or 5 years ago. Finally, a private health plan is essential, and for over-60s is expensive. Whatever your decision, good luck!

I think that many Americans have a rude shock when they experience their first southern Brazilian winter. I went with a group in 2000 to Londrina, and sort of knew what to expect. It was the coldest winter in some 20 years, and was in the 20s (in degrees F - below zero in C). Some of the Americans had only brought shorts, because they hadn't thought about the fact that the seasons are opposite. One cultural thing that most Americans are not used to is the whole bartering for prices arena that is very much a part of life in Brazil. I'm terrible at being able to do it effectively, but for those that are able to barter, food prices and even the prices of many essentials are much lower, simply because they are good at price negotiation. I've seen Brazilians barter over restaurant prices, building material prices, just about everything except the price of gasoline! So, your ability to negotiate may also be a factor. If you are good at it, you will be able to live cheaper than if you are as lousy at it as I am. For some trips I have used my USA bank ATM card, which only as a1.50 fee for each ATM that is outside the bank's system. However, you have to watch the exchange rate, as they do not give as good an exchange rate as some of the cash exchange houses would give, depending on the market. It again goes back to being able to negotiate.

What you can't negotiate are your gringo looks, which are generally going to prevent you from securing the same deals a Brazilian could, no matter how well you learn to bargain. :-)

hi alzunder you just wrote "Hi Barbara- What a lovely idea to retire to Floripa. I can suggest the following company..." it does not matter where in S.America you write but you always write about Oasis Luxury Rentals and this it makes me thinking you are a spammer.

get a hold of me via e-mail at stultsmike@hotmail.com Im an american from california, and have been living down here off and on for ten years. I know a bunch of dog friendly places to stay, and i have a couple houses myself. I brought down my two pugs, and they are with me and enjoying brazil....

Hello, Barbar. How are you? I hope I can help you somehow. My name is Amanda, I am from Brazil and I work as a real estate agent. What city of the US are you from? I used to live in Houston, Texas for about 3 years. So, I have read your post and I see you'd like to retire here in Florianópolis. You know, our currency is worth a little less than dollar, so, yes...3k a month you can rent a good house and also you can do your groceries, etc. How much would you be interested on paying for a rent? You know you can also buy a proprety here and pay it in monthly payments. Also, the price of propreties, or even to rent, it all depends on the location, as you know. Would you prefer to live close to downtown or closer to the beach. Here in Florianopolis the most amazing thing I consider is that living near the beach is much cheaper than living near downtown area. I have have dogs at my house myself, and I wouldn't mind to let your pets to stay there while you are looking for a house. But there are also hotels for dogs, if you would prefer. Also, you can rent a house while you are looking for a house to buy. Here the contracts only show retrictions against pets if you want to live in an apartment. For houses I particularly have never seen such restriction. Best regards Amanda Marinho 55+ 48+ 9981-0846 amytexas2010@gmail.com