Fortaleza Travel Forum

Hi everyone

This is Mike and Vanessa from Portsmouth England here.
We are looking to relocate to Combuco in Ceara and would welcome any advice at all regards the local area - things to do etc. Is it safe, restaurants and shops, is there much development in the area, is the planned golf course going ahead and as we may be opening a small bar in Combuco are their many foreign holidaymakers there.
We both speak reasonable Portuguese due to a couple of years spent working in Lisbon a few years back. Therefore we are very much looking forward to joining in Brazilian life totally.
Any remarks/advice would be most welcome.
Thank you all.
Mike and Vanessa

I'm afraid that I can't answer your questions, but would be very interested to hear how you get on (especially with the bureaucracy of buying), as I'm planning to relocate to Rio next year. Good luck! Robin

Hi Peter

Many thanks for taking the time to send such an informative and detailed reply. It certainly sounded that you enjoyed your visit to the N/E coast of Brasil!!
How did you find out about the place? We first became aware of Combuco at a foreign property exhibition and were amazed at how beautiful and affordable the place seemed to be. We have visited Brasil on holiday on a couple of occasions (Salvador and Natal) and really enjoyed both places, so much so that we have been looking at buying a property out there. I also traveled several times along the Brasil coast and called into a few ports there with my work onboard various ships. We both speak passable portuguese, due to a couple of years spent working in Lisbon a few years back. So it makes sense for us to relocate to a portuguese speaking country. We can't wait!!
Hope you've enjoyed this recent trip out there and have viewed some suitable properties whilst there. Please let us know how you've gotten on, any detail/information about Ceara would be most welcome. Especially welcome would be if you've heard anything about either the Combuco Dream Beach appartments or the Dream Beach Ocean View apartments, that we have seen advertised and could be interested in.
Once again many thanks and we hope that you had a great trip over there and had an enjoyable 50th birthday.
It would be great to hear from you again.
Regards

Mike and Vanessa

Hey,

Cumbuco is a nice little kite-surf town, I like the beaches especially. During the off-season it is quiet in Cumbuco, but in the high season it is packed with foreign kite-surfers. I went to a kite surf party there about 5months ago and I only saw young foreigners, I felt like I was at a party in Spain.
It is pretty safe I think, at least I have never had any problems when I went there. My girlfriend told me it used to be a town where a lot of rich people from the city had their fancy weekendhouse. But I heard the value of the houses is decreasing. You will notice when you are driving true Cumbuco that a lot of houses are for sale. As well I know some foreigners that bought a house there, so you will not be te first ones to buy something there. Now the place to be is Porta das dunas on the other side of Fortaleza where the prices of the houses are ridiculously high.
But how are you going to get a permanent visa to stay in Brazil? Are you going to make an investment by buying a bar? The investment has to be at least 50.000US dollars.
I think the local newspaper(diario do Nordeste) is the best way to look for a real estate in Ceara. The only thing you need is your CPF, but this is easy to obtain.

Good luck with finding a place in Cumbuco, I hope it workes out for you.
Greetz

Hi there!
Best idea is to come and do your searching here in person. Get to meet the agent and the people who will provide legal help, which you WILL need.
My company specializes in helping people coming to Fortaleza who don't speak the language and need to get things done here.
andy@andyneill.com is my email. Drop a line. Maybe I can help.

As I have been looking for real estate in Fortaleza I know a broker there.
As i do my research myself however being guided by my Brasilian girlfriend I am pritty aware of the possibilities. I have seen a lot of apartments already
and again i can share the brokers name. However I first would like to know if you are interested so I can inform him and ask if he is also specialised on Cumbuco as well.
By the way, I am looking for a full time job in Fortaleza in transport and logistics. I am open to change my career to start living in Fortaleza.
If you have connections or an idea please let me know.
Regards.
Peet

Hi Peet

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. Yes that would be very helpful if you could put us in touch with your agent.
We are looking at coming out to Fortaleza in august this year to have a good look around at any good suitable properties. We will initially use it as a holiday home, perhaps rent it out when not there. Then we will be looking to move out permanently in about three years time, when we will be looking for a small restaraunt or bar to buy and run.
So any information/advice would be most welcome.
Many thanks and good luck.

Regards

Mike and Vanessa

Hi there,

just for getting some first ideas about the market and to train a little bit the language, these links might be helpful:

http://diariodonordeste.globo.com/classif/default.asp


http://adm.noolhar.com/servlet/opovo?event=cla_naveg&tpa_cod=1

Both newspapers are not prepared to accept ads from foreigners. They are not able to receive money for ads by creditcard or other ways of payment and want to see that CPF umber. So if you want to place a search ad by yourself, don't waste your time with using the online form. Find someone local to do it for you.

Have fun and success

heavyfuel

Hi Mike and Vanessa, my name is Andrew I'm a Brit and I moved out to Cumbuco in November 2006. If you have any specific questions about the process don't hesitate to ask.

Hi, Andrew! I'd be interested to learn about any bureaucratic hassles you encountered: we're due to move to Rio permanently in December.