Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (00:57.238)
Dylan, what a way to start here. We are with a veteran of living in Portugal and the host of Portugal, the Simple Life, a podcast that Kaylee and I were able to be on as well. Dylan, how you doing?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (01:11.267)
Very well, thank you Josh. How are you? Thanks for having me on.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (01:14.11)
Yeah, absolutely. Where are you located right now?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (01:17.607)
So I'm on the Silver Coast. Our studio is in a town called Foz do Aurelio, which is, if you know, Abydos Lagoon, it's the entrance of Abydos Lagoon. It's really, really beautiful. This is a wallpaper behind me, so I'm not in the street or anything. Exactly. But I'm based on the Silver Coast. I've been here since 2009. I live near to Abydos Castle and Caldas de Reina, and my offices are in San Martinito Porto. So...

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (01:23.435)
Okay.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (01:33.342)
You're blocking traffic right now.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (01:47.427)
Yeah, yes, since the beginning, fell in love with this area from day one and been in this whole coast ever since.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (01:54.374)
Nice, well what made you fall in love with it?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (01:58.363)
Josh, I mean, I'd made the decision to move to Portugal and then it was a case of, okay, where? And I'd lived in Johannesburg my whole life, so I didn't really wanna be in a big city. And that might sound cheesy, but the place just felt right for me from day one. I still remember very, very clearly, like it was yesterday, seeing...

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (02:14.79)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (02:27.075)
So where our offices are, where I work, is a town around a bay called San Martinio de Porto. It's a shell-shaped bay. And just seeing that for the first time, and then just the whole feel of the place, it felt to me like a real authentic Portuguese location, which it is, and it has been ever since. And I wanted to be somewhere that felt like Portugal. I wanted to be somewhere that felt safe. I wanted to be somewhere that still had that authentic Portuguese.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (02:34.096)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (02:55.935)
way of life with farmers markets and traditional restaurants and cafes and bakeries. And yeah, from day one, it just felt really, really good. I've lived in a number of areas on the Silver Coast like Nazaré and Alfés Arau, San Martino de Porto as well, and now near to Abilas in a little village, 200 people maybe, where literally when you walk to the local cafe, everyone stops and has a chat and greets the kids.

know your neighbors and it's just been it's just a wonderful place to live so yeah it was a really easy decision in retrospect but just felt right from day one.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (03:35.466)
Okay, well back in 2009 is when you moved. What was happening in your life where you felt like I need a change and Portugal's the place?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (03:45.103)
Um, I mean, for, for the, I mean, this won't be a foreign story to, to people that have gone through the same thing, but for anybody that knows South Africa or knows a little bit about South Africa, it's, it's a beautiful country. Um, it's, it's still part of who I am. Um, but I, I got to a point in my life where I wanted a simpler life. I wanted to be in a place that was safe. Um, I wanted to be in a place where.

People are good to each other. Um, not that people aren't in South Africa, but you, you kind of, it's almost like because the crime is so bad, because there's so many issues there. It's, it's kind of like this every man for themself kind of way. And, um, you, I remember growing up in South Africa, you live in this bubble and you think that certain things and the way that you live on normal.

in terms of, you know, you're living behind walls and fences and alarms and you're always looking over your shoulder. And I remember the first time traveling to anywhere other than South Africa was as a young boy on a rugby tour going to England Island, Scotland, Wales. And it was the first time for a lot of us that we went overseas. And there we were, I remember very clearly in

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (05:11.751)
We weren't supposed to be, but we were semi-drunk because we were a little bit too young to be drinking. But just the experience of being able to walk in the streets freely and not have to worry. That was kind of the first eye-opening thing where you're like, well, things are different in other parts of the world. And then as you get older, when you're a young guy and you're not really living more of the single life.

you look after yourself and you put up with certain things and then you get to a certain age where you start thinking, one day I wanna have a family, one day I want to have kids, do I wanna raise them in this kind of environment or do I wanna be somewhere where they're gonna be safe and happy and safe walking home from school and things like that. So I made the decision just to go for a better quality of life. I had a good job, I had a good...

social network in South Africa. I wasn't living in Squalor or anything, but I just wanted to have a better quality of life. And sort of my first visits to Portugal, I could see that was really possible. And yeah, decided to pack up. And I always thought I'd give it a year. I said, I'll give it a year and see how it goes. And yeah, now it's been 15. So it was a good move, best decision I ever made.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (06:30.43)
You gave it a decade and a half. So it's interesting to hear someone that has, I guess, made similar decisions as me and Kaylee. It's kind of, I think, something that a lot of the listeners couldn't resonate with, right? Wanting to move for feelings of safety, but also kind of more openness and community. And it's awesome that you found it here. And I'm wondering, in your,

15 years of being here, we're gonna fast forward a bit. What are some of the changes that you've seen in Portugal? And is it going in a positive direction or a negative direction?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (07:15.875)
Yeah, I mean, a lot of changes. We were speaking in the interview that I did with you and Kayleigh about how, you know, a lot of people didn't know where Portugal was or that it was its own country. And yeah, certainly when I came, it wasn't in vogue. It wasn't fashionable. It wasn't one of the top, you know, 10 places that you should retire to or move to. And so it was very much a...

a new experience. I've had a lot of family that, you know, when I moved, they said, why on, why the hell are you going to Portugal? And then when they come and they visit, usually it's like within a day and they go, okay, like, I get it, like, I really get it now. And so yeah, it was very much a new territory for a lot of people and not that fashionable for South Africans. We used to live in South Africa.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (08:00.714)
Get it? Yeah, nice.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (08:14.235)
I probably have more South African family living outside of South Africa than inside of South Africa. We're scattered all over the world. But yeah, a lot has changed. It's become way more popular. A lot more people know about Portugal when I think about the Silver Coast. For the first 10 years that I was here, a lot of people still didn't know about this area, even though it's so close to Lisbon and so wonderful.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (08:22.655)
Yes.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (08:43.083)
Um, it's has become more well known. Um, we've seen a lot more people looking at Portugal as a place to live. Um, I think a big change, certainly from my, from my, from my side of things with my work. I'm seeing a lot more people that are looking to move to Portugal in the prime of their lives, not necessarily at the end and not necessarily just to retire. Um, it used to be mostly people that were looking.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (09:04.533)
Yes.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (09:06.887)
for a calm place and a place to go play golf and a place to just relax at the end of their careers. But now I'm seeing so many people from all over the world who are looking to move here permanently with their kids, with families, working, you know, COVID I think changed a lot of things in terms of where people can work from and how that can happen. And that's been a positive thing. You know, of course with so many people looking at Portugal that changed, there are things that...

that change along with that, you know, real estate prices have gone up. Um, but that happens everywhere in the world. Um, and then, yeah, I think, I think you see a country now that's kind of, kind of finding its way with being, being a country that used to kind of just be hidden away in the shadows and getting on with their lives to a country that's now in the mainstream, um, and all the challenges that come with that, you know, it's, um, it's a small country. It's a very traditional country.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (09:44.544)
It has.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (10:00.366)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (10:07.187)
And I think Portugal is still coming to terms with the fact that there are so many people looking to move here and looking to come and live here and what that entails. The thing that has never changed for me has been the people. The people are still incredibly welcoming. They don't care where you're from. They don't have a chip on their shoulder about language. So if you don't speak the language, they don't get annoyed with you. They don't make you feel bad about it.

Um, I was quite stubborn. I really pushed hard to learn the language and, you know, just, I was willing to sound like an idiot, uh, at the beginning and sometimes still do. Um, and, but I never, ever was made to feel like I don't belong here or that I'm not welcome here and that's never changed, like, and I think that's the beautiful thing with this country is the people have remained exactly the same with all the challenges, with all the changes. Um, there's not a lot of great publicity at the moment about Portugal.

in the press when you talk about NHR and housing prices. But I've never heard of Portuguese people holding that against a foreigner, you know, and looking, going, this is your fault. You go back to where you came from. And I think that's something so beautiful. There's things that the Portuguese are not happy about, but it's more about in the way things are being governed, you know, and change that needs to happen at a governmental level. But in terms of everyday life.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (11:22.616)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (11:29.239)
It's the same as what it was when I first came, you know, same, same experience of greeting people and people being kind to each other and people asking how you're doing. I've had access to, I've had certain medical problems. So I've had, I've had, I've been in hospital quite a lot in Portugal and that's always been the same. People are really caring that the system works really, really well. So yeah, besides the kind of the obvious things that change with time in terms of, you know, real estate prices and

programs and golden visas and NHRs and all of those kind of things, the essence of the country has been the same. And yeah, it's positive. It's positive. And I think the way that the Portuguese embrace challenges, the way that Portuguese people try to find a better way, I think that can only be a positive thing, you know, with all these things that are happening in the country that some things that need to be changed, some things that need to stay the same.

I think they'll find a way and they'll find a way to accommodate anybody that comes, anybody that visits, anybody that chooses to live in core Portugal, their home. And the thing that's so beautiful about for my, in my experience of the Portuguese is they just truly happy that you've chosen to be in their country. You know, the question that I get asked so much is how did a South African guy end up living in our little village or in this part of Portugal? And I always say,

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (12:41.375)
Yeah, yeah.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (12:46.698)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (12:49.655)
why wouldn't I? It's just wonderful. You know, it's just such a beautiful place to be. And for them, it's a surprise. And then they're grateful, and they're grateful that you've chosen to be in their village or in their part of the country. And it's just a wonderful experience.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (13:04.238)
I feel like we've had such a similar experience here and I wanna take this conversation in a million directions. I feel like it's probably best if I zone in right now on something you mentioned with healthcare. You have had hospitalization here. Can we talk a little bit about that?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (13:23.295)
Yeah, no problem. I've got a existing condition that I've had since I was 18 years old. It's called TTP. It's a rare blood disorder. Basically, your platelet count is very, very low. Your red blood cell count is very high and it can be fatal if not treated. I was fortunate that for... I had a couple of relapses in South Africa.

It was really touch and go at times. And then for after from 22 years old up until I was 39, I didn't have any, any issues. And then in 2019, I had a relapse and I was in the hospital for five months in, in Lisbon, the main hospital in Lisbon, the public hospital in Lisbon, Santa Maria. And they saved my life, Josh. They, they were amazing.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (14:06.359)
Okay.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (14:23.559)
Uh, the, you know, you, you hear about people saying that things are very delayed. That wasn't my experience at all. When they needed to act quickly, they acted quickly when they needed to treat me, when they needed to get me onto machines, the medication came quickly, everything. And I mean, it was just a phenomenal experience. So, and that included that five months included a stint in, in ICU. I was in a coma for, for two, two and a half weeks.

It was a real mess, but even the care that I received after that was just phenomenal. And I'll always be grateful for the care that I got. And at that time, I wasn't a citizen yet. I was still a permanent, I was still a resident. So I had permanent residency, but I wasn't a citizen. And I got treated exactly the same as everybody else in my ward, like I was a normal person, like I was one of them. And it was incredible. So

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (15:04.491)
Mm-hmm.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (15:10.25)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (15:16.175)
Yeah, I'll always be grateful for the treatment I got. If you speak to Portuguese people, they'll say to you that the medical care can be better and there are improvements to be made for sure. But if I compare it to the type of care that I got in South Africa, um, I was on private healthcare in South Africa. That was the only way that I would be sure that I would get good healthcare in terms of my particular condition. Um, and here I was on public. And, um, when I speak to South Africans about the public healthcare system there,

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (15:23.886)
Mm-hmm.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (15:37.035)
Yeah.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (15:45.495)
Um, it's a mess. Um, when I speak to my American clients, I have a, I have an American client who's a, an oncologist. And, um, he knows very much, he knows about my condition and the type of treatment needed, and he just said to me, Dylan, how much is this costing you? Because I was doing dialysis treatment every single day for four months. And I said, it's not costing me anything. And he was just like, that's insane. He said in America, they'll be coming off the, or your house, you know, it was just, uh,

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (15:47.054)
Hmm.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (15:58.04)
Mm-hmm.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (16:04.235)
Oops.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (16:14.923)
So it was incredible. So from a medical standpoint, my kids have been born here. Amazing healthcare, amazing treatment. And then the humanity, the way that they treat you here, they just, they embrace you. There's a warmth to the way that they look after you here. And that's something I think you can't put a price tag on it. So yeah, the healthcare for me is superb.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (16:37.182)
Yeah, I want to interject just for the listener to know that the public system here is actually more well equipped in terms of like the variety of cases that they can handle compared to the private, the private you'll get seen faster in non-emergency situations, but yeah, making that comparison between South Africa, your experience there and then here is, is wonderful for the audience to hear. But yeah, the public here is.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (16:51.323)
for sure.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (17:02.327)
Yeah, I mean, I think to be aware, something to be aware of, um, with, with the public system, you know, if it's things that are non-urgent, you can wait, you know, so, so I've got like, um, they discovered like this little cyst in my nose, um, which is not dangerous. It's not, it's not cancerous or anything. It's just affecting a bit of my breathing. And I've been putting on a waiting list to have this removed. Now I'm still waiting.

But from the things that I had before where it was, we need to get this guy onto a dialysis machine, otherwise he's gonna die, it was a thin 24 hours. It was just phenomenal. So from that point of view, it's superb. For things that aren't serious, you might have to wait. But yeah, in general, I mean, even just an appointment to see a doctor, that's on the day. Like you go to your local Centro Sao, where you live, it's on the day you'll get an appointment. You might have to sit and wait for two, three hours, but...

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (17:38.314)
Hmm. Yep.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (17:47.051)
Yep.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (18:00.375)
you'll be seen by somebody. So from that perspective, it's phenomenal. It's a very robust system for such a small country. It's pretty impressive.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (18:09.791)
Were you moved to Lisbon because their facilities there could handle your situation better? Or did you just happen to be down there when it flared up?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (18:19.703)
No, I was I was in Calders. So so hard worked. I mean, this is all again 24 hours. So I was I Wasn't feeling good My wife said to me, let's go to the doctor. The doctor checked me out She sent me for blood tests I went for blood tests maybe two hours after my appointment with her It wasn't even the doctor that called the people from the lab called

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (18:41.323)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (18:47.511)
the guys that did the blood test and they said, you need to get yourself to a hospital right away, right away your bloods are in a really bad state. I went to the hospital, they checked me in. I was there for 12 hours. And then the next morning, early morning on an ambulance to Lisbon where they have a very good oncology center. So they sent me to Lisbon because they've got one of the best oncology centers in Europe there and that's what, and literally got there.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (18:55.055)
Mm.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (19:08.439)
Got it.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (19:16.323)
I remember being wheeled into this hospital. It looked like a city. It's a huge hospital for those that don't know Santa Maria. It's massive. And I just remember looking from the, from my, my gurney, like seeing this huge building. And, um, and then literally it was a case of one doctor saw me and they said, okay, we're going to get you, um, into your ward. And then in a little while we're going to get you onto dialysis. And it was within two, three hours. I had pipes in my neck on a machine. The next morning.

uh, in good care and, uh, yeah, it was, it was phenomenal how quick it was, but yeah, they moved me for, for medical reasons. They've moved me to, to Santa Maria.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (19:53.198)
Okay, because that's something that is not that uncommon to hear about, at least from the people I've spoken with that live here in Portugal. So we've talked a little bit about, or you've alluded a little bit about what you do here. You're a realtor. Yeah, have you been a realtor the whole time that you've been living in Portugal? Tell us about what you do in real estate.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (20:06.839)
Yeah. Yeah, so.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (20:14.444)
Yes, so day one, that's where I started. That was the work that I started doing when I got here. I started from the beginning, really learned as much as I could quickly. Always been working with foreign clients. So my clients are from all over the world. I've got clients that are from Poland, from the US, from the UK, from Belgium, the Netherlands,

random places like Armenia, just people from all over the world. So for the last 15 years, that's what I've been doing is introducing people to this amazing country and helping them find a home here.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (20:57.758)
Okay. And what are some trends that you've seen in real estate over the past 15 years? Because that's kind of a long historical line of, of data that you've seen. So what are some trends that you've seen?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (21:12.807)
Well, I mean, besides the obvious, you know, obviously over time, the prices have gone up. If I remember going back to 15 years ago, what you could get for your money compared to today has changed considerably. But that's always been quite steady, especially the area that I'm in. You know, it's not Lisbon, it's not Porto, it's not the Algarve. It's a smaller marketplace. So that's...

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (21:26.037)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (21:41.051)
that's different to, it's difficult to compare to those places. But so the obvious one is obviously that the change in costs, um, in terms of, uh, I mean, we, we specialize in new build and in modern properties, um, just because from a, you know, just from an installation point of view and energy efficiency point of view, these are properties that are, that are used more user friendly. Um, so I've seen a lot more people that I've sort of,

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (21:54.528)
Okay.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (22:02.594)
Yes.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (22:08.443)
given up on the romantic idea of let me buy an old farmhouse and let me rather get something that's that I don't have to maintain all the time and that I don't have to fix up all the time. That's going to look after itself. That's a little bit more low maintenance. That's more energy efficient. The energy efficiency thing has become a huge factor, certainly in the last two, three years, if we think of our, our Northern European clients.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (22:28.906)
Absolutely.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (22:32.347)
their energy bills are through the roof in terms of heating, and things like that. And now you're coming, the climate helps, yeah. But when you've got a property that doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to maintain temperature, that keeps itself warm, that isn't difficult to heat or moderate, that makes a huge difference. And yeah, then I think just again, the demographic has changed a lot. So going from, like I said earlier, going from retirees to now people that are

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (22:38.953)
Yep.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (23:02.723)
in the prime of their careers, starting families. I've had clients that have moved here, started families. I've had clients that have moved here with little kids. I have clients that have moved here while they're in the middle of their careers. That's changed certainly over the last 15 years to previously it was a golfing destination. Previously it was a place that people wanted to come and retire and play some golf and go to the beach and enjoy the good food and the good wine. And then I think again,

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (23:28.03)
Yeah, but those things haven't changed. There's still good golf there. There's still good restaurants and everything. Yeah, yeah.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (23:32.383)
Yeah, those things are still there, but I think what's changed from the point of view of people looking is people are looking for different things to what they were maybe looking 15 years ago, you know. And I think the world's opened up for people. Again, we mentioned it earlier, COVID has taught people that they can work from anywhere. And I think now people are looking with a more long term view, not just, hey, I want a place to holiday.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (23:38.338)
Yes.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (23:44.301)
Right.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (24:01.839)
but now Portugal has become a place where people want to live. And that's a huge, that's been a big shift since I moved. I mean, if I think about the clients that I had when I first started working, they were all looking for a holiday home. And now a good 50, 60% of my clients are looking for a permanent home. And that's been a big change. So people are now looking not just as a place that I'm gonna visit three or four times a year, but a place that I'm gonna live. And those questions are different. What's it like to live here?

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (24:15.949)
Okay

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (24:19.957)
Okay.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (24:29.666)
Sure, absolutely. What are the schools? Yep.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (24:32.043)
Whereas the schools, the medical questions that you asked about, these kind of things all become a bigger, bigger factor. So we've almost gone from real estate advisors, but also to lifestyle advisors. Like what is it like to live here? Are you going to be happy here? How can you integrate? How can you navigate? And that's been quite a big shift.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (24:54.85)
Well, I think your podcast also facilitates that as well. Um, okay. Let me ask you this, a new build in your neck of the woods, silver coast, what's the price range on something? Let's say that's, um, a hundred square meters. So like 1100 square feet.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (25:12.939)
Yeah, so I mean, look, I'll just I'll add it up between apartments versus a house. So apartments for a new build apartments. You're looking at starting prices about two hundred and seventy thousand and villas starting prices at three fifty. Europe.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (25:18.062)
sure.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (25:26.035)
Okay.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (25:30.231)
Okay.

And how does that compare to buying something that's secondhand? Something that's like, I don't know, 20, 30, 40 years old, not something that's like in ruin that you're having to redo.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (25:44.171)
Yeah, I mean, this is a broader question. So first of all, let's say if it's a used property that's maybe under 10 years old, the property is still in relatively good condition. It hasn't started losing value because of the age of the house. Especially if it's something that's been built in the last 10 years, usually the quality is still pretty good in terms of insulation, double glazed windows.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (25:48.142)
Sure.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (26:03.734)
Yeah.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (26:10.172)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (26:13.367)
All of that kind of thing, you know, it's important, you know, for, for American listeners, or actually from UK as well, things like that we build with brick and concrete here. So a lot of the thing that happened with a lot of that happens with our American clients, when I tell them it takes a year to build a house, they think that's quite a long time, but we build with brick and concrete. So it's sturdy materials. The house supposed to last a long time. Um, but certainly if it's a house that you're buying, that's a resale, you are paying somebody else's price for that house.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (26:29.006)
Sure. Yeah.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (26:42.943)
Um, it's a value that an owner has put onto that house for various reasons, either because they want to make a profit either because they have an emotional attachment to the house, they think it's worth more than what it maybe is. That's something that you have to be aware of when you're buying something that's a re a resale property. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Um, whereas when you're buying something new from a builder, you're paying for the bricks and the concrete and you're paying that guy's price that he's

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (26:53.984)
Yeah.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (26:58.766)
We just got hit with that. Yeah, yeah.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (27:08.982)
the price, the cost of, yeah.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (27:11.823)
You know, so you're not paying a price that kind of somebody's hoping to get for that property. Yeah, I mean, and sometimes, I mean, I must say I have clients that put, you know, they'll come in, they say, I want to sell my property after eight years and the value that they want to put on it is fair. And we try to advise and say, Hey, listen, this is what I think it's worth in the current market.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (27:17.708)
is arbitrary, right?

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (27:28.31)
Ah. Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (27:34.391)
And then you have others that will put a ridiculous amount on a property and because that's what they want to get for it. And in some cases they do, in some cases they don't. And then first from a technical point of view, you know, the reality of buying new, you're buying something that's being built to the latest spec, the latest tech. It's good conditions. You should got guarantees on it from a builder, things like that. Whereas when you're buying secondhand, you're buying it as is.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (27:57.28)
Right.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (28:01.278)
Yep.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (28:02.455)
If it's of a certain age, you can still be quite sure that there's not going to be too many major issues if you're buying something that's 50 to a hundred years old, you're going in a little bit blind. You don't know what's in the walls. You don't know if there's any other issues. You don't know how many more surprises. What's that?

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (28:16.834)
by knowing there's issues by knowing there's issues like you. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah, we just had an incident where you were doing this real estate development and

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (28:21.823)
Yeah, you're buying knowing there's issues, but you don't know what those issues are going to be and how much it's going to cost you in the long run. You know, so those are the challenges.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (28:34.902)
Part of common courtesy before you start the demolition is to, to send letters to the neighbors, letting them know, going in and taking, you know, photographs of shared walls and stuff like that. And, um, one of the neighbors said, you know, Hey, we would be interested in selling. So we had a meeting yesterday to figure out what their price was because they hadn't set a price. So the meeting starts and they still didn't say a price. And said, Oh, we don't really know what the price is that. Well, as the meeting continued, you know, 10, 15 minutes later, um,

their, I need to first say their, their building size is a hundred square meters and it's basically 50 square meters on the ground floor and 50 basement. And, and they announced that they would like to get 600,000 for it. So for the, for, for the listener, quick math, that's 6,000 per square a meter. And right now in the luxury market, that's like at the top end.

Like that's at the top end. If you're in, if you're in Porto, for example, and you're in Aliados, which is the, uh, the Metro area where we have city hall and kind of the real downtown nice area to live. You have some new luxury apartments going up that are anywhere between 45 and 6,500.

and that's a finished luxury product. And this person selling something that is in pretty rough condition or wanting to sell something in pretty rough condition for the same price. So it was an emotional thing for that person which was not good.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (30:12.935)
opportunistic, whichever way you look at it.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (30:15.326)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay. So how can people reach out to you on kind of the real estate side of things? We're not wrapping up here, but I'm just asking if people want to know and understand more about what you could do in the silver coast, how can people reach out to you about that?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (30:31.683)
Yes. So you can check out our website as Portugal-realti.com. Um, and there you've got loads of information about the area, about the location, um, that's the most important thing when you're looking to, to buy something in, in anywhere, um, you know, especially for people that are coming into a country that they don't know, um, it's really important that you're, you're dealing with people that know the location, that know the ins and outs, that know what it's like to, to live there.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (30:36.16)
Okay.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (30:48.907)
Mm-hmm.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (30:59.731)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (31:02.019)
Um, so we've got a lot of location information, which is just as important as the property side of things as well. Um, and then they can check out the type of real estate that we have available as well in the area.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (31:12.498)
Okay, cool. So another thing that you do is a podcast and I'm pretty sure you've got the deepest Portugal podcast on the internet, which is Portugal, the Simple Life. I think you've got the most episodes out of, like deepest episodes at least, like you talk to a lot of foreigners, you have had Portuguese people on your podcast. What started this podcast for you and what's 2024 look like for you?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (31:40.591)
Yes, so the podcast started in 2020. It was a passion project for me. I felt that, you know, I guess it was sort of the beginning of the wave. Now, if you go onto YouTube, there's any every guy and his dog doing videos about Portugal. But it was, I wanted to develop a platform where people can have an insider's perspective into Portugal, so.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (31:58.853)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (32:09.271)
I wanted to speak to people, both foreigners and Portuguese, about what life in Portugal is like. And I think a lot of this had to do with the shift in people looking. So we're going from people that are not just looking to come and spend two or three times a year here, but looking to live here. The questions, like we mentioned earlier, the questions are different and what people are asking and wanting to know about a place are different.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (32:37.898)
Yes.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (32:38.495)
Um, and I think I wanted to, I wanted to just give people an insider's perspective into all things Portugal. So not just real estate, but, um, what life is like here. How am I going to be welcomed here? Um, what is the medical, what, you know, what's happening on a medical side of things, what's happening politically? Um, what about the food? What about the wine? All of these kinds of things that.

you know, people needed to know more about in order to know, is this a place I'm going to live? Because once again, it's coming down to the location. And in my experience, it was, yeah, not just, hey, I want a nice apartment on a resort, you know, certainly for, you know, we know about the Algov, but where we are on the Silver Coast, what people are looking for is, okay, I want my nice modern home, but I want to be in the village. I want to be part of the community.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (33:35.278)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (33:35.531)
I want to be near the farmer's market. I want to go for a walk and go have a cafe. I want to learn the language. I want to, I want to integrate. And it was all about how that, how possible that is. And, and I think also just sincerely just sharing my love for the country. Like it's a place that's become my home. It's a place that I could not imagine now living anywhere else other than Portugal. Um, it's a place that has welcomed me. Um,

And I wanted to share that and I wanted to share the beautiful things. You know, it's a, it is a very positive podcast. We talk about mostly the good things, but there's stuff that comes up, of course, that people need to know about. And so that's how it started. Um, it was started, we started during COVID. So a lot of people had time to, to hook up on zoom and to, to talk. And we've had some amazing guests. I mean, um, musicians, you know, very well known soccer players.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (34:32.742)
rugby players.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (34:35.003)
fashion designers, as well as local foreign people that are doing some exceptional, interesting things here. So winemakers, doctors, chefs, I mean, it's just been an amazing journey and not looking to stop it anytime soon. So stay tuned 2024, more of the same with more guests and more stories and more about what life is like in Portugal. And like we mentioned earlier on, Portugal is...

at a bit of a crossroads in terms of some of the challenges that are coming its way because of a lot of foreign investment, because of a lot of people coming in, but also that this is still an amazing place to live and that's the purpose is for people to know what the essence and the true sense of this country really is about.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (35:20.482)
Nice. And you chose Portugal the Simple Life as a name. Is there a specific reason why you chose that?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (35:28.831)
We were, yeah, so I mean, the guy that I'm going to give credit to the name, I've actually invited him to be on the podcast and he never got back to me. So, but we were at a seminar, myself and my boss in going back to 2019, I think it was so, yeah, 2018 maybe, I can't remember. It was before we started the podcast and.

There was a guy who got up, it was one of these e-marketing seminars. I slipped through a lot of it. It was pretty boring. Uh, and then a guy got up at the end of the thing and he spoke, he's a big marketing guy. He's a Portuguese guy, but lived in America for a long time. And he did a lot of big, uh, marketing for big brands like Nike and Dove soap and these kinds of things. And he was talking about, um, you know, uh, your brand and, you know, he was talking about.

talking about countries, he was saying, you know, the Italians are famous for their pasta and the French are famous for their cuisine with the sauce and all of these kinds of things. And, and my boss at the time, my boss got up at the time and said, what is, what is Portugal's best export? And he said, um, Portugal's best export is simplicity. We've been perfecting simplicity for generations. And he used the illustration of the food and how we grow fish, you know, like we just take a good piece of fish.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (36:47.362)
Hmm. That's true. Salt. Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (36:49.851)
put some olive oil, we put it on the grill and it's, but the simple life, so the simple life came about that, that life is just simple here. And when I say simple, I mean, it's calm, it's safe. Food is important, being around a table with family is important. You, me and Kaylee were talking about how they, you know, how those little interactions, those mini interactions are so beautiful, but so pure and then so rare in today's world. You know, it's rare that...

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (36:58.288)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (37:17.535)
you go into a cafe and everybody says hello in today's world. It's rare that people know who you are. It's rare that you go into a restaurant in today's world and they're not trying to get you off the table to turn tables, that you can sit in a restaurant for three hours with your family and just have a great meal and a couple of bottles of wine and talk. And that was, you know, that's the simple life. The simple life is the way people treat each other here, the way that people...

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (37:30.407)
Mm-hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (37:43.715)
accommodate you the way that people still care about community as opposed to the individual, which in the end is really good for the individual as well. So yeah, simple life because Portugal does. Portugal gives you a simple and a beautiful life.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (37:53.399)
That's right.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (37:59.73)
Nice, well said. Earlier you said that you've been here for 15 years and you don't see yourself living anywhere else but Portugal. So at Expat said where we believe that living abroad transforms lives, how has living abroad transformed your life?

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (38:17.115)
Great question.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (38:22.735)
You know, I want to make sure I say this in the right way, because everyone talks about the pace of life in Portugal, you know, and that almost can sometimes come across as it's a place that lacks ambition or a place that lacks forward thinking. And it's not that I do see a country that wants to have a future that wants to.

create that wants to, you know, you look at some of the stuff that Portugal's doing on the tech scene and the medical scene, it's phenomenal work. And again, some of the guests that are on the podcast, you just like the work that some of these guys are doing is just out of this world, but they have this balance to life here, which I think is so wonderful. I mean, to give an example, when I lived and worked in Johannesburg, I was

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (38:52.577)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (39:13.451)
You didn't have lunch. Like you grabbed a sandwich, you know, you, you between meetings, you'd eat at your desk, um, you'd stop off and go through a drive through and. Yeah. And here you, you stop for lunch. You know, you take the time. Um, the first time that I had a work colleague that said, come, let's go have lunch. I said, no, that's fine. I'm just gonna eat at my desk. They said, no, we don't do that here.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (39:24.51)
Our American audience can resonate to that, for sure.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (39:44.215)
And they're like, no, we stop and you go and you take an hour for lunch and you don't talk about work, you sit and you talk about soccer or, you know, yeah, they call it football. You talk about what you're going to have for dinner. Uh, you talk about, I mean, food is such a central part. And, and I think that's been the biggest thing for me is just being able to enjoy. Just those, those things that, you know, we would say that the little things, but they're not the little things in the end. They're the things that enrich and.

make you appreciate life. I think Portugal's taught me to be grateful. And I think back to my life in South Africa, I'm not, I don't regret anything. I don't miss it, but I never look back and go, I hated that. And there's even parts of the life that I had there that I'm grateful for. But I think Portugal's taught me gratitude, like to stop and to appreciate, to stop and taste your food.

to stop and have a coffee. And it's not a coffee, it's a coffee and a chat. And it's a coffee and a chat with whoever's there, or the guy behind the counter, or the people that walk in. And I think that's what Portugal's taught me, is just to stop and to enjoy the things that we should have access to in life, you know? Being safe, being able to have a conversation about pretty much anything without it becoming an argument.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (41:09.492)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (41:09.567)
You know, you look at other parts of the world where everybody's just so pissed off with each other and with the state and the animosity between that, you know, for America listens to animosity that I know about between Republicans and Democrats. And then you go to the UK and they're just so upset with the present state of affairs because of Brexit and because of what's happening in their government. And then you come to Portugal and nobody's really happy with what's happening with our political situation. We don't have a prime minister at the moment.

But that never spills out into interaction that people have with each other. And I think, um, Portugal's changing the, in the terms of being aware of your community, being aware of each other, being aware of not only what's happening here, but what's happening everywhere else in the world. And that translates out to being grateful, um, for what we have here. And, um, and it's just taught me to have balance. Like I never stopped in Johannesburg.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (41:42.186)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (42:03.431)
constantly running, chasing your tails, making dust for no real reason. That's not gonna matter tomorrow. And here you're coming to a place where it's almost like the things that matter are the things that matter, you know? How you treat each other, are you safe? You know, do my kids go to a good school? Do my, are my kids safe if they're playing in the street? And are people good to each other? And yeah, Portugal's made me realize that and it's, yeah, wonderful.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (42:09.495)
Hmm.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (42:33.628)
soul enriching experience.

Josh | ExpatsEverywhere (42:35.53)
Well, speaking of grateful Dylan, we're grateful to have you on our podcast. We appreciate you coming on and listener. If you'd like to have Dylan back on because we did not extract enough from him in the past 45 minutes, his 15 years here. Let us know. Reach out to us and leave us a review and let us know if you want Dylan back on. We appreciate it. Thanks.

Dylan - Portuga The Simple Life (42:39.136)
Likewise. Thank you.