This essay as told is based on a conversation with Andrew Ibrahim, 31, who moved from Gainesville, Florida to Portugal’s southernmost region, the Algarve, in November 2023. Ibrahim still owns a business consultancy for real estate owners. in Florida and also sells luxury real estate in Portugal. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Moving to Portugal was a decision that basically felt like a mid-life crisis.
At the time, I was 30 years old and I said, “Luckily, I accomplished what I wanted to do before I turned 30, but I’m not necessarily happy day to day with the direction I’m seeing.” . the country is going away.”
I wanted to be able to find a place that would be perfect to raise my children – and that decision was pretty easy.
Ibrahim wanted to raise his children in a better environment than the United States. Courtesy of Andrew Ibrahim.
I was tired of the personalities in Florida. There are a lot of social issues I don’t agree with, and the cost of living has just skyrocketed.
And over time, and I would say after the pandemic, the situation has only gotten worse.
When I was renting in South Florida, I rented a one-bedroom apartment that cost me about $2,600 a month. When I moved to Gainesville, I was able to purchase my own four-bedroom property, and the mortgage, insurance, and taxes cost almost $3,000 a month, which was a bit expensive for a middle class normal.
Then I moved to a much larger house, 5,900 square feet, with five bedrooms. It was on a 1.2 acre lot, which was very nice, but it cost me almost $4,500 a month.
Fortunately, I lived a very good life, but I could have lived a life 10 times better for 50% of the cost of living in Portugal.
I can have a similar quality of life to Florida for a fraction of the price
I was originally born and raised in Montreal and moved to Florida when I was 17, but I have Portuguese citizenship thanks to my mother, who is Portuguese. So it was quite easy for me to obtain the necessary documents to be able to move and become a citizen.
Portugal ticks the box of security, of the potential of new businesses, and it also ticks the box of my ability to provide the best future for my children and, in turn, for myself.
My family has owned real estate here for a few years – and it’s fully paid off – so it was a bit easy for us, but we considered purchasing property for ourselves.
City of Faro, Portugal. Eve Livesey/Getty Images
For groceries, if I spend 200 euros here, I can eat for almost two weeks. But if I had to spend $200 or $250 on groceries in Florida, I would eat for a week at best.
If I want to go to a really good restaurant in Portugal with prime steaks or prime meat or fish for my wife and I, I spend maybe $70 with a glass of wine.
In the United States, this isn’t really possible.
Food options in Portugal are not as abundant as in the United States. In South Florida, you have so many different options for different food cultures. You have choices here, but it’s not like having a Southern restaurant on every corner. Or if you want to go eat Peruvian food or ceviche, you’ll get something similar, but it won’t be as authentic as if you were in South Florida.
Public education here is free. Luckily, my daughter doesn’t have to pack her own lunch: the school provides the lunch. This represents a saving for us over time.
Ibrahim and his family. Courtesy of Andrew Ibrahim.
Here too, health insurance is very, very economical. We pay around 50 euros per month; in the US I was paying almost $300 a month and wasn’t really getting the best health care I thought the US was touting. In Portugal, the doctors are incredible. It’s cheap and it’s a top quality service.
I appreciate the culture and values of southern Portugal
The south of Portugal, I would say, enjoys 350 days of sunshine per year. That was a big factor because it’s absolutely beautiful here. Christmas is a little different because there’s no snow – and maybe I miss hockey a little – but other than that, I don’t miss the freezing rain, and I don’t miss this either having to shovel my driveway every day. .
Plus, it’s one of the golf capitals of Europe, so demographically there are a lot of good people living here and it has an incredible culture.
Southern Portugal is a bit like living on an island because there are so many beaches around you, so it’s very similar to living in South Florida. However, there is a completely different culture that has been preserved for many years.
Praia de Carvoeiro in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Brandon Rosenblum/Getty Images
The Portuguese culture is just amazing, and you’re next to beautiful beaches, beautiful real estate, beautiful golf courses, and it’s not densely populated. It’s different from living in a big city because it’s quiet.
There is also the family aspect. When you go out to a park, you see families playing together. When we go to restaurants, we see families eating together. You go to church on Sunday and the families are all together. This is something that I think has been lost over time because of my experience living in Florida.
The Algarve has always been very popular with tourists. For many years they have been very accustomed to foreigners and tourists coming to visit and buy properties. Many people come from other European countries to retire here.
Generally speaking, I would say that the Algarve is more of a melting pot of cultures. It preserves Portuguese culture but is much more welcoming to foreign culture than the north or Lisbon.
I see a lot of Americans visiting. If you go to a golf course in the Algarve, I would say 90% of the people are American. You speak a lot of English too, so it’s a good mix here, but it’s growing.
Even though people have said the area is getting colder, I don’t see it getting colder.
And based on what’s happening with the elections that are happening in the United States next year, we’re seeing over the last few months that people are calling and making the decision to move. I think it’s starting to pick up again.
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