Moving to Alphaville SP with kids

    Hi everyone.
My name is Mariana , I'm Brazilian living in the UK . My husband Daniel , is British.  We are moving to Alphaville next year with a 3 and 6 Yr old .
I've been in the UK for 10 years , but before that I was in Australia for 5 years . Plus many years of travelling around the world.
Now that I have kids I'm super scared to move countries again. 
Just wondering if there's any family around the area to have a chat with us or just to make new friends. 
Thanks.  Obrigada 😊🌹
   

    -@Mariguerraf

I do not know your type, but you will bored out of your mind living in Alphavile, unless there is, your next job is around there..    If so then, you are on your way to prision.

There's an youtube documentary on people who live in Alphavile, and the stereotype is similar to those House Wives of LA. If that's your cup of tea, then fine. 

Most people who settled in Alphaville work nearby, as the place is in outer burbs, exurbs. The lower numbers in Alphaville ( I, II,III ) are the most desirable, and therefore more expensive. 

As Brazilians have this fetish about sprawling gated communities ( and they see those American made movies with the Joneses living in suburbia and they immediately assume they are all gated ), they make out Alphaville to be some Nirvana place.   The number of listings on the market demonstrate otherwise.

Gated Community means, high condo fees and property taxes live in a single family enclave. The only benefit from living there, is due to Corporate Tax Exemptions.

If you are concerned about the safety of your child, and to grant them some degree of freedom to be a child, then there are two things I do recommend...

I. Binge Watch "Not Just Bikes" on Youtube.  It's about a Canadian Engineer who left Canada for the Netherlands, and he makes plenty points about the insanity the American Style Suburbs are ( and I lived in one, so I ought to know it firsthand ). Can you imagine Amsterdam Dutch leaving their kids on their own to go anywhere anytime in a bike?

II. Granted if it is  not about being  close to the workplace issue, with shorter commute time,  there are plenty places in Sao Paulo state alone that can afford you the peace of mind you seek after, and far more affordable.

Disclosure. I am a licensed Real Estate Broker, but, on these recommendations, I won't be your man. You need to get someone else. 

Here they are....

1.Granja Viana ( Yes, there are gated enclaves, I confess ).  Way better , less money. Right outside Sao Paulo.

2.The ABC Region ( where I actually live, and I trade in Sao Paulo, rather ). Any of the tree cities.  If Rural living is your thing, you can stretch to Ribeirao Pires .   Mind you, ABC is a bit more of a dense urban set, but the schools and health care are second to none.

3.Holambra- Campinas Satelite Exurb. Huge on Dutch Heritage.

4.Indaiatuba. IT used to be a sleepy town. The proximity to Viracopos Airport made it a logistic hub

5.Valinhos & Vinhedo. Again, outside Campinas.  There are gated communities there.

6.Taubate. Growing economically, but still hinterland. Excelent Med School.

7.Piracicaba. College Town.  Strong manufacturing. They cleaned up the Piracicaba River.

8.Braganca Paulista. College Town. The place is also famous for Sausages. 

9.Campos do Jordao. The place rocks during winter. Fanstastic clean air year round .It's the US equivalent of

10.Atibaia. A lot of rich folk moved there to escape Sao Paulo. Fantastic climate, clean air. Large houses. On the fringes of Mantiqueira's Mountain Range. 

11.Mogi das Cruzes. Lots of Japanese Descendants live there and in Cotia. Well developed.

12.Jau- Clean town, down to earth folk.

13.Itu. Lots of rich folks moved there. There are gated communities there, in case that is your craving.

And there a whole lot more.

@sprealestatebroker . Thanks for all this information.

The reason why we are going to Alphaville,  its because my sister moved there after having kids and my parents decided to move there as well.  They live on the industrial area , so not on those condominiums.  My dream is to move to Santos , but I need to help out the older folks of the family.  All my aunts and parents are over 70th . 😃

Understood. Family ties, you are doing right by them. Welcome back.

If you may, try resisting the temptation in buying in Alphaville. It's a very niche market. and since you would rather be in Santos, unloading Alphaville for the right timing to enter Santos is rather tricky, and can tie your money for longer than you might antecipate. Sometimes you are lucky on flipping, most of the times you are not.

Most of your Santos seekers tend to be buyers at the spur of the moment, when they are doing well. When the economy experience a downturn, that's when plenty are desperate to unload in Santos.

A lot of those buildings by the waterfront, mostly old ones, end up with high condo fees, as you have delinquent owners who owe overdue condo association dues.  These places are at best, weekend and holiday's getaways, and cost a pretty penny to keep, unless they are your main home address.

So, you want to enter that market, cash on hand, to grind a good deal for yourself. At the expense of the desperate sellers.  It is a very cyclical market, these days  peaks and valleys softened by a tidal wave of retirees moving down Serra do Mar from anywhere in the State, particularly the Greater Sao Paulo.

The true gems in the rough for me, and that's my only opinion, to be clear, is the back side of Monte Serrat, where Downtown, Valongo, Vila Belmiro are. Away from the trendy shoreline. 

A lot of old architectural gems begging for people to discover them and turn them into one of a kind places of living. 

A better way to conceptualize what I am trying to expose, are NYC Townhome conversions..

1.64 Washington Mews - Greenwich Village, New York NY

2.118 East 83rd Street-Upper East Side New York, NY 10028

3.7 Everit Street, Dumbo Brooklyn, NY 11201

All of the three above were Horse Carriage Stable Conversions. And by the way, I have complete photo sets on them.   Feel free to request them at your will.

All of them were repurposed from some kind of commercial establishment into private residences with private yards. All olf them real stunners, once renovations are completed.

Sometimes the investment between acquisition and renovations it is feasible, sometimes not, particularly  if the property under consideration has a landmark edict upon it. On the later case, the renovation costs can set you back severely.

These are places to spend time and money on gut renovations, so be warned. They are not moving ready. The payout is materialized only after others see that you have gotten something unique not many others can have or replicate. Which kind of elevate you to the cool stratosphere and make you a genius for being on the forefront.

   

A lot of those buildings by the waterfront, mostly old ones, end up with high condo fees, as you have delinquent owners who owe overdue condo association dues.  T

    -@sprealestatebroker

Quite an interesting point. The high condo fees in these cases are the direct result of owners failing to pay their fees previously?  I may be wrong, but any judge surely will come down on the side of the condo, since the condo association docs are (all but) the law in these cases, and are backed up by Federal Law - certainly in my experience. So the owners will be compensated, and more, for any extra they have to pay to balance the accounts in the meantime? So, in the long term, it will not cost the owners (who pay) any more, or am I missing something? Or is this yet another reason to avoid SP..?

02/06/24  Quite an interesting point. The high condo fees in these cases are the direct result of owners failing to pay their fees previously?  I may be wrong, but any judge surely will come down on the side of the condo, since the condo association docs are (all but) the law in these cases, and are backed up by Federal Law - certainly in my experience. So the owners will be compensated, and more, for any extra they have to pay to balance the accounts in the meantime? So, in the long term, it will not cost the owners (who pay) any more, or am I missing something? Or is this yet another reason to avoid SP..?        -@Peter Itamaraca

High condo assessments in vintage buildings probably have a lot to do with the Brazilian penchant for deferred maintenance.   They certainly did in our building.   The elderly lady  who was the síndica for years also took the path of least resistance and never raised assessments or pursued deadbeat unit owners  so we were always going from crisis to crisis, and robbing Peter to pay Paul.   We finally ejected her (I hear that she still refers to me as "That MAN!🤬), brought in a professional síndica, more than doubled the assessment, handed collections over to a garantidora who chases the deadbeats down, and sold our past dues to the garantidora to give ourselves some working capital.  It'll be a long road back, but things are finally improving.   

To clarify everyone else on higher condo fees. 

There are various factors affecting the condominium rate, namely a few....

1.All elevator buildings feature higher condo/hoa rates given that an elevator building is required to have a scheduled elevator maintenance contract. Same goes for lightning rods, fire extinguishers, hydrants, and pest control ( rodents, insects ).

2.Adding to fixed costs, you have payroll expenses, by far the largest line item cost. Door man, super, in house maintenance and cleaning. Newer buildings tend to outsource this item, to third party management companies to avoid being on the hook for liabilties, pensions, benefits.

3.Most condominium buildings provide for shared water and sewer usage and plumbing, which means the water and sewer is paid through the condo association. 

4.The majority of condo associations keep up with maintenance expenses. Very seldom a few cases where the condo has deferred maintenance.  Maintenance is built in the condo fees, so unless the in building staff & management is incompetent or negligent, deferred maintenance is a rare occurrence.

5.Then there are the numbers of units in a building. The more units per building or per floor, the more affordable the condo rate is. 

6.Then  there are extraordinary expenses, these are to be voted in by the condo association during their periodic or extraodinary meets.  The building might need to have a rain water collection system, facades are overdue for paint or resurfacing, a new gymn, seepage on the rooftop, redoing the main lobby.

7.High delinquecies on condo dues do force the others who otherwise keep up with their obligations in covering for the hole.   This is why condo buildings in resort towns are  more likely to have these setbacks than in places where most dwellers use their units as primary residence.

You have to realize a second home on a getaway place is a luxury expense, with the acquisition plus ongoing costs. |If anyone is to default on their obligations for reasons of financial hardship, the secondary home is the one more likely  to be affected.

Brazilians  with homes in getaway places, be it a farm, a house beach, will often  resort to compensate the custodian ( caseiro ) with perks, special favors,  and extra cash just to avoid the fixed expenses and labor commitments.

Now, in referring to Santos, my remarks on condo delinquency rates go mosty onto the buildings along the shoreline, and a couple blocks away.  I've seen cases as such.

The downtown, seaport area ( Centro Historico, Valongo), a hidden gem IMHO, there are not many condo buildings, short of the newer projects there.  Most of those buildings are under Fee Simple Ownership Structures, so definetively not condominiums, no matter how many units make up the dwelling. And most are commercial buldings.