HOME BUYERS BEWARE - NEW SCAM IN BRAZIL

Good evening!
Today explained to an American the importance of having someone you trust, only a lawyer to conduct any negotiation, check the numerous civil and judicial certificates, preparation of sale and purchase agreement, terms for payment due to transfer values between two countries and in registration with the Real Estate registry Office. Although this alone will not prevent the occurrence of a blow for sure greatly decreases the chance that a dream of a beach house or a property any become a nightmare! For if depend on our Justice to find, punish the coup and refund the foreign buyer in good faith, hopefully only their grandchildren summer the color of misappropriated amounts.
Will not pay anything so exorbitant more for a bit more secure!
Always consult a lawyer!
att,

Luciano Rodrigues

You're absolutely right Luciano! While for some strange reason we all seem to dislike and make nasty jokes about lawyers, they're the first ones we turn to when we're in some kind of trouble.

Strange as it may seem, we don't turn to them BEFORE the trouble begins like we should. Here in Brazil if you don't use a reputable lawyer during the purchase of real property, you should be confined to a mental institution, there are just so many things that can go wrong that could cause you to lose your entire investment. Now with this new scam there is just one more pitfall, and one more reason to retain a lawyer.

See also:   Buying property in Brazil
                  What to be careful about when buying a house?

Cheers,
James        Expat-blog Experts Team

We consulted a real estate lawyer to look over our contract. She was a relative of my husband's co-worker, and she didn't charge us a single real, which was very nice of her! I know a friend who paid over R$ 1000 to a lawyer to look over their contract and while the lawyer didn't make any significant changes, she felt that it was better to be safe than sorry! 

The question Victoria, not in change of contract terms by the lawyer hired by the foreigner who is about to acquire a property in Brazil, was certainly a legal contract in which the other party (the seller) was honest, so there was no need to make major changes in the agreement. We caution here as the need to prevent a disease that can be avoided by taking a simple attitude, a lawyer!
Swindler and con man in Brazil is what else has, then prevent is better than cure! Hire a lawyer to protect a purchase out infinitely cheaper than hiring a lawyer to try to recover the amount invested in the purchase of a non-existent property, as the alert James!

After 15 years, we STILL don't have a title or document to our house in Salvador! This sounds unbelievable, however the annual taxes have never been current so as to attempt securing documents. I've considered selling and locating another house or condominium but the entire process leaves me weak in the knee.

First off! You are so right to always hire an attorney .Being a foreigner makes it even more important. But you wonder why people don't trust attorneys .Well, many politicians in America were attorneys and nobody trusts them.So, it's important to get a reputable attorney and realtor. I have been looking at property in Brazil and South America for several years .So, many people get ripped off by paying Gringo internet prices .This scam is just another thing to add to the long list of things to look out for!!!!! Thanks for posting this helpful topic !!!!!!!!!!!!   

One way to get away from being charged the "gringo" prices that are unfortunately all too common in many transactions here is to not involve yourself in the transaction from the beginning. If possible, get a Brazilian friend or spouse to pretend that they're looking to purchase the property for themselves, even if you trust the realtor I'd say keep them all believeing this in the beginning. Only when the seller has dropped as low as they're willing to go, make your appearance and close the deal. It's almost impossible to go back on a price that was previously agreed upon. At least not without coming off looking like the crook one really would be. The worst case scenario would be that the seller would refuse to complete the transaction and since you've invested nothing but your time until that point you've not lost anything. There will always be other sellers, there may not always be another buyer... that's called divine justice.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

So true James!!!!!!

MotoEspresso wrote:

After 15 years, we STILL don't have a title or document to our house in Salvador! This sounds unbelievable, however the annual taxes have never been current so as to attempt securing documents. I've considered selling and locating another house or condominium but the entire process leaves me weak in the knee.

No title after 15 years? How is this even possible??? Then again, this is Brazil.

I guess that my husband and I got lucky because our home-buying process has been fairly smooth and quick so far. We first saw our apartment on Sep.10...signed our contract on Sep. 30 (right before the bank strike and right before our lender increased their interest rates) and now, we're just waiting on the title. In fact, we were recently told that we won't even be able to move into our new apartment until we can furnish the title with our names on it.

I will say this much:  we had to borrow a little bit of money from the bank to finance our home and because the bank won't pay out without first making sure that all the documents are in order, getting a loan from the bank actually aided our process.

That's correct. Unless the IPTU (property taxes) are paid up-to-date it is not possible to obtain a Deed. It also complicates the sale of such properties, since clear title can't really be established. In the strictest legal terms the "owner" of the property is the person who was the last registered owner at the Cartório de Registro de Imóveis.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

James Also buying a property with someone from Brazil, for example a surgeon and then being told you have no right to the key or the profits from letting the property while also living in it part time. Court cases are slow which enables criminals and it's expensive.

10/13/23 @scarletroses111 Welcome!  Please note that this thread has been dormant for a very long time, and you're unlikely to receive an answer.  In addition, James died in 2016.  If you're looking for a more current thread on purchasing real estate,  you'll find one here:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1042817