BUYING PROCESS

How does the purchase process at Apaulinha work?

Apaulinha sells its nine villas after construction is complete, so that buyers commit to a finished, furnished home rather than a drawing. During construction, prospective buyers join an interest list; when sales officially open, the formal sequence is reservation, then promissory contract (CPCV) with a 10–15% deposit, then the final deed (escritura).

The logic behind selling after completion is deliberate. Most developments in the region sell off-plan, asking buyers to imagine the result. Apaulinha takes the opposite position: each villa is delivered turnkey — built, equipped, furnished and decorated — and buyers experience the actual product before purchasing. Some earlier sales remain possible for motivated buyers during construction, but always at final-level pricing; Apaulinha does not discount early in the cycle.

The interest list is the practical entry point. Joining it during construction carries no obligation, but it establishes priority when sales open officially. Within the interest list, the Founding Members programme grants the earliest registrants a defined window of temporal exclusivity, together with access to the first tier of a rising price ladder — an advantage of timing, never a discount.

Once a buyer decides to proceed, the process follows standard Portuguese practice:

1. Reservation — the villa is taken off the market for the buyer.

2. CPCV (contrato-promessa de compra e venda) — the promissory contract, legally binding on both parties, signed with a deposit of 10–15% of the price at Apaulinha. Portuguese promissory contracts more broadly carry deposits of 10–30%.

3. Escritura — the final deed, signed before a Portuguese notary, at which the balance is paid, title transfers and the purchase taxes fall due.

Because the villas are completed at the point of sale, the interval between reservation and deed is short by development standards — typically one to three months for a completed property in Portugal, as an indicative guide.

This matters because it removes the two classic risks of buying in a fashionable market: construction risk and specification risk. What is contracted is what exists.