10 reasons why you should buy this great house near Oporto - Portugal
When you are trying to buy a house near Oporto, full of amenities, with rustic and elegant features, sturdy, close to nature and well located in the heart of Northern Portugal, you may be overwhelmed with the amount of websites and pop-ups, many of them commercially aggressive, that jump out of the screen, like tangled cherries from a basket.
In this text, easy to read, comfortable and enlightening, I will present you the main 10 reasons to show you that this is the best house to buy near Oporto:
1 — The importance of geographical location
2 — Railroad access to all the world from this house
3 — The best house near Porto for families with children and/or pets
4 — The bike paths, hiking trails and other amenities
5 — Buying a used house is safer than buying a new one
6 — The quality of construction of the best house to buy near Oporto
8 — The equipments and automatisms
10 — Fresh air and clear views
1 — The importance of geographical location
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| Railway museum of Nine |
Located 5 miles from Vila Nova de Famalicão — a historical, cultural, and heavily industrialized municipality (it is the third most export-oriented municipality in Portugal) — Nine is graced by a plethora of green, rural, and forested spaces, where you can fill your lungs with pure fresh air without having to move away from the amenities of a modern contemporary life.
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| Bridge over Rio Este |
One can say clearly that Nine is a true paradise near the city.
With an excellent geographical location, Nine is endowed with excellent road accesses, two steps away from the national roads that connect the town to Famalicão (5 miles), Braga (9,3 miles) and Barcelos (8,7 miles).
But that's not all, Guimarães is right next door, and Porto — and, consequently, the Sá Carneiro Airport — is half an hour away, without having to worry about the typical bustle of traffic jams that surround large metropolises.
In short, Nine is in the middle of all these major cities, with quick access and fairly close to the beach.
2 — Railroad access to all the world from this house
Yes, it is true!
By purchasing this stupendous house in Nine, if you prefer to travel by train, you need only a small trolley bag and to walk one mile to reach the Nine station...
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| Woman arriving to railway station (AI generated) |
When I moved to Nine, I carefully studied the sophisticated train and subway network that we can access from this strategic location.
When I worked in a clinical analysis laboratory in Vila Nova de Gaia, it only took me 50 minutes to leave home by bicycle, get on the urban train to the S. Bento Station in Oporto, and then take the subway (metro) to the nearby Gaia City Hall, where I spent the day working.
what goes up must come down
What was a big surprise when I realized that, after all, I was saving time and a lot of stress, because when I lived in Gaia and had to open the doors, in the early morning, of a clinical analysis lab in Matosinhos (next to Oporto), it used to take me more than an hour and a half to cross the Arrábida Bridge, over the Douro River, often getting stuck in the stop-start of the endless line of cars.
After having changed jobs several times and after finding myself in the condition of writer / teacher / speaker, I went to Lisbon several times to take care of business and you cannot imagine how easily, without having to worry about cabs, rides or other hikes, I could quickly get to the station and catch the alfa-pendular (a high speed train) — which makes a pertinent stop in Nine — that would take me to Santa Apolónia Station, in Lisbon.
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| Nine railway station |
But not only... Barcelos, Viana do Castelo, Vigo (in Galicia, Spain) are also minutes away. You just need to be informed of the schedules. They all stop at the Nine Station.
3 — The best house near Porto for families with children and/or pets
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| Our middle son happy to walk to school |
After all, the elementary school is only 0,4 miles away from this magnificent house and the kindergarten 0,5 miles away
Considering that children should be raised in an environment where there is healthy contact with people — other children and adults, including seniors — and be left to play together with their peers on the street or in other spaces that exude confidence and tranquillity, I have always felt comforted to know that we have provided our children with a happy childhood free of ties, fears, and constrictions.
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| Backyard |
As this magnificent house has two extensive patios (one in front and another, larger one, behind the house, not counting the common, private area with the other houses), our children have always been able to run, ride bikes, play football and other outdoor children's games, in total safety and privacy, together with our beloved animal friends (we have three dogs and a turtle).
But not only. Since Nine is part of a municipality that bets on education and development of its residents, Famalicão, only 5 miles away, with excellent road and rail access, has always provided infrastructures and quality teaching staff. Because of this, the schools in the county are in the top places of the national ranking in the evaluation of schools and teaching. Such is the case of schools such as Júlio Brandão, Camilo Castelo Branco and D. Sancho I.
Since we have always made sure that the children learn music and how to play an instrument, it was with great satisfaction that my older children attended the two best music schools in the county — ArtEduca and CCM. My youngest daughter, who decided to study in Viatodos, in the municipality of Barcelos, started learning the transverse flute at the Academia de Música de Viatodos, where articulated teaching (i.e. a part of the regular classes) is also possible. A fantastic school, with an excellent reputation.
4 — The bike paths, hiking trails and other amenities
Since this beautiful house is inserted in a rural location, when we leave on foot, we have access to several paths through corn fields, fruit trees and forest areas.
But that's not all...
Nine is bathed by the Este River, which flows into the Ave River (Vila do Conde). Among green and fresh paths, the walks are always enlivened with the soundtrack of birdsong interspersed with the beating of the water in the waterfalls
On hot days you can choose to take a dip in the deeper parts of the river or visit the river beach next to the centennial Templar monastery in Arnoso, just a few minutes walk from this superb house.
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River beach in front of the Mosteiro de Arnoso
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Nine is a complete village, full of interesting small family businesses, such as grocery stores, mini-markets, bakeries, restaurants, and public services, such as the well-equipped post office and the Health Extension.
5 — Buying a used house is safer than buying a new one
Yes, it is entirely true.
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| Schist wall in 2007 |
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| Schist wall in 2023 |
When you buy this house, you can see for yourself how sturdy the construction is.
In a convenient visit you can verify the uprightness of the structure, without major fractures or cracks
Real estate agents say that middle-class Portuguese couples are preferring less garden area (to have less to clean, I suppose), favouring cement instead of grass and trees, and new constructions.
With labour and raw material costs soaring, a house equivalent to the one we are putting up for sale, new, should cost more than double what we are asking.
As the price per square meter of built area, in this area, has been increasing, even though we are going through a potential economic crisis, either the new constructions have, in fact, much less land (yards and built area), or the quality of the materials used: iron, beams, concrete, granite and wood, have a lower quality.
Either way, in a new construction, you never know where the house is going to crack or getting infiltrations. It is a real lottery, despite the (short) guarantee provided by the builder.
When buying a second-hand house, like the one we are selling, it is easy to detect if there have been serious problems over the years. The purchase is therefore much safer.
6 — The quality of construction of the best house to buy near Oporto
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| Ground floor in 2007 |
This excellent house, built in 2007, one of the first of its kind in the locality, shows all the dedication and ingenuity of the builder when we look at the materials used in it, such as the top quality granite stone, the aluminium, the double-glazed windows, and the floor, made entirely of solid wood, in nailed floor.
When we bought the house in 2007 my wife lay down on the floor to savour the feeling of space that the house provided
7 — The inner and outer space
One of the strengths of the house is the feeling of space it offers. In a very simple way the house was developed based on an open space concept, and whether sitting in the living room or sitting at the dining table, we can enjoy a full sense of depth and continuity.
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| Dining room in 2023 |
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| Kitchen in 2007 |
From almost every point it is possible to have a wide perspective of the front garden, the back patio, and the long, sober lines of the first floor.
This feature, combined with the strong luminosity that comes from the excellent sunlight that reaches the interior through the large windows with access to the gardens, gives an authentic feeling of communion with nature
It is on the first floor that the living room, kitchen and dining room are installed, without any partition. This floor also has a full service bathroom. The kitchen, fully equipped, made-to-measure, with clean lines, was developed with the best materials and finishes. It has an island and countless storage units.
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| Kitchen in 2023 |
To mark the difference, the sink and the island have a white Silestone® style stone, giving it a modern look, which insists on not going out of fashion.
The upper floor consists of a spacious suite equipped with air conditioning, private bathroom with Jacuzzi, balcony with unobstructed views of the mountains in front of Barcelos, a very large hall of the rooms with the possibility of being transformed into a 4th bedroom, gym or office, two large and sunny bedrooms with access to the balcony, and a full bathroom with bathtub. All the rooms have an appreciable amount of storage space, thanks to the built-in closets, in wood, very spacious.
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| Suite in 2023 |
The garage is very airy, with natural ventilation, which allows various types of manual labour (carpentry, painting, sewing, among others) and is quite large, with official capacity for two cars, although three can fit there. The garage also has a space for a woodshed, another for a food pantry, and a laundry room with capacity for a washing machine and a dryer. It is in this space that the central vacuum is installed.
8 — The equipments and automatisms
The garage of the best house near Oporto is fully automated with an electric gate with remote control that gives access to the general entrance of the garages of the housing block.
This space is very large and allows children to play there in the harshest of cold days, when there is rain or storms, even giving the possibility to play football (soccer) or ride their bikes or rollerblades in total safety
This common area is also fully lit and has another automatic gate with remote control that gives access to the outside.
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| Spacious garage, for 3 vehicles, and laundry room |
All windows are equipped with electric blinds and the house has a video intercom with original night light.
The house has central heating system, piped natural gas, with radiators in all compartments and central vacuum with a "glutton" in the kitchen.
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| Central vacuum system |
9 — Grow food not lawn
In our gardens we are already able to grow lettuces, cabbages, beans, zucchinis, squash, apples, persimmons, strawberries, physalis, blackberries, and much, much more
With more than 1080 square feet of patio and 2 balconies and two large and sunny porches, the possibilities are limitless.
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| Domestic Gilda in permaculture mode |
10 — Fresh air and clear views
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| View from the suite balcony |
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