Hello,

I am going to Salvador in a couple of months and will be looking to buy an apartment for about R$70,000. I will have the cash in my bank account and I know I can withdraw money from an ATM but the limit on this is under R$1000 a day.
Can anyone advise me of how I can get around this or if there is any other way of transferring this amount of money. I understand it is really difficult to open a Brazillian bank account so I don't want to go down that route.
If I had to withdraw cash every day would I be able to place it straight into a safety deposit box at a bank?

I am a real novice at this as I have never owned property in my own country so any advise would be very much appreicated!

Hi Charlott,

You seem to be facing a rather common problem for people who want to purchase property in Brazil.

Depending on your bank regulations, you can withdraw as much as R$7K per day. Of course, it is not safe nor efficient way to bring funds to Brazil.

You can carry cash or cashiers checks with you and declare them upon entering in Brazil. After all, we are talking about US$25K, which is not such a huge amount.

In any case, if you are ready to buy a property in Brazil, you will need to give 5-10% deposit during the signing of the Buy contract. Then it should take some time for the due diligence process to take place and for both properties to prepare for closing. We are talking weeks if not months.

Of course, there is always an option of wiring the funds directly to the seller´s account. Needless to say, this is potentially a very dangerous move.

Regards,
Boris

Hello,

I am going to Salvador in a couple of months and will be looking to buy an apartment for about R$70,000. I will have the cash in my bank account and I know I can withdraw money from an ATM but the limit on this is under R$1000 a day.
Can anyone advise me of how I can get around this or if there is any other way of transferring this amount of money. I understand it is really difficult to open a Brazillian bank account so I don't want to go down that route.
If I had to withdraw cash every day would I be able to place it straight into a safety deposit box at a bank?

I am a real novice at this as I have never owned property in my own country so any advise would be very much appreicated!

I transfer money all the time through the black market. It sounds more scary than it is. It does take a little getting used to but I have some guys I trust now. I am an american living in brazil and I have a bank account but I would not send the money through the central bank. You can simply wire the money to these people in the states and they will give you the money here. You may e-mial if you need anything further.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Wiring money through the local connections or through doleiros is probably the easiest and the most economical way to move large amounts in and out of Brazil.

Needless to say, this is also a high risk and plainly illegal transaction. There is nothing that secures the eventual payment on your end other then personal connections and someone´s word.

There is a great chance of either you or your funds getting caught up in one of numerous money-laundering and shadow banking investigations conducted by US and Brazilian Governments.

Don´t forget that your funds can also be used to launder drug money and/or terrorist funds.

It seems to me that the worst case scenario can extend a lot farther then simply losing the amount wired.

I think that comprehensive ´buyer beware´ disclamer is proper for any suggestion of such type of financial operation.

Regards,
Boris

I am pondering similar issues. By the way how did you find your solicitor? It all sounds rather corrupt and untrustworthy - how do you find a lawyer you can trust out there? Interested to hear your thoughts.

Regards

When i bought my two properties i wired the money to a friends bank account, who then paid over the money when due. Be warned, however, that tranferring funds to Brazil can take more than a few days - I have had money "untraceable" for as long as 2 weeks. Also, you cannot buy reals overseas - you have to send dollars (or other hard currency) and request the receiving bank in Brazil to exchnge these to reals. One additional hassle is that the receiving bank cannot do this until the receipient has declared to the Central Bank the purpose for the funds and received their approval, althought this does not take more than a day or two.