My last note seems not to have arrived....I should say that I am paying the deposit on a house near Porto Seguro tomorrow!! A nice estate agent with a respected and established agency is handling my side as well as the sellers affairs..getting a bit shaky now as the money gets fired off to Spain tomorrow..any advise out there??

Hello Gordon,

Please, see the responses to your posts.

Do remember that the agent and the agency are only going to be nice until they receive their commission.

If you are buying a lemon, (which you may not have a way to rectify) you are not going to get any help from them, nor will you see your money back.

It looks like I am going to make the deposit today, too late to change it.
Everything so far has created a paper trail, and I am going to instruct a lawyer in Bahia...maybe too late to save my deposit but not too late to make sure that I am not buying a `lemon`
My main concern was that they rushed this through,on my last day in Brazil, and only gave me 10 days to place the deposit, which was not enough time to sort out a lawyer,,

Well... it is your money.

But it seems like a scam to me. What the agency is doing is at least unethical and very likely illegal.

Who drew the Buy agreement that you´ve signed? Do you have a lawyer representing you?

From what I understand from the situation (and what I got from our lawyer by whom I run the situation briefly), the Buy contract can be null and void because they are discrepencies between what they are selling you and what is in the property title along with some very likely abusive clauses.

Once again, it is you money, but why give satisfaction to crooks?

...real estate agents drew up the Buy agreement, (with the seller present) and they said a lawyer was not neccesary, as they deal with all the legalities.
My sister and brother have both bought a plot of land from these agents and are heppy with the deal, they were also told a lawyer was not needed and they went ahead. I listened to them initially but have since realised that a lawyer is a must..wouldn`t you say..

Gordon,

My advise to you is, before you go any further, you should have your attorney review all paperwork and make sure it is not a Contrato Irretratavel de Compra e Venda, because if it is, you will not be allowed to get out of it.

Also, as Boris said, realtors have interest in finalysing the deal, specially those who represent both parties. Get your attorney on board as soon as possible!

Good luck!