The purpose of www.AlgarveProp.com is to promote international real estate deals for the Algarve region of southern Portugal. While the region is touted as an excellent location for holiday / vacation homes and retreats, the site also covers the real estate investment business opportunity of corporations and other businesses purchasing the properties.

The Idea

From a business perspective, real estate investments can be something worth pursuing (depending on the market, your locale, and the area where you’re interested in investing). The information presented by AlgarveProp.com is relatively thorough, but the best part is that the site doesn’t encourage irresponsible investing. It’s recommended that businesses (or individuals) consult with a Portuguese property lawyer and have a property assessment done, which seems like solid advice.

The site also delves a bit into the financial side of things, detailing information on fees and taxes related to property for sale on the Silver Coast. With a main focus on the site apparently set on influencing potential UK buyers / investors, financial information presented on the site is laid out in terms of the Euro.

The Site

While there’s a lot of good information on investment property in Portugal, I’d make a few suggestions for the site (aesthetically) from a visitor standpoint:

• The site is currently a bit cluttered, or at least it feels that way on the home page in particular. I’d at the very least break down the two large paragraphs on that home page either by abbreviating them or splitting them into more, but shorter, segments.
• The background color makes it difficult to read much text on the site. In general, dark type over a light background is preferable, especially where you’re offering a lot of text-based information. I would suggest that the main content block (currently shown within a white border) be changed to a white, or light, background, while keeping the blue in the header, sidebar, and other areas without as much text.
• At the bottom of the site, you’ll see a huge set of links to other property for sale. While I’d bet this is done for SEO value, it’s extremely unattractive to visitors. I don’t believe in using SEO tactics that can’t work in harmony with creating the best possible visitor experience, so from that perspective, I’d have to suggest that be changed – to a drop-down list, separate link page, or some other option.

Aside from the aesthetic suggestions I’ve made, the site doesn’t ring any problematic bells with me. The site is easy to navigate whether you want to browse for property listings, fly to Portugal to visit properties you’re considering investing in, or if you’re simply interested in learning more about the legalities of owning overseas property in Portugal.