3 ms·

Well the problem is (1) jobs and (2) many people simply don't want to live in a town with 1000 people and nothing to do. (1) Bar agriculture and remote work, t

Well the problem is (1) jobs and (2) many people simply don't want to live in a town with 1000 people and nothing to do. (1) Bar agriculture and remote work, there are very few jobs in the interior of the country. I think in this forum we may have a skewed perspective since our sector is by far the one where remote work is most common. But most people simply don't have the option to earn 10x minimum wage from their computer while sitting in an idyllic mountainside village. (2) Many people like living in rural areas. That's great! But many people also do not. I like nature walks and mountain biking and clean air as much as the other guy, but I also like restaurants and classical music concerts and nights out. I sort of have that right now by living in a rural area 10m away from a mid-sized (150k pop) town, but I don't think I would like very much to live in the middle of Trás-os-Montes for more than a few months.

pelasaco 4y ago
The issue is that the Government should bring the infrastructure to the outback, as other European countries do. In another hand, I love the almost rustic Alentejo.. I guess having unstable regions like South America, Asia, Middle east and Africa is one factor, among other factors already described in this thread, raising housing prices...
madaxe_again 4y ago
There’s more work than you might think - there’s a perpetual shortage of white collar professionals here, from doctors to accountants to insurance agents. The ones who are here are perpetually oversubscribed, and are hiring. There’s also an absolute dearth of trades - there is one electrician, two builders, two plumbers, covering a huge area, with a three year waiting list. The younger couples I mentioned who have moved here typically have one working remote, the other starting a business… and then the remote worker stopping that to work on their partner’s business which is suddenly growing out of control. That’s not even considering things like ecotourism, the europa grants available for doing pretty much anything here, and public sector jobs, which they are filling with literally anyone who applies. There’s also the whole virtuous cycle thing - more people move here, bring more commerce, more demand, secondary and tertiary industries develop. I hear you on lifestyle, however - this wouldn’t have been for me when I was in my 20’s, but at nearly 40, and finally wanting to start a family, it’s ideal - and many of the younger folks moving here are in the same boat. That said, there are restaurants, some really good, and transport around here has improved such that Bragança is only 30 minutes from Vimioso now, rather than 1hr+ it was 10 years ago, and it has all the amenities of a secondary city. Oh, and we had an excellent concert a few weeks ago - after the bullfighting. But I agree, it isn’t for everyone - but it’s perhaps for more people than might realise it.

pelasaco 4y ago

The issue is that the Government should bring the infrastructure to the outback, as other European countries do. In another hand, I love the almost rustic Alentejo.. I guess having unstable regions like South America, Asia, Middle east and Africa is one factor, among other factors already described in this thread, raising housing prices...

madaxe_again 4y ago

There’s more work than you might think - there’s a perpetual shortage of white collar professionals here, from doctors to accountants to insurance agents. The ones who are here are perpetually oversubscribed, and are hiring. There’s also an absolute dearth of trades - there is one electrician, two builders, two plumbers, covering a huge area, with a three year waiting list. The younger couples I mentioned who have moved here typically have one working remote, the other starting a business… and then the remote worker stopping that to work on their partner’s business which is suddenly growing out of control. That’s not even considering things like ecotourism, the europa grants available for doing pretty much anything here, and public sector jobs, which they are filling with literally anyone who applies. There’s also the whole virtuous cycle thing - more people move here, bring more commerce, more demand, secondary and tertiary industries develop. I hear you on lifestyle, however - this wouldn’t have been for me when I was in my 20’s, but at nearly 40, and finally wanting to start a family, it’s ideal - and many of the younger folks moving here are in the same boat. That said, there are restaurants, some really good, and transport around here has improved such that Bragança is only 30 minutes from Vimioso now, rather than 1hr+ it was 10 years ago, and it has all the amenities of a secondary city. Oh, and we had an excellent concert a few weeks ago - after the bullfighting. But I agree, it isn’t for everyone - but it’s perhaps for more people than might realise it.