Patrick Schaumans

After deciding that he and his family wanted a holiday home in Portugal, Patrick Schaumans, a Simple Life Homebuyer originally from Belgium, explored the Silver Coast and never looked back. Today, the Silver Coast feels like home, and it’s his favourite place to write novels...

Excerpt from the Portugal The Simple Life Podcast Episode 3 - Season 3:

Tell us a little about yourself…

I'm Patrick Schaumans. I'm from Flanders, a nice region in Belgium. For me, it's one of the nicest regions. It's close to Brussels, but it's a green region. 

I'm married and I have two adult daughters and three grandchildren: Ella, Lucy and Brik. 

A few years ago, I retired as an official of an international organization. Before, I was working as a bank manager in Belgium.  Since I retired, I started writing books. More precisely, thrillers. 

“The Silver Coast has been my favourite writer's retreat. It's where I can find the time and the inspiration to write my books.”

What is your opinion of Portugal and the Portuguese people? 

All the Portuguese that I met during my long career of 28 years, they all became friends. Those people were always very friendly, and they were hardworking. I can only confirm now, after knowing Portugal better for seven years already, that this is also the case for the rest of the country. 

Why do you think the Portuguese are so friendly, welcoming and unique in this way? 

I don't know, but I think it's the lifestyle in Portugal.

There is a huge difference between stepping into a shop in Belgium, ready to buy something, and doing the same thing in Portugal. In Portugal, there's always a smile, and it's true! It's coming from their heart.

You go once or twice to the same restaurant, and the third time you go, you are almost like family. You don't have that in Belgium, for example, it's a completely different way of life.

Take us through the process of buying a home on the Silver Coast with Immo Portugal. Your experience of getting started and how that all was for you and your wife?

When I came to the Silver Coast for the first time, a salesperson at Immo Portugal spent five hours showing us several projects and the hidden gems of the Silver Coast.

When we were back home, my wife said: "Patrick, you will see! She will call you every week to see if you have made up your mind!" You know what? She never called us. I had to call her in September to fix a second appointment.

"The policy of Immo Portugal is not quantity, but quality. They only act when you are ready for it. When you say: “Okay, I'm ready. I'm open to get extra information”. And that was a very positive aspect."

You've gone from first seeing things on 3D images and plans. Take us through that experience for you, and how was the process? 

First of all, when you are a foreigner, and you want to buy or build a house, it's a big question mark. It's a big question mark on a legal basis. It's a big question mark on the administrative basis. And there Immo Portugal guided us to a solicitor in Caldas da Rainha, who smoothly arranged everything for us. 

We had no worries. And, on top of that, there was an extra guarantee because we bought the land immediately. That's a big difference from other builders in Portugal, where you only become the owner when the construction is finished. Meaning that, if your builder goes bankrupt in the middle of the process, you have nothing, although you have already invested money. That was not the case with Immo Portugal.

Then, during the process of building, I have only one word to describe it: it was fantastic!

You were accompanied by a Project Manager?

I will mention their names because they merited it. We had very good contact with Luis Cardoso and Denise, via the Leisure Launch Group. 

I have to say that they always had a listening ear to our wishes, to our plans, to our problems. Because in every construction, you will sometimes have a minor problem that needs to be solved. Well, they were always there.

They sent us, on a regular basis, pictures of how the construction continued. And so, we always had a guarantee that what we were paying for was work that was done. And that's an enormous advantage. 

Recently I was in Portugal in a restaurant, and who was sitting there at the table? Luis Cardoso! He came to our table and said: "Hey Patrick! How are you?"

Can you imagine? A Project Manager, having hundreds of clients, who still knows you after seven years, and who still makes the effort to come and say hello! I don't know many, but that is Luis! And that is Denise, as well. Because they are always as friendly as possible and always try to help. You have a fantastic team there.

Can you tell us how it was the first time you walked into the house?

We came by surprise. Luis and Denise did not know that we would come. But when we arrived with the car in front of the house, the house was already finished and they were all cleaning up before handing the house over. 

We were really surprised because it was more than we expected! 

Tell us a little about your books…

It was in March 2022, when we could travel again. We escaped to our house in Portugal and there I started writing my first book, which is written in Dutch. It's a story, a thriller with some murdering. That book was published in the summer of 2023. But even before, I received so many positive reactions that during my month-long stay, in June 2023, I started writing my second book.

The title is "Portuguese Connection" ("De Portugese Connectie") and it's also a thriller. It's a story that starts in Flanders, but it reaches its climax on the Silver Coast. I describe a little of Portugal’s simple life, what are its hidden gems, what cultural things you can see, even some good restaurants in the neighbourhood. For a reader who is in the Netherlands or Belgium, in the situation I was in, in 2016, not having a clue about the Silver Coast, when they read my book, they will know much more than I knew when I came to Portugal for the first time.

You mentioned how, in the book, you've got tips on restaurants… We know how wonderful the food is in Portugal, and there are so many good places to go out and eat.

We have four or five restaurants that we visit regularly. Every time we go, it's almost like meeting family. Even if we go four or five times per year to Portugal, sometimes there are two or three months in between that they don't see us. But every time we come, we are always well served and with a smile. And that's the difference here with what we have in Belgium.

Patrick, what's one thing that you would like people to remember and take away from our conversation?

If you take a bag, you put in the sunshine, nice beaches, the wild ocean, the stress-less way of life, the culinary delights that you find, the friendly people... You close the bag; you shake it, and when you open it the Silver Coast will emerge! 

"Portugal is the ideal place to de-stress."

But why does Portugal feel like home? 

Because you have all those advantages. People are friendly. You have no stress. And it starts already when you take the car from Lisbon airport to the Silver Coast. Once you are passing Loures, the stress is gone! You have no stress, not on the road, not in the traffic, in the shops is the same thing. People are friendly everywhere. It's peaceful.

You want to go to the beach, it's not far away. And you have plenty of choice of beaches. And nice beaches, like Foz do Arelho and São Martinho do Porto.

"When I come by plane from Brussels to Lisbon, I always try to take a seat on the right side of the plane because every time I see the special shell form of the beach in São Martinho. You can see it from the plane!"

Portugal The Simple Life Podcast Episode 3 - Season 3:

Listen to the full podcast episode here: 
https://www.buzzsprout.com/923788/14855916