This charming area on the hill rising up from Lapa has been abandoned by Cariocas, but more and more foreigners are attracted to the charms of this unique historic neighbourhood.

While the majority of foreigners buying in Rio are looking for the perfect flat in Ipanema or Copacabana, our house hunt took us to the hilltop area of Santa Teresa. Only twenty minutes drive away from Copacabana, with it’s famous historic cable car – the bonde – and its picturesque neighbourhoods, Santa Teresa is often a stop on any tourist itinerary of Rio de Janeiro. But is it a good place to buy a property?

Santa Teresa used to be where wealthy Brazilians built their homes, often with stunning views overlooking Guanabara Bay. But when Ipanema and Copacabana became the desirable destinations, the rich left in droves, leaving behind some unique and interesting houses.

In the last 20 years, it’s artists, musicians and writers who have seen the appeal of the neighbourhood and have recently given Santa Teresa its current character – a neighbourhood village with artsy boutiques and restaurants and bars that have an eclectic clientele. It has been called the Montmartre of Rio.

This renaissance in the area has caught the eye of European buyers now, and there are many French and Germans who have bought houses here and a new five-star hotel is currently under construction.

After a business trip brought my boyfriend to Santa Teresa for a two month stay, we were also taken by the charms of the area and this year decided to buy a house there ourselves.

When you tell people you are buying a house in Santa Teresa, their reaction is almost always the same. Their eyes wander dreamily and they say how much they love Santa Teresa, and then they tell you that they would never want to live there. Confused? We were too.

The reason : the Santa Teresa hill is surrounded by favelas (shanty towns) which gives people a cause for concern about the security of the area. And while nowhere is completely safe in Rio, most Cariocas feel much more secure in an apartment building with a doorman and 24-hour security. When we first started researching the area we heard some stories which gave us cause for concern – one couple had bought their dream home, only to be victims of a hostage taking in their house. Another former resident decided to leave when he had stray bullets going through his roof. With my partner and I expecting a baby and looking for a family home, we were wondering if it was really realistic to live in Santa Teresa.

But what we soon discovered is that when you actually speak to residents of Santa Teresa, they have, more often than not, never had any problem with crime in the 20 or 30 years they have been living there. Although you can never take the issue of security lightly, we decided to put to one side the views of people who had never even lived in Santa Teresa and stick with what the residents themselves were saying.

Our first step in exploring the market was to take to the streets and literally pound the pavements to see what the different parts of Santa Teresa were like. It became clear that the most desirable area was around Largo de Guimaraeas – its proximity to Centro and the cluster of shops, restaurants and even a cinema, makes it the prime location to buy in Santa Teresa. Some parts of Santa Teresa offer some amazing bargains, but they are just too far up the hill and isolated, while other areas are a bit shabbier, possibly due to their proximity to the favelas.

While the characteristic houses of Santa Teresa are period colonial homes, they are hard to find on the market. We did see a few 4-bedroom colonial houses in the 400,000 – 500,000 Reais price range ($1:1.78BrR) but they were in need of complete restoration – time and money that we were not willing to spend. Also, these houses tended to be all on one floor and felt smaller inside than some other houses in the same price range.

Most buyers are single-mindedly after colonial homes, but if you can expand your view to modern houses, there are some amazing homes to be had in Santa Teresa. From the 1960s and 1970s we saw some architect-owned and designed houses ranging from 250-600 square metres (and that’s just the inside !) with swimming pools, several living rooms, beautiful views and some even with an elevator to take you between floors of the house! We often found ourselves thinking there had been a mistake and that we were being shown houses out of our price range – but they were all ranging from 500,000 – 650,000 Reais! Many of the sellers we met often built their houses and now they are older with their kids all flown the nest, and are looking for smaller apartments to retire to.

Many of the brokers will try and show you the same house (on one occasion, five brokers were trying to sell us one particular house). Keep a detailed list of the addresses you have seen and of the price – different brokers have different prices for the same property, so it’s good to also make a note of this.

Because many of these houses have never been sold before, the market is quite erratic. Asking prices are high, and it’s good to really look at a lot of houses so you can compare and contrast prices, location and quality of construction.

After looking at close to 40 houses, we finally found our dream home – a Spanish villa style house with tropical gardens and swimming pool which was the former residence of the Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, and have turned part of it into a bed and breakfast and guest house. Come and visit us and see the charms of Santa Teresa for yourself.

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