Practical guidance for people building a life in Portugal.
Whether you're considering Portugal, preparing for the move, or already here trying to figure out your next steps, we help you sort through the options, uncover what you might be missing, and make informed decisions based on what actually matters to you. Paula brings a local perspective and Emily brings an immigrant perspective, so you can move forward with more clarity and fewer expensive mistakes.
Questions We Help You Answer
We don't claim to have all the answers. We help you ask the right questions, understand your options, identify blind spots, make informed decisions, and build a practical plan for your life in Portugal. • Is Portugal really the right fit for us? • Which town fits our lifestyle? • Should we rent or buy? • Do we need a car? • How does healthcare actually work? • What should we know about schools? • What are we forgetting to think about? • Why does everything still feel harder than expected? • Everyone online says something different. Who do we trust? • I don’t even know what questions I should be asking—where do I start?
CLARITY
Cut through conflicting advice and understand your options.
PERSPECTIVE
Benefit from the perspective of both a Portuguese local and a recent immigrant.
CONFIDENCE
Move forward with practical next steps personalized to your goals, wants and needs.
Our Promise
We don't pretend to do all-the-things.
There's a reason Casa da Emília isn't a "one-stop-shop," and it's to your benefit. We'd rather be very good at what we do than pretend to do everything. We know what we're good at: helping you sort through the options, uncover blind-spots, weigh trade-offs, and make decisions that fit your life. That's where we focus our expertise.
When you need specialized help outside that scope - visas, taxes, shipping, AIMA, real estate, or other practical services - we'd rather send you to someone who does that work exceptionally well, than pretend we do it all ourselves.
Our recommendations are earned, not purchased.
When people trust us with important - and often expensive - decisions about building a life in Portugal, every recommendation we give must always pass our one simple test:
Would we recommend this to our own family?
We don't charge businesses for referrals, we never ask them to increase prices for our clients, and we don't ever expect compensation from a business for recommending them. Instead, we build our network the old fashioned way: through firsthand experiences, client feedback, and community reputation. When we recommend someone, it's because we genuinely believe they provide excellent service - not because they paid to be on our list.
Our loyalty is to our clients - not to referral fees.
Most People Start Here
Not sure where to start? Start with the simple decision in front of you right now. Whether you're still considering Portugal, planning your move, or already here and trying to figure out what comes next, we help you sort through the options, identify what actually matters to you, and make decisions with more clarity and less overwhelm. Choose the level of support that fits where you are right now.
Portugal Reality Check
€149 + VAT (Portuguese sales tax)
A personalized session to help you work through whatever decision about life in Portugal has you stuck, uncertain, overwhelmed or wondering what you might be missing.
Ideal for:
- Choosing where to live
- School and family decisions
- Housing, transportation, or healthcare decisions
- Sorting through conflicting advice or too many options
- Reviewing a plan you've already made
- Figuring out what comes next after you've arrived
Includes:
- 45-60 minute session with Emily and Paula
- Both an immigrant and a Portuguese perspective
- Blind spots, trade-offs, and options you may not have considered
- Practical next steps
- Written follow-up summary
Articles & Practical Guides
Not every question needs a consultation. Sometimes you just need someone to explain the stuff nobody thought to tell you.
Our practical, firsthand guides to everyday life in Portugal- from driving and schools to shopping, healthcare, bureaucracy and all the little things you didn't know that you didn't know.
Portugal Decision & Scouting
€1,495 + VAT (Portuguese sales tax)
A personalized, on-the-ground experience designed to help you figure out not just where you could live in Portugal, but where your actual life might work best.
Ideal for:
- Exploring the Silver Coast and Central Portugal as potential places to live
- Comparing locations based on your personal priorities and your unique daily life
- Testing assumptions before making expensive or difficult-to-reverse decisions
- Going beyond a typical area tour to explore what everyday life might actually look like
Includes:
- Pre-trip Discovery Guide and personalized planning
- Two days of guided, customized scouting (with optional add-on days)
- Morning coffee and daily debriefs
- Decision journal/workbook
- Post-trip debrief and next-step recommendations
Additional scouting days available for €485 + VAT (tax)
Who We Are
Why these two?
Emily:
Emily understands what it's like to leave one country, build a life in another, and navigate the hundreds of decisions that come with starting over.
Paula:
As a Portuguese native (who has been an immigrant abroad as well), Paula provides the local insight, language, and cultural understanding that help turn good decisions into practical ones.
Together:
Together, they bring perspectives to your situation that neither could offer alone.
Casa da Emília is a woman-owned, 50/50 American-Portuguese business. Inspired by our experiences living abroad, we strive to help you avoid the struggles we have faced through the years while making new friends! We are honored to help all people (and their loved four-legged companions), regardless of who they love, what they look like, and what their beliefs may be.
Emily Reid
Dr. Emily Reid spent more than 20 years helping people become more independent and overcome complex, real-world challenges as an occupational therapist before trading her predictable suburban life in the United States for the wonderfully confusing adventure of starting over in Portugal.
Like many immigrants, Emily quickly discovered that moving abroad isn't just about visas and paperwork. It's about figuring out everyday life—the unfamiliar systems, the language barriers, the cultural differences, and the constant feeling that everyone else seems to know something you don't. She learned that the biggest challenges are often the smallest ones.
Those experiences, combined with a career spent helping people navigate life's practical challenges, inspired Casa da Emília. Emily believes that relocating successfully isn't about having all the answers—it's about asking the right questions, understanding your options, and making decisions based on what actually matters to you.
Today, Emily lives near Leiria with her husband, children, and dogs. She combines her firsthand experience as an immigrant with more than two decades spent as an occupational therapist helping people solve practical problems, build confidence, and become more independent. She still occasionally mistakes soap for hand sanitizer, still white-knuckles her way through medieval streets clearly designed before cars existed, and remains convinced that fresh Portuguese bread solves at least half of life's problems.
Paula Booth
Paula Booth is a true force of nature — full of energy, spirit, and determination. Born and raised in Portugal, she set off for Germany in 1990, where fate introduced her to the love of her life: an American in the U.S. Air Force. With him, she took flight to England where they spent several years and welcomed their two children.
Around the year 2005, Paula decided to return to her homeland, happily settling in Marinha Grande. Having once been alone in a foreign country, she knows better than anyone the challenges of starting over — the loneliness, the cultural barriers, and the vital importance of surrounding yourself with local people who can help.
Today, she gives back what she once received: the helping hand of someone who knows the way. At Casa da Emília, Paula is dedicated to supporting those who choose Portugal as their new home, making every transition smoother, more human, and truly authentic.
Let's Start the Conversation
Not sure where to start? Tell us what you're trying to figure out. We'll talk through your situation and help you decide whether we're the right people to help - and what makes sense as a next step.