Hi Steve,
Wow, that's a lot of questions, but I'll have a go at answering some of them.
7% for the purchase costs sounds OK. 6 years ago ours came to just under 6% but the difference could be due to many factors.
If you source everything yourself you should be fine with €7500 to €10000 for contents and furnishings. It depends how posh you want it to be! When we were buying I saw some firms quoting £25,000 for a "package". In other words, they do everything and see it in. Furniture and white goods cost roughly the same as in the UK, with the prices ranging widely according to quality, but to avoid the hassle it might be worth considering buying things at home and having them shipped over.
1) Go with your gut instinct when make an offer for a property. It depends on the same factors as in the UK - have you fallen in love with the property, has it been stuck on the market for ages, etc. The only thing different from here is that if a property is sticking the Portuguese will put up the price rather than reduce it! Don't know whether you're buying new from a developer or secondhand via an estate agent.
2) You can purchase insurance in Portugal or the UK. There are few insurance companies in the UK who offer comprehensive cover and it pays to shop around. Although, having said that, we went with one of the more expensive companies and it costs about £224.
3) Locking shutters are normal, and some villas have intruder alarms - don't know about reinforced doors though! Crime is not too much of a problem but of course the lowlife will know whether a property is often empty so you don't want it to offer easy pickings.
4) There are lot of agents who will manage properties for foreign owners, and I assume it's possible to have low level management like you describe. But it will be easier if you have an agent who can sort out any problems and get repairs done because you don't want to be going over just to get a washer changed!
5) Re installation of services, if you haven't got an agent who will handle all this for you, you will probably want to be there .
6) The deeds can be in your 3 names, but talk to your solicitor on this. But you may be talking about the need for a Fiscal Representative. Your solicitor will probably take on this role initially. It was mandatory, but I'm not sure whether it still is as I have read that under EU law the forcing of foreign property owners to appoint and pay a Fiscal Rep is discriminatory! But the FR's job is to receive bills in connection with the property and arrange for them to be paid. If you default, it's a very serious matter for the FR.
7) Utilities vary depending on the size of the property and how often you're there, so it's hard to say. But I do know that the IVA (VAT) on electricity is shortly going up from 6% to 23%!!
We have an account with Millennium BCP with a branch in Albufeira, and we set it up at their London branch. Don't know whether this is possible with all banks. (Why do we get a smiley face instead of an 8, I wonder?)
9) Shop around for money transfer companies for your purchase, and haggle on the rate. For ongoing expenses and bills, with Millennium we can transfer online sums of up to €8000 free of charge and the money is there very quickly, sometimes even the next day.
10) Definitely use a Portuguese solicitor, preferably an English speaking one, and contrary to the usual advice we did actually use one of the ones our estate agent recommended and it worked fine.
Hope this hasn't put you off the whole idea! Have fun looking!!
