Fernanda Silva
International real estate advisory in Portugal and Florida
Two markets. One trajectory that connects them both
FLORIDA
Nova Real Estate
Orlando, FL
PORTUGAL
RE/MAX
Lisboa & Cascais
PRACTICE
Buyer – side
representation exclusively
EXPERIENCE
25+ years in
Florida residential markets
LANGUAGES
Portuguese – English
Spanish
A career shaped by two countries
When I work in this market, I am not representing a foreign country. I am home.
I came to the United States at 16 with my mother and my stepfather, who was Portuguese. Portugal has always been present in my life, long before I knew that one day I would live and work there.
In the US, I entered one of the most demanding sales environments that exists: high-value timeshare. Every transaction involved a real financial commitment, significant emotional weight and a client with every reason to say no.
I learned fast. Within five years, I was already ranked number one in sales and leading teams.
Over the course of that career, I learned what no course teaches: how to read a person, how to structure a high-stakes negotiation and how to guide someone through a difficult decision. Without pressure, with clarity, and always all the way to the end.
How Portugal entered the picture
Today I am married to a man of Portuguese origin. Portugal is not just a market where I work. It is part of the family I built.
In 2021, I accompanied my 14-year-old son to Portugal, where he went to pursue his dream of becoming a professional football player. I arrived in a country I already knew through culture and family, but that I learned to know from the inside, with the depth that comes from living, not visiting.
The complexity of the real estate market in Lisbon and Cascais, the network of professionals, the documentation, the negotiation. I learned all of it with skin in the game.
I experienced the market from the inside before ever positioning myself within it professionally. That sequence matters.
Café na América
In 2024, Fernanda was featured in Café na América, a book that brings together the stories of Brazilian immigrant women who built meaningful lives and careers in the United States.
Her chapter traces the journey from arriving in Florida as a teenager to the decision, more than two decades later, to begin again in Portugal.
The book was launched at an event in Orlando that gathered entrepreneurs, investors and members of the Brazilian community across Florida. Fernanda’s story was among those recognised for illustrating what becomes possible when resolve outlasts circumstance.
This book represents a very personal moment in my life. For the first time, I opened my heart and shared my journey since arriving in the United States at the age of 16. My hope is that this story can inspire, guide, and bring light to those who are searching for direction, strength, or purpose.
What this history means for the work today
My buyers are often navigating something that resembles chapters of my own history more closely than they might expect. Relocating a family. Allocating capital in a market they understand from the outside but not yet from within. Moving through a process conducted in a different language, shaped by a legal system unlike the one they know at home.
I have been in that position. Not as an observer – as the person making the decision with real stakes attached. That creates a quality of attention that is difficult to replicate through training or market research alone.
When you work with me, you are not just hiring an agent. You are placing at your side someone who knows Portugal by its roots, knows Florida from the inside, and understands from personal experience what it means to make a major decision in a country you are still learning to navigate.
I am affiliated with RE/MAX Portugal in Lisbon and Cascais, and with Nova Real Estate in the Orlando area.
I do not stop until my client has the result they deserve.
If you would like to understand how Fernanda works before deciding whether it makes sense to work together,
the best starting point is a direct conversation