So… long story short, I did do some research over the course of 2 years and finally decided that the fund route was not for us. For some the ease of investment and reduced documentation may be worth it. But the more I looked into it the more I realized it was not something I felt comfortable with. I wanted more flexibility and ROI. There is a lot of discussion in this thread on this mercan topic
tl;dr I went the reduced investment and rehabilitation route. It is not easy to find properties to your exact specifications - 30yrs or older, in a low-density rehabilitation area and eligible for golden visa. A map like this could help you but best to retain services of an attorney who can advice you on these things. I spent the better part of a year scouting properties on idealista — Real estate in Portugal. Houses and apartments for sale and rent, then contacting the respective agents for relevant age/construction/renovation information, and eventually forwarding them to our attorney for confirmation to see if they’re valid for GV. Had at least 3 properties fall through during this process before we finally landed one that suited all our needs. (After going through countless others during review process)
The final property we ended up with we lucked out with the the seller’s agent who eventually became our property manager and renovations project manager. We may have overpaid for a few bits here and there but in general the transaction has been consistent with what I expect things to cost.
Should’ve added this early on - I don’t think Lagos is eligible for reduced investment GV anymore due to high density.