João Pessoa boasts a huge cross-section of properties available to rent or buy but, as ever, it is down to personal choice what you choose. Thankfully, you can find a bit of everything in each “Bairro” or neighbourhood.
For example there are very few neighbourhoods without tall buildings though some have more than others. In saying that the majority of towers tend to be beach side of the BR230 which is generally accepted as the dividing line between beach side João Pessoa and the town side.
The closer you get to the beach, the fewer the houses and the more expensive they get, both to buy or rent. This also goes for size too and Bairro dos Estados is well known for its huge, palatial houses at a reasonable cost.
The experience of the site operators is that most, but not all foreigners tend to live beach side of the BR230. In saying that, those who have been here a long time tend to live further inland.
With towers or houses, its horses for courses. There are good and bad irrespective of cost, age and location. Certainly, there are several factors to consider and with flats and apartments, for example many people are put off by the condominium which is a surcharge payable each month for the running of the tower services. This has to be paid regardless of occupation. If you lived in a house you could use what you pay in condo fees to buy a flat to rent out.
With a house, you have to do or arrange to have everything done yourself and some people also consider security an issue believing towers to be more secure than houses. On the attached pages you will be able to look at everything mentioned here in more detail and hopefully you find something that will help you to make up your mind.
Wherever you decide to live you should always rent first and never be rushed into an aggreement. You don’t want to “buy (or rent long term) in haste, repent in leisure