Encontrei, fechei and acabou describe completed events; era and estava describe background or ongoing states. Notice the contrast between pretérito perfeito and imperfeito without translating every Spanish or French past tense mechanically.
Comprimentou-me means greeted me; dando-lhe means giving it the same appearance, with lhe referring to the house. Older fil-a construir corresponds to modern fi-la construir, I had it built. In everyday Brazilian phrasing, mandei construir a casa is often easier to use.
A casa em que moro = the house in which I live. A casa em que me criei = the house where I grew up. The preposition em carries meaning, so keep it when explaining or rewriting the relative clause.
Se não tiver outro ... uses tiver, future subjunctive of ter: if I do not find/have another title. Compare tenho (present indicative) and tivesse (imperfect subjunctive). The form is useful in ordinary Portuguese too: se tiver tempo, if I have time.
