What to buy ?

Of course this depends on many factors, principally how much you have to invest, what you wish you use the property for, e.g as a holiday home, a retirement home or purely as an investment and whether you see it as a long term investment or short term and we will cover these areas.

First how much you will need. To some extent this is like asking how long is a piece of string  but to give a rough guide as of December 2004 prices will start at about £5000 (and maybe cheaper if you are lucky!) and continue upwards to beyond £200,000 for luxury houses and apartments in the best areas.

£5000!  Yes it is possible to buy homes in villages and some big towns for as little as that but of course the amount you make on a small investment is likely to be smaller than that of a large one. But yes there is scope for those of you with small money to invest to buy that dream second home.  Or alternatively to turn your state pension into enough to live very comfortably with prices for many items like food, drink, and utilities as little as a quarter of UK prices.  The trick is to search in the villages outside the main towns. It is even possible to buy cheaply within 20 or so minutes drive of major beach and ski resorts. And there are still lots of houses available at bargain prices in these areas.

So why are they so cheap? Mainly because there has been a large drift away from the villages and towns into the big cities and abroad by the young leaving mostly old people in the villages and little demand for housing. It should be noted that most houses in Bulgaria are very large by UK standards, often with 3 floors so a couple of families (maybe related) could get together and buy a very affordable house and convert into 2 or more units.

The other way to get cheap property is to buy property that needs renovation or even redecoration. If you are handy at DIY you could get yourself a real bargain. I myself bought one such property requiring complete doing up (although not reconstruction) in a top area for at least half the asking price of a finished house. It means you are already up when you buy and if you are prepared to do the work yourself could net yourself a great rate for your working time. Even if it just needs redecoration it should be a lot cheaper and again put yourself ahead of the game before you start. However a word of warning, if you are planning on getting local workers to do the work I would recommend that you be there to supervise as I know of one guy (incidentally a Bulgarian) who hired these guys to do up his house but never went out to check and they did terrible work. I myself have had great difficulty in finding good workers so have had to do most of the work myself.  Despite high unemployment it seems very hard to get reliable workers and I have heard this complaint time and time again.

So is it possible to buy without estate agents? Yes, it is. If you are brave enough, go to these small villages, ask around are there any properties for sale and you are sure to get a bite. Of course one drawback is that people in the small villages are unlikely to speak English so a translator might be useful unless you are prepared to learn the language. One good factor is that a lot of young people in the bigger towns and all resorts can speak good English and for a small sum by UK standards would be quite happy to assist you in your dealings.

Tip:- Get friendly with one such young person in your hotel and you will find that they will be quite happy to help you.

However one good advice is to hire your own notary which is a legal officer assigned by the state to handle most legal contracts. There are many throughout Bulgaria and it would be useful if you could get a recommended one by asking around off people who have bought there. People have lost out badly by getting bad legal advice. If you have handled the legal hurdles of buying and selling your own property in your own country of course it is possible to also do so here if you are brave enough.

So should you buy in a tourist area or a big city like Sofia where the prices are higher but of course so is the possibility of making big money? 20% of £100,000 is £20,000, 20% of £10,000 is only £2,000. It should be noted that if you buy in a tourist area the rent will be seasonal although obviously at a higher rate, possibly something like 2-3 months in ski resorts and maybe a bit longer at the Black sea ( the season starts in May and continues to the end of September.)  In Sofia you can get all year round rent and as the3 majority of people rent it is not normally too difficult to get tenants. All the estate agents offer a rent management usually taking about 15%. Also apartments attract management fees and you need to check this with the seller as they can vary quite a lot depending on the facilities  available e.g whether there is a swimming pool.

Tip :-If you wish to attract high rents in Sofia the trick is to furnish the place to a high standard and say you want foreign tenants. Many foreign companies are seeking nice apartments for their staff.