First time buying

I'm considering buying in the next few weeks, any advice would be great, thanks - @seanskey

Do you know Bulgaria well? If not, do your homework on which area you would like to move to. Understand the law: if you want to buy property with land, you have to form a company. Buying a property doesn't give you automatic residency if you are a non-EU citizen, so if you are planning to do a fix-up property yourself, you are limited to being in the Schengen Area for 90 days within any 180-day period. If you want to stay long, you have to apply for a visa.

Don't believe what the agents tell you; do your own checks, they are known to say anything to get a sale.

Have a look at the forum, there is a lot of useful information to be found with previous questions being asked.

Do you have any specific questions, Sean? "Any advice" covers a lot of territory!

What @SimCityAT said is all correct.

As a Scot, you will need to set up a Bulgarian company to buy any property apart from an apartment with no share of the land. Most non-Bulgarians will need paid help with this as there's quite a bit of paperwork. It's usually not too expensive, shouldn't cost more than 500 EUR at the most. If you're buying from one of the Brit sellers offering pay-monthly schemes, you won't need the company until you finish paying off the house and the title is transferred to your name. These sellers usually will help with company set up for a small fee and sometimes even offer it at no extra cost.

If you hope to move to Bulgaria and live in the property, read up on what the process is for getting a D visa, the first step to residency. Having an address in Bulgaria is required, but buying a property doesn't count any more towards getting residency than renting one would. If you read, see, or hear any advice on getting residency that says it's easy, they either married a Bulgarian or got residency pre-Brexit. There's a lot of wrong advice out there. What worked in 2019 won't work now!

Expect that any property you buy will be in worse condition and need more renovation work than you expect. Property is unlikely to be a good investment, easily flipped for a profit, unless you are a skilled and experienced renovator.

Only buy property in Bulgaria because you love the country. There are many good reasons to love the place and the life it offers, which is why we intend to move to our village house as soon as I can get my D visa! But it's not without it's problems, and like Marmite, some people just hate it.

Any advice on reputable companies for assisting in this, i have literally read thousands of conflicting information about all the costs and trustworthiness of most companies

1. Rule No 1: if you buy through an agency, you basically have no comeback on any mis-selling.
2. Rule No 2: buying through an agency involves either commission or a mark-up; you may well not see it or be told about it, but it'll be buried in the asking price.
3. Rule No 3: Facebook Marketplace and Groups for owners selling direct to buyers are a good source - but DO NOT let yourself get carried away, especially in the early days.
4. Rule No 4: find a good lawyer (easier said than done) who will check everything and ensure that your interests are protected. Make sure you understand exactly what you're buying - there's no real comeback if your lawyer is incompetent or dishonest.

Plenty more where those came from....😎

It really depends what you are looking for and what your budget is. The properties to look for will be different, the places to look will be different. Village house, apartment in town, beach resort, mountain resort? How much renovation work are you willing to consider, or do you want something ready to move into? Is it going to be a holiday home, or do you hope to move?  How much do you want to spend?

For village houses, as @JimJ said, check out the Facebook seller groups, there can be some reasonably priced village properties there with Brits wanting to sell up and move back to the UK. There are also some way overpriced properties there, or properties that look good in the five year old photos but have serious issues now. But it will help give you an idea. You Tube, too. Rightmove shows listings from multiple sellers, including the two longest established pay-monthly sellers, Bulgaria Direct and Mowlem. Both have good reputations, offer good after sales support, and mostly sell village houses. Unless they specifically say otherwise, assume that the properties they sell will need significant renovation work. Bulgarian Properties is a Bulgarian based online site listing a range of properties, probably not bargains there, especially when their minimum 2000 EUR fee is added on, but they do have a good reputation among some forum members, and have a lot of apartments and resort properties as well as town and village houses, if that's what you're looking for.

If you haven't yet, do try to visit Bulgaria to get a feel for the country and look at a few places to see the condition of properties in your price range. I'd visited six or seven times, including staying in villages, and thought I had a fair idea what to expect. I was still surprised at the amount of work my main village house needed. I bought two, via Bulgaria Direct using pay monthly. One was super-cheap and I knew was basically uninhabitable. The other house, costing more but still very much at the budget end of the market was more or less livable (less!), and in need of extensive renovation. I certainly found Bulgaria Direct easy to deal with, the pay-monthly and buying process was clear, the contract is robust, everything was done according to the law, and the support from their admin was excellent.

@Everyone,

This is the 2nd post, which the poster has not acknowledged the first. But our admin team has kindly merged them.

If any further posts should occur, I would refrain from commenting. I sense a troll. Why waste your time?