Moving and buying in Bulgaria. Can i afford?

@Annaprg

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your potential move.

You make a quite wide-ranging post, but I'll try to give some feedback on some of the issues you raise.

Before that, let me just say that I love living in Bulgaria, and I'm very happy that I made the move. It's easy, safe, and relatively inexpensive. It's certainly worthy of consideration along with better-known retirement destinations.

Realistically, you don't have a comfy retirement stash... but lots of folks these days have even less. Moreover, it's going to be tough even if you stay where you are, Your expected retirement income is not much above poverty level in the USA... just as my UK state pension is below the UK poverty line. Bulgaria (like many popular retirement destinations such as Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Thailand, and more) is cheaper than the USA, so whatever income you have will definitely stretch further here. If you live a quiet, frugal retirement then I'd guess 1,000 to 1,500 euros per month is probably OK, especially if you buy a property (i.e. no rent/mortgage costs). This means the short answer to your question ("Can I afford?") is yes. :-)

The legal minimum wage here for 2026 has been raised to 620 euros per month... and Bulgarian pensions are even less. This gives you a pretty good idea of how little some people survive on, So, for sure, you get more than this. However, minimum wage subsistence is not easy, and I reckon 2x or 3x (maybe even 4x) makes a huge difference to how much you'll enjoy your life.

In terms of "stretching" your time before retirement, the problem is that many potential retirement countries (including Bulgaria) have very easy residence visas for pensioners receiving an official pension. But in the few years before your pension starts, the options get much more limited... and certainly Bulgaria has no easy visa class for a "elderly pre-pensioner". Unlike, say, Spain which has the NLV (no lucrativa visa) which can be satisfied by a pension OR $40k (ish) of savings.

If you definitely want to move before your pension starts, you'd probably be better off looking at Spain (NLV), Portugal (D7), and maybe the Latin American options (Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, etc.) in case they have a savings option too. Or, one of Bulgaria's immediate neighbours: Serbia and Turkey which both have accessible options for younger folks. Indeed, Turkey has a lower cost of living even than Bulgaria and you're much more likely to find a nice seaside apartment there for under 100k euros there than in Bulgaria. (And the beach/sea is much nicer there.)

Before retiring officially, you CAN buy a Bulgarian property,,, and you CAN stay here, visa free, for 6 months a year (3 months here, 3 months break, another 3 months break, per Schengen rules)... but it would be expensive in terms of flying back to USA and keeping a home there too.

In terms of making money in Bulgaria, I doubt it would feasible unless you have some experience/skills which lend themselves to remote working (e.g. teaching, IT, etc.). I don't think you can easily make money from your house either. I suspect you might just be confused because you've read that you'd need a company to buy a village house. Yes, non-EU citizens must buy such a property via a Bulgarian company (but apartments you can buy in your own name). But it's a non-trading entity, used just as a workaround for this legal restriction. It's not a true business and doesn't really open the door to income generation (unless you bought a house in a popular tourist destination, which is likely outside your budget).

Medicare and Bulgarian Healthcare. $200 is quite a lot from a small pension. I don't know the rules on this, but I guess you'd keep paying in case you move back to USA, or want to fly there for medical treatment. I very much doubt it covers you for treatment in Bulgaria (or elsewhere abroad). That means you'll have the additional expense of private medical insurance locally. Which might be in the same ballpark (i.e. $1,000-$2.5k per year, depending on age, prior conditions, etc.). If you commit yourself to living in Bulgaria (or Spain or Mexico or wherever) you can stop paying Medicare.

Public healthcare access (in Bulgaria) is limited for non-EU citizens (unless you work officially and make contributions). However, you can be self-employed to get in the system (NHIF) or you can make voluntary contributions after 5 years here (when you can become a Permanent Resident). It's useful to know that this is (currently) $40 per month, and entitles you to free (or very nearly free) health care. It's great coverage, at a great price. Interestingly, you don't have to go to public hospital (free), as many private hospitals here are affiliated with NHIF and get reimbursed... so you get VIP private treatment with a tiny private surcharge.

Finally, the biggest issue you raise is village house vs. city apartment. Village houses will likely be cheaper. But with the disadvantages you mention, including renovation, gardening, distance from services/hospitals/civilization. City apartments are very, very easy with low running costs (cheap heating, water, maintenance fees), and right next door to services/hospitals/civilization. If you're on your own, moving to Bulgaria, you'll enjoy a city apartment far more more, I suspect... unless you absolutely want to have a big garden and grow all your veggies. The disadvantage, is, as you say, the cost of apartments.

If you want to spend 50k euros on a village house, this is still a plausible budget for a decent (currently livable) home with a nice garden. It's plausible, but not generous, so you'll have to look carefully for bargains. I suggest you look at BulgarianProperties (dot com) as they're a big agent with properties all over Bulgaria, and they have English listings with plenty of photos and info. You can search their entire website within a specific budget, so you can see what you can get for your money across Bulgaria (remote villages are FAR cheaper than in/near big, popular cities like Plovdiv and Burgas). I also like Ideal Homes (idealhomes-bg dot com) as it's a nice agent selling houses in an area (Veliko Tarnovo) that's always been very popular with expats... and he sometimes has some bargain homes already mostly renovated.

Apartments for 50k euros is a difficult search. Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna are now maybe 1,500-2,000 euros per m2 for a finished (ready to live in) apartment. That means studios (40 m2 ish) for 80k euros and up and 1 beds (70 m2 ish) for 150k euros an up. The only places worth considering outside the main cities would be a Black Sea holiday apartment (village or small town near Burgas or Varna) where you can find a few bargains left. Or, my favourite, Bansko, which is Bulgaria's biggest ski/mountain resort. It's small, but beautiful, and you might still find a couple of bargains.

We have a holiday studio in Bansko, and we very much enjoy staying there. Bansko is definitely livable all year round, but for us a studio would be too small for full-time living. Instead, we spend most of our time in Plovdiv, and it's a great city that I highly recommend. But it's expensive now, and there's pretty much nothing within your budget.

We still have our village house in the Balkan Mountains. It's in a beautiful area in a popular village, so I love the place. But it's a right pain in the a** in terms of maintenance/gardening, etc. We spend less and less time as city life is so much more convenient. However, your budget is so tight that probably a village house is your only option, and it'll be much more roomy/livable with a cute garden to sit in, rather than being cooped up in a tiny apartment. My advice is just to look around for bargains (rather than rushing into anything), and go for smaller gardens/smaller houses (less gardening and maintenance and renovation, but also cheaper). Look for NICE villages close (10km ish) to decent sized (50k population ideally) towns.

Our place is near to Kazanlak which is a nice town with an annual Rose Festival and maybe 40k population so it has big supermarkets (Lidl, Kaufland, Billa) and medical facilities and cafes/restaurants. It's 11km from Lidl, and this is close enough to use the local bus service or an ebike. (Easy/quick in a car, of course, but this is more expensive.) There are MANY nice Bulgarian towns that might be OK (especially if you go 20k+ rather than 50k+). Being 15km from Kazanlak, Stara Zagora, Veliko Tarnovo will be MUCH cheaper than being 3km from Plovdiv or Varna.

Hopefully, some food for thought. Good luck!

@gwynj

Dont waste your time.

Their account is a Spammer and is about to be banned.

@SimCityAT

Not questioning that as a mod you see things forum members don't, but it doesn't seem to me like this post is spammy. I'm going to reply anyway as the thread will stay live and there are some questions here I am sure other newer forum members might ask.

Anna, for the lower priced village houses, it's wise to expect to pay at least as much again in renovation. As you're aware, there's also more work in maintenance and looking after the garden. If you want to garden and grow vegetables and even keep some  animals, then a village house will give you a great environment to do all that. It's hard work, but enjoyable and a good way to stretch a tight budget. Depending on the village, even a smaller village can have a good sense of community and be very welcoming. Problem is, the more affordable village houses do tend to be further away from cities. We feel very blessed to have stumbled onto a wonderful, safe, friendly village, but it's quite remote, way up in the north east. For us to get from our village house to Varna it's well over an hour by car and more like 4 hours to do it by bus (three separate buses, with waiting around in between).

Regarding moving there before you officially retire -- it's not easy, which is why we haven't moved yet! There's very little prospect of getting a work visa for Bulgaria. If you can work remotely, there is a new digital nomad longer stay visa for remote workers category which was made law back in July, but they're still not taking applications for it (at least, not in London where we'd need to apply!) because no one seems quite sure what paperwork to require. The main catch with this visa is the need to show that you have remote work that will pay at least 31000 EUR, and show proof of those earnings for the past year from remote work. It's also only for one year extendable to two, so not a route into permanent residency unless you can apply for the pensioner visa before the digital worker visa expires.

I hope you're not a spammer, and I wish you success in finding what you want.

@SimCityAT
Not questioning that as a mod you see things forum members don't, but it doesn't seem to me like this post is spammy. I'm going to reply anyway as the thread will stay live and there are some questions here I am sure other newer forum members might ask.
Anna, for the lower priced village houses, it's wise to expect to pay at least as much again in renovation. As you're aware, there's also more work in maintenance and looking after the garden. If you want to garden and grow vegetables and even keep some animals, then a village house will give you a great environment to do all that. It's hard work, but enjoyable and a good way to stretch a tight budget. Depending on the village, even a smaller village can have a good sense of community and be very welcoming. Problem is, the more affordable village houses do tend to be further away from cities. We feel very blessed to have stumbled onto a wonderful, safe, friendly village, but it's quite remote, way up in the north east. For us to get from our village house to Varna it's well over an hour by car and more like 4 hours to do it by bus (three separate buses, with waiting around in between).

Regarding moving there before you officially retire -- it's not easy, which is why we haven't moved yet! There's very little prospect of getting a work visa for Bulgaria. If you can work remotely, there is a new digital nomad longer stay visa for remote workers category which was made law back in July, but they're still not taking applications for it (at least, not in London where we'd need to apply!) because no one seems quite sure what paperwork to require. The main catch with this visa is the need to show that you have remote work that will pay at least 31000 EUR, and show proof of those earnings for the past year from remote work. It's also only for one year extendable to two, so not a route into permanent residency unless you can apply for the pensioner visa before the digital worker visa expires.

I hope you're not a spammer, and I wish you success in finding what you want. - @janemulberry

They have posted the same question 5 times. So why why waste your time repeating yourself?

Good point, so I've only answered once!

Their post doesn't read like the usual spam, there's a lot of detail in there than sounds very genuine. Maybe the multiple posts are a mistake made by someone less experienced in how the forums work? Unless the five posts were all on different countries, of course!

But posting the same thing on multiple sections on the Bg forum suggests to me that the answer is important to them, they want replies, and they thought that was how things worked here. It's  understandable why some people might feel a sense of urgency about leaving the US as soon as they can.

@janemulberry

A  recurring pain in the ass and now has been banned. I've also requested that this post be closed, rather than deleted, as it contains valuable information.