Experiences of purchasing property in Bulgaria

Hiya. I wouldn't worry . These story's are not true. Just make Shaw you use a solicitor like you would any where. There are real bargains to be made. Happy looking.  Doug.

Hmmm ..... that's interesting.

Re: Best way - find a good real estate agent/agency and define exactly what you want.

Re: Safest way - double check with an additional real estate agent + soliciotr.

Basically risks are below average or even less in most cases.

Thank you all for your replies you have made things a little less scary 😁

Hi I can only talk from my own experience but I have purchased two properties near Provadia and it all went like clockwork
The agent we used was Val at 'OK Bulgaria' and they  are just brilliant. The after sales service is excellent too with help setting up direct debits and insurance.
Good Luck.
Johnny

You need a trustyworthy real estate broker or a lawyer. Someone who is looking after your interests.
The main things to check on the property you are interested in is first checking if its legally built and the land is properly mapped, and  ”тежести” (tejesti), which means checking to see if there are any outstanding bills, money owed to banks or government, current lawsuits, etc.
Normally a good notary will also check, but its not their responcibility so its more of a glance over. Also I have dealt with notaries out in the sticks (anywhere outside the big cities basically) and its basically feudal rules out there, so be careful.

Hello I come back after 1 month in bulgaria with a small budget of 40,000 € to buy a house with only the roof in good condition I have done the region of varna, plovdiv, sofia I have done 7 agencies, okbulgarie, yavlena, the address, ibg ... and between the wrong addresses, no premises, bogus agent numbers, tight-date contracts, the seller's commission at 10% + agency fees + notarius ... everything requested in cash + 1 month of hotel ... result I have nothing. and also the agencies which do not want to sell you well not enough expensive, the houses in ruins with a hole in the roof, broken floor no WC, no heating ... in villages lost with 2 or 3 buses per week the translators on site advised me to read the contracts carefully and when I compared addresses and numbers it was different and with the Cyrillic alphabet good luck, the Russians who occupy the market, the Rumanians poor in the villages who chews a chewing gum for 2, who spits on the ground, and you see houses with grill are at the windows ... the weather is very contrasting one day 17.18 ° and the next day -1, 3 ° c is true it is not expensive coffees at 30 cents, cans of cola at 0.50 pizzas at 50 cents or 1 euros the share of restaurants at 3.50 € ... pay attention to the heating budget at least 150/200 euros per month word of Bulgarian for you to see

Sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing experience @etoile63, it must be very frustrating for you.

I accept that there are some bad agents, but there are many good ones too. I'm surprised you couldn't find even one that was helpful. Bulgarianproperties is a big agent and they specialize in expats, I'd certainly have expected them to be able to find you something.

I know one British couple who moved to Bulgaria this month, and already found a fabulous, fully renovated, village house for only 45,000 euros. They bought up in Veliko Tarnovo region via Ideal Homes (www.idealhomes-bg.com).

However, the places you mentioned (Varna, Plovdiv, Sofia) are the three biggest cities here, and have been getting very expensive for real estate. Plovdiv and Varna have new apartments at around 1,000 euros / m2, and Sofia is well over this. New houses are just as pricey. (And this is for "Bulgarian standard" unfinished, so there's an extra couple of hundred per m2 to finish it off. Plus all the transaction costs.)

Hence... 40k euros in these areas not exactly a generous budget... but depends on how near the city you want, or how good the condition is, and whether it includes/excludes the transaction costs. If there's a mismatch between your expectations, and the reality of today's market, then it can get messy as they try to find some bargains for you, rather than lose you to another agent.

Has anyone used Emerge (UK) to buy property?

That's Paula Hawtin's company? I seem to recall someone mentioning using them and being happy with the transaction. You might need to start a new thread with Emerge in the thread name to get a reply from whoever it was!

From what I see when he lists on ebay, the pay-monthly houses have been freshly painted and had new concrete floors laid downstairs to make them look nice. They'll will undoubtedly be leak-free and solid, unlike many houses for sale in Bulgaria! But these houses will still need a lot spent on them. Usually there's no bathroom or kitchen, a septic tank would need to be installed to have a regular flush toilet, and there's very basic electrical wiring with hardly any power outlets.

I don't know about the other houses on the website, but I have seen many of the same houses listed there for a looooooong time.