Too good to be true?

1POSTS

4 years ago

Hello everyone 👋

I'm Brian, I was initially browsing the Internet for land to rent in the U.k, but then came across an intriguing prospect on Ebay! A company called Bulgariadirect who were offering properties and land for sale for a small deposit of 200 GBP and then 200 GBP a month... A bit sceptical at first, I emailed an inquiry about a beautiful 10800 squared meter piece of woodland in the Belevren region of Burgas, at the, 'coming from England' Amazing price of 7.560 GBP! A man called Bill soon got back to me and asked for a scan/photo of my photo I'd, I.e passport or driving license, in order for him to send me an invoice and get the ball rolling...

Is this normal, or just too good to be true?

1 member reacted to this post

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berryd Active member

76POSTS

4 years ago

You already know the answer :-)

We bought ours online for £4000 everything included with deeds and a limited company - you need the limited company on a 3000sqfoot plot but do be careful

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Saeen786 New member

4POSTS

4 years ago

@btaitlive hi i have heard of this company , not heard qny horror stories

Best way is to visit in person i have purchased a house withh 3000 sq meters of land for a very reasonable price .

If youd like to connect for more info please contact me

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shane dobson New member

8POSTS

4 years ago

@btaitlive

Hi Brian, I have recently bought a property through Bulgaria direct. I have been over to Bulgaria and viewed the property and also have been to their office in VT.

I have bought the property on the pay monthly scheme and received a dual language (Eng/Bul) contract which looks to me as legitimate. I haven't finished paying off the property yet so can't vouch for them on the completion of the deal but up to now, all seems to be fine.

Shane.

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gwynj Bulgaria Expert

2596POSTS

4 years ago

Greeting @btaitlive and welcome to the expat.com forum. And good luck with your Bulgarian woodland adventures! :-)

Bulgaria Direct is totally legit, they've been selling on Ebay for years, and have excellent feedback. So no "scams" as far as I know. Bill's a nice bloke too, I'm sure he'll be happy to clarify any issues / answer any questions that you have. While I haven't personally purchased something from him (was outbid a couple of times, so it was close) I don't think you or @shane dobson have anything to worry about in terms of getting what you pay for.

Woodland can be cheap, and if that's what you want, then go for it! It's not regulated, and I think you are quite limited in what you can do with it. My guess is that you have to keep it as woodland, and you can't build (except perhaps to put a caravan or cabin on it), or connect to mains electricity/water.

As mentioned by @berryd you will need to buy via a Bulgarian company, so there's a small extra expense for this, but nothing too dramatic.

As @Saeen786 points out, an alternative to consider is buying a regulated plot, or an old house on regulated land. This way you probably have water and electricity, and you have more options in terms of building/renovating something and living there.

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vidin Active member

35POSTS

4 years ago

@btaitlive its possible even cheaper, depends on location. Not easy to resell, but good if you can use it. As for scam, suggest some research into the company. I have been using one agent since 2007. Took a risk at beginning, but worked out well and I fully trust him/the company

1 member reacted to this post

reikilad New member

8POSTS

4 years ago

@btaitlive yes it's quite normal and thousands have done it, best do your research on who you are buying from before you decide.

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janemulberry ViP

2054POSTS

4 years ago

Bulgaria Direct and Bill, the guy who runs it, are reputable, They've been around for at least ten years and I know several people who bought from them. They do mark the properties up quite a bit as an alternative to charging interest on the repayment scheme and because they're a business, so they need to make a profit! I know how much their company bought my house for, which they didn't try to hide, they openly sent me the notary papers from that purchase. And I know I'm paying more than twice as much for it. I decided to go for it because it's easier, and because the installment payments suited me better than paying a lump sum.

As Shane said, the contract is legal and legit. Do be aware there's a clause in there that if you miss a payment or don't pay other required payments (council tax and utility bills, which won't apply to a forest block), the property reverts to them and you lose all you paid. Saying that, though, they've been very helpful. I'm pretty sure that if someone wasn't able to make a payment one month and let them know, they'd be okay.

You would almost certainly be able to buy cheaper buying directly from a Bulgarian owner, but you'd not get the installment payments and would need to be pretty fluent in Bulgarian or have someone you trust who is. I've been looking for years for a suitable house via other estate agents, and don't see similar properties to mine any cheaper - usually more expensive. You may also find BG Direct will set the necessary company up for free, I know they were offering this earlier in the year.

I'm buying a small very cheap house though them, and won't see it till I go in September to finalise the sale. I had some concerns about how sound the roof was after last winter and asked about it. Bill sent me about forty extra photos he took next time he was in the area, showing every possible aspect of the roof. I could see yes, the roof is crap and will need replacing, but it's not as bad as I feared it might be!

One thing to be aware of, the ebay listings tend to show the good points and not any problems, but that's estate agents everywhere. Look at the photos closely, and ask for more pics or more info of anything that could be a concern. Access could be an issue with a forest block. Also, some land that is designated forest is more like a meadow, so if you want lots of trees, ask about it. Also, he paints a little too glowing a picture of how easy it would be to build a log cabin or other temporary structure on a forest block. Probably not quite that simple, especially if access is poor, and getting utilities like electricity and water up there is very unlikely.

But are they scammers? No, I don't think so. Just estate agents. I hope I don't need to revise this opinion of them downward after I actually see the property!

Wertbasiertes1 New member

7POSTS

2 years ago

***

Moderated by Bhavna 2 years ago
Reason : Misinformation
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct

1 member reacted to this post

gwynj Bulgaria Expert

2596POSTS

2 years ago

#10

@Wertbasiertes1

Welcome to the Expat.com forum, great to have you join us!

You're a bit late to the "scams" party, this was active last year. If you have some questions/comments, you might get more response if you start a new topic.

I don't know anything about IP blocking, but it certainly seems unlikely that these guys would bother. Certainly, as far as I know, BulgariaDirect has plenty of clients and is totally legit.

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Wertbasiertes1 New member

7POSTS

2 years ago

#11

***

Moderated by Bhavna 2 years ago
Reason : Misinformation
We invite you to read the forum code of conduct

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SimCityAT Expert

13796POSTS

2 years ago

#12

***
-@Wertbasiertes1

Do they? I don't think so!!

I am in Austria and can see the website perfectly well. I have a VPN, that I can set for a load of countries and neither are blocked.

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grahamstark1 Contributor

148POSTS

2 years ago

#13

Or maybe they have had cyber attacks that were Romanian based. Many people have dealt with them satisfactorily.

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gwynj Bulgaria Expert

2596POSTS

2 years ago

#14

@Wertbasiertes1

We can just agree to disagree, but you're kinda making a big deal of this. It doesn't seem like you know anything about the company, so you're just speculating... and speculating based on one small piece of evidence, that your IP was blocked.

Who knows why your IP was blocked? I certainly don't, and you don't seem to either. Leaping to the conclusion that company X specifically blocked my IP, and they are therefore a scam seems a bit unwarranted. I think it's good to have a bit more to go before one raises the "scammer" alert! No? :-)

They are not a big company, I don't think anybody said that. And they're not a big marketing outfit either, they have an extremely simple model: they find a Bulgarian village house (95% of the time), they buy it (I believe), and then they list it on Ebay (dot co dot uk) and nowhere else (as their website bulgariadirect dot com points at their Ebay listings for property info). You can check their Ebay feedback:

Member since 2003. 2.5K items sold. Seller Feedback (755). No negative feedback that I saw, you should have a look at the comments!

I'm not a customer, but I've bumped into them a number of times over the years, and they've always been friendly and helpful. My suggestion that they are "legit" is based on their contributions to the forum, their Ebay feedback (and long-standing membership) and the forum members who have bought from them and popped up here to confirm the purchase went smoothly without any scamming going on.

But you are free to make up your own mind, of course. And it's your hard-earned money and you are perfectly entitled to spend it however you want. And if you don't want to spend it with this company, and prefer another Bulgarian agent, that is totally your call. And I hope you find a great property at a great price (and come back and tell us all about the experience, and the agent who helped you).

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Wertbasiertes1 New member

7POSTS

2 years ago

#15

@gwynj

I agree over all with youre logic. I'll do a deeper research and come back with details.

Also I will let you know about finding a new agent with who I will purchase a nice house in Bulgaria

Bulgariadirect New member

8POSTS

2 years ago

#16

****
-@Wertbasiertes1

This has just been brought to our attention, what an interesting way to do so.

Could you perhaps have simply called and asked us to check prior to jumping to such conclusions?

Furthermore, we have not received any emails from anyone in Romania recently. Could you please provide further details about said email?

There is no discrimination against Romania here, as our (currently one and only!) Romanian client will testify!

As grahmastark1 suggests, as a result of a spike in web attacks a range of Romanian (and many other) IPs from where bot traffic originates are indeed blocked on our site right now.

If you can, try sending your IP here in a message and I'll gladly check the reason your IP is unable to access the site.

PS - just read your earlier message. We are on the trade register, you can look up past returns or anything you deem necessary to check. Remember the company name is one word and not two. I'll take a guess that's the reason you cant find it. Otherwise use the EIK: 200938648

PPS - It's impossible for you to be unable to email us. Or do you mean sending message through the site, i.e not an actual email?

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Bulgariadirect New member

8POSTS

2 years ago

#17

Just checked the firewall and it's not just the previously mentioned range. All IPs next door were blocked, sorry Romania!

This now raises the question of why Romania isn't included when ticking the "European Union" box in the Sucuri firewall settings, unless it was an automated setting following the recent spike in web attacks.

Dear northern neighbours, we've only ever had the pleasure of welcoming one single Romanian buyer, though please be assured we certainly don't want to miss out on the next one.

Wertbasiertes1, the site should now load anywhere from Galati up to the highest peak on Mount Moldoveanu, and back down across to Bechet port for the ferry to Bulgaria! Happy (safe) browsing and best of luck with your property search!

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