Is there a house for sale in your village ?

Not in our own, but there is one coming soon in a village of Dalbok Izvor, some 10 km from ours. It is being reformed by my English friend, who is also working on our house, and I can testify that he knows what he's doing. It's not that big, but coming out pretty nice, with an amazing view of the Rhodope mountains. If you are interested in this part of Bulgaria and this house, please let me know, and I'll send you his email.

Several empty houses in my village, near Krivadol. Most have reasonable plots of land. However be aware many villages including mine are depopulated, and although there was still a village shop and cafe when I was last there, 2 years ago, they may have now closed.
Nearest big town of Vratsa is probably about a 15 to 20 mile drive away. I don't have children but I have noticed many village schools have closed, so if you are looking for a perm move then education may be an issue.  I do not think there are any ex pats there, which to me is a good thing as I am not trying to replicate life in the UK, and would rather learn Bulgarian which I see as pretty essential.
Husband due to travel on Sunday to see what may remain of our house, car, ski flat and life in Bulgaria and if we want to resume or abandon our plans that began pre covid!

There is a house for sale in EVERY village I have been to. I have been here 16 years this christmas. I must say I find it a pretty vague question if you are seriously looking for one to buy. There are literally thousands for sale.

Latics, good point! But I think Kinga is hoping to avoid the less liveable villages by getting recommendations for villages people here know are okay.

There's a decent looking house for sale on 2000 m2 in the same village as my house. It's at the upper end of your price range and looks move-in-able with not much more than a good clean. There's another for 10,000 EUR but it looks to have near neighbours and is on a smaller piece of land. There are also a few cheap places for 3000 or 4000 EUR that need total renovation.

The village has a school, village shops, and a bus service, but as I haven't been there yet, I can't say whether it's a good village or not. It's quite possible I will not want to live there when I finally get to visit my cheapo ebay buy!

Hi,
Yes I know the list of empty houses  is endless .I  have been in contact with few agents already , made few enquiries here and there but still looking for recommendations of villages. I somehow think that it's better to ask for an opinion and experience over here than speaking with an estate agent , because he may not be very honest
My husband is flying out for a house search in few hours and I will join him some time after.
I like the Veliko Tarnovo area, I don't want drought and sunburned grass ) )  my perfect house would be either on small hill overlooking the village or in the end of the village .
I don't want immediate neighbours, but if the yard is large enough I would be fine if they would ne someone next to me. I  could live in smallish place as long as there is some larger village or town nearby ( 10 -20 km) - more for the kids than us. I would like to bring them to some activities. And  I want the place to be safe for us ,
If that was up to my husband alone he would gladly put us on the highest hill in the most remote location , and maybe If there would be only two of us I'd be ok with it  but there are 2 small girls I am about to bring to the stranger country they have never been to, So I'd rather ask in here and maybe together we will find  a nice place for us , maybe someone's neighbour is selling his small house, you never know....

thanks Jane, Do you have a web page link to the house > ?

Does anyone know the village called Konak ?

KingaCo. Clare,  Good luck because Bulgaria is a bigger place than people imagine. You want to be next to Turkey and Greece, or Sofia or Montana or a seaside resort. The list is endless. Plenty or research and the use of Google maps is a start. Most Brits could give you a list of all the pitfalls we encountered before we knew the ropes and learning comes with expenses! 😅

I have studied map very closely to the point that I wouldn't get lost lol
I have been on Bazar, OXL ect ect for the last 2 months
Like I said before , there is so many options that is simply v hard to choose something . Sea is nice but It might be a bit drought out there for me.
Thanks a mill ))

[Post deleted]

A very good description of the situation.

The pictures show the better half of the story.

It's better to check if there is a "mahalla" close to the house.

Renovation is a daunting task, dealing with Bulgarian "maistori", who almost never show up at the agreed time. Not to mention the prices of most building materials having gone up lately.

And without knowing the language everything is tough, especially in remote parts of the country, where no one speaks English.

Here is the one and only house currently for sale in our village:

https://www.olx.bg/d/ad/prodavam-kascha … c53cb1baa1

You can see that it is not cheap, and the renovation is patchy. They have been advertising and readvertising it for over a month.

Thanks a mill , your advice is valuable to me.  I really want to  have animals and vegetables and go to the shop only for alcohol and sweets and cigarettes
I can't wait to permaculture my land

As others have said, there are many houses available for sale. The challenge is finding a good one. :-)

Depopulation is a huge issue in Bulgaria... I think it has lost a very big chunk of the total... and, of course, disproportionately in the villages as the youngsters leave for the bright lights (and jobs) of the cities. So many villages have  lost services, or have many empty/falling down properties. I would personally prefer to avoid such a village, but I'm sure it makes for cheap buying opportunities.

My village (in the Stara Planina) is bucking the trend. Since I moved here 4 years ago, I only saw 1 house come on the market. Nearly everything has been renovated. There have been a few plots of land for construction for sale, but they were 20,000 - 35,000 euros just for the plot.

Hi!

Yes there is a couple of nice houses for sale, think they need some repair but the houses are not expensive. About 5-10.000 euro.

The village is just ouside Svilengrad.

There are some useful points to consider, when buying a house in Bulgaria:

1. Carefully select the region - mountain, seaside, valley etc.
2. It is good if there's a good main road nearby
3. A city not too far away with good medical care is also wise
4. Avoid regions with compact gypsy population !!!
5. Having Bulgarian neighbours is normally a great plus
6. Get a taxi driver and ask him to show you the surrounding villages
7. If possible ask about the neighbours BEFORE buying the house

8. Do try to live for a couple of weeks at the house before buying it!!!!

and that's just the start 

You are a star Kristian ,
My husband is in Sofia now and is heading west on Monday

I wonder if that would be passible to live in prior to buying . Nice idea .

I live here ....

It would be absolutely fantastic to be able to try out the house before buying.

Unlikely to be possible.

Oops... I mentioned a mahalla, but was afraid to say who lives there, lest I be
censored

Some probs with these houses:

1. A leaking roof
2. Floors rotten because the rain water collects near a wall
3. Crumbling wall renderings

Well, the possibilities are endless, but these are the ones we have experienced

how did you overcome them ? have you somehow managed ? You know I am not expecting persian rugs and marble floors.

I am not expecting persian rugs and marble floors.
There is good few properties with people still living in that are going to sell. We will be checking them out next week .if you ask me I will have to say there is no comparison to the standards I live in at the moment but I would be more than happy to inhabit  one I live in nice semi- detached with all little houses the same and all lawns cut to the same length .  Little by little we will do improvements or refurbishments . This is what I am planning on anyway .

I have found some many houses, most agents sent me recent videos with gps coordinates, I don't think the house is a problem to buy , It is the right , safe /interesting region/ village to choose from among hundred of them

Someone else has suggested it . in Ireland you have to pay upfront for even get a key .
So I thing Kristian meant that I could rent before buying ?

Chances of meeting a seller who will will let you try their house out for a couple of weeks to help you decide whether to buy it or not? Slim to none. :-)

Plus, honestly, would it really be a good thing? You'll always find stuff that's wrong and that you don't like, especially as beforehand we're looking for reasons NOT to buy something. Whereas, when you spend a lot of money on something you subconsciously look for the things that make you feel good about your decision/purchase.

Our village house (and our village) are great, way beyond expectations. It's one of the best house purchases I've made. But if I'd viewed it even once (it was a dreaded internet purchase), let alone stayed in it a couple of weeks, I would 100% have dinged it, and moved on.

I reckon this is especially true for many Brits looking for a village house to renovate. After the UK, and your finished house with central heating... and your idea of what a UK village house is like... it's a pretty big shock to the system to go to a rustic Bulgarian village house. I mean, they are big-time rustic. :-) With a very basic bathroom/kitchen, wooden single glazed windows, no insulation, and basic heating. In winter, these places are COLD. :-)

You try that out for a couple of days before buying, and I guarantee you will run a mile!

Of course, after you redecorate, and re-do the roof... and put in double-glazed windows and insulation... and decent heating... and a nice bathroom and kitchen... and tidy the garden... and install the rabbits/chickens/dogs/cats... it will be awesome. But that's a few years (and a chunk of cash) away, innit... :-)

There is a huge amount of truth in what Gwynj has just posted.  I spent 5 YEARS looking for the "perfect" house. Visiting Bulgaria several times a year and spending days travelling Bulgaria to view houses and none were ever "right".
There were a couple of possibles in all this time,but the whole idea of finding a builder, having the work done, communicating etc seemed so overwhelming we never actually bit the bullet and bought.
Finally, I did what once seemed the unthinkable and bought, unseen on a certain auction  site. I felt it was "now or never" and because the house was cheap, the worst that was going to happen was I wasted a few thousand pounds. (probably less than had been spent in petrol, flights etc in all the years of viewing.
It seems the Gods were smiling that day as the house, although derelict, .  basically ticks every single box. It was a stroke of incredible luck, and very slowly the work has been taking place, slowed by Covid. I was also lucky to get a very sensible English speaking reliable builder.
Think of it like this, what is perfect today may not be as perfect tomorrow, but you will make it work.  I had the same with my house here in the UK. It seemed perfect on purchase, but a combination of awkward neighbours, local building work and less facilities have made it far less so!. However I have to live here as I know anything I buy in  the Uk, unless I had an unlimited budget, which I do not, could soon turn from a dream to a nightmare.
I still don't actually know if I will move to Bulgaria for good as I have a lot of animals who need to live in one place, I will know more after this week when my husband will visit for the first time in nearly two years!

The roof was completely replaced, the floors as well.

Good one, @sogy, I forgot floors! Our lower level (current renovation project, we live in the upper level) has all new floors. Downstairs would have been perfect for hobbits. So I had to bite the bullet (as raising the ceilings is impossible) and lower the floors. This involved breaking up the old concrete, digging it up, then digging down a couple of feet and removing a couple of weeks of rocks and soil. I do kinda wonder what's holding my house up now. :-) The old concrete was thin, had no rebar reinforcement, no insulation, and no waterproof membrane... it was definitely not up to code. :-) The new concrete is much thicker, stronger, dryer, and warmer. That (plus the mere couple of inches that we finally gained) has transformed the livability of this floor.

Imagine what that kind of reno project would cost in the UK!

And... this is naughty... I feel bad admitting it. But you know what you have to do with those 50 tons of rubble in the UK? Mine is still at the back of the house, just outside my gates. The lads wheelbarrowed it there. :-)

@gwynj Same thing, except what they had on the lower floor was wood flooring! Now removed, replaced with a proper waterproofed concrete pad and "granitogres" (don't even know it's name in any other language). The large storeroom didn't have any floors at all, now has the same.

And, yes, I forgot the complete rewiring!

But I am very lucky to have someone I can rely on, and knowing what he's doing. Also, having done the bulk of the work before the prices of building materials went up.

granitogres = porcelain (I think).

Very nice!

We have porcelain tiles on the upper floor - wood effect ones, it looks pretty swanky. :-) Especially with the floor-to-ceiling windows (not traditional Bulgarian style).

Yes, the rubble. And the previous owner's old stuff they never bothered to remove. Several skips already filled and removed (you can get offers from Gypsies to do it cheaper in their carts, but then i all just ends up behind the village, along the edges of the fields

But I still have a mound of wooden floor boards, beams, etc., which I am gradually cutting up to provide us with a few years of firewood.

And then there are the derelict, crumbling, sometimes illegally built structures, typically built of "kirpich" (in Russian this means "brick", but in Bulgarian it means "adobe" - these cost a lot to pull down, and then you need to remove the rubble...

OK... you're right... but apart from the roof, and the floors, and the wiring, and the plumbing, and the windows, and the insulation, and the rendering, and the painting, and the tiling, and the bathroom, and the kitchen, and the pellet stove, and the ac units... there really isn't much you need to do to your Bulgarian village house. :-)

@gwynj No, this is not porcelain, it's a newer material, and more durable.

@gwynj Unless you want an internal staircase, a central heating system, powered by your pellet stove, solar panels, etc.

[Post deleted]