Contacting Bulgarian Estate Agents- DIFFICULT

Hello Johncaruthers,

Did you call them or have you been communicating only by mail ?

Regards,

Bhavna

Yes a lot of of them stay without reply, most of the houses are with more than one agent listed and sometimes they are already sold and still on the internet, good luck,

It took me 3 years to find mine

Most of the agents do not reply!

I have one for sale - Krivina 7000 euro which is on for rent at 100 lev per month but happy to sell instead.

***.same as the

Population..but tell us where you want to buy..and if its where i live

Pomorie..i will pop in and give them your details..

Inflation is high, interest rate are negative, so there's lots of demand for property... and price/m2 has gone up quite a bit. And the Pandemic substantially increased demand for village properties, so they're not easy either. Agents have plenty of potential clients, but here you don't get many exclusive listings, so they're often fighting over the same property. Overall, not conducive to be being overly responsive to random emails... especially if the agent is not oriented around expat/foreign buyers. Real estate is a bit of a numbers game, for both agents, and prospective purchasers... so you have to chase multiple properties / agents.

Some options...

- If you want something cheap and cheerful, there are a couple of active Bulgaria property sellers on Ebay. They seem quite responsive, have very good feedback, and they do cash sales or pay-monthly deals.

- You can fairly easily (by walking around the area, or looking at the new builds on OLX) find new construction projects / big developers (who might have multiple buildings on the go in a particular city), and then go see them and sign a pre-construction / off-plan contract. Then wait patiently for it to be built. We bought a new build here in Plovdiv, no issues at all. Except Bulgaria property is sold as "Bulgarian Standard" which means a concrete box with windows and front door... and so, when you get the keys, you need to find (also not easy) another building guy/company to come in to do the plastering/painting, install floors, do tiling, put in bathroom, kitchen units, ac units, blinds, etc. etc.

- Use OLX.bg which is very popular with Bulgarians and has a large property section (but has many categories, not just property). You can filter by owner/agent, and I've found owners are usually very responsive (and a bit more flexible on price, and you don't have to pay commission). But if you find a property you like, you can also call the agent to arrange a viewing. (But, yes, they can be rather unresponsive... but in that case, try more agents, or try the bigger agents with more salespeople.)

- Use Bulgarianproperties (dot com) which is a very large and reputable online agency (but there are others, of course) which specializes in expats. They have loads of listings all over Bulgaria for both flats and houses, so you should be able to find something you like, within your budget (if you have a sensible budget, based on current market conditions). They are reliable and easy to deal with. The listings are generally accurate, so that's a big plus, and some have video tours / 360 degree room views in addition to photos. The prices are about right, and their commission is acceptable, so there isn't a huge financial hit for the convenience of dealing with them. They are very easy to deal with, so if you like the property you just send them your reservation fee, and then you can start the purchase process. We found a house we liked and purchased based on the listing alone (it looked like the pics, and it's a great house in a great village, so we're delighted with it). We found our apartment with them too, but my partner was near so she popped in a for a quick look before we reserved (also an excellent flat, very happy with it... in fact, still here 5 years later, when it was meant to just be a cheap quickie while we searched for something more permanent). They have local offices in all the big Bulgarian cities, so one of these folks can show you all the properties on your short-list in that area. They are very trustworthy too, so no worries sending them deposits, or giving them a POA if you are still in the UK.

- I have a Bulgarian buddy in Plovdiv who's doing great (he's not the only one, this is a popular option now) with prefab houses imported from Turkey, so the price is pretty good compared to new construction in Bulgaria. He has two suppliers, one which is good quality, but looks a little prefabricated... and a second which is doing a very contemporary style, and looks like a conventional build. This is very quick because he does the plans and gets planning permission, and prefab buildings are fast to put up, by definition. You just go buy a nice plot of land... and pick a house from his catalog.

- I know a few on this board purchased from idealhomes-bg (dot-com) and are delighted. I think the main guy is  Veselin Valchev, and I've been told he's very helpful. I think they're mostly around Veliko Tarnovo (but this is a very popular area with Brits), and they often have some very nicely renovated village houses.

I agree that property agents can be pretty annoying at times... but perhaps that's a tad harsh, no? :-)

These folks are just trying to make a living. And with 17% inflation, it's not very easy for anybody. With non-exclusive listings they're all fighting over the same properties, so that definitely doesn't help. And they all get pretty cynical after they've spent a week showing a client 15 properties only to find they buy something cheap off Ebay / their best mate / another agent / the developer the following week. :-)

I've been very lucky with the Bulgarians I've met. Most have been very friendly, and very helpful. All my neighbours in the village are lovely, and I'm embarrassed by how much fruit and veg they've loaded me up with over the last few years. Really, I've been very pleasantly surprised by how nice everybody has been to me. I'd have to think very hard to come up with a negative experience of my 5 years in Bulgaria!

Thanks for Replys really appreciate them. 

Bhavna-  Just by email

SimCityAT-  Ive been looking for a Property in the Countryside on its own but after looking for a year realize you dont get this in Bulgaria. Im looking at the non mountainous Areas. From Vidin to Pleven to Dobrich to Yambol to Plovdiv.

gwynj-  Big thanks for great information. 'Bulgarian Standard' surely thats not all Properties ive seen some that i could start living in. Thanks for Website info. I actually sent emails to Idealhomes-bg.com and Veselin but no Replys  Just joined Instagram so will send him a message on that Platform but as you say hes probably got too many Customers!     

Hello everyone,

please note that I have put aside several off-topic posts from this thread! The OP has initiated this thread to share his experience about difficulties he is  facing to contact estate agents and perhaps to find a solution.

Please do not use this topic for developing arguments on other aspects of your personal experience in Bulgaria.

Thank you in advance,

Bhavna