Personal experience of buying in Bulgaria

In fairness, out of all the "investment" threads about Bulgaria I've read, Rachel's foray does seem the most rational. She's not talking about flogging little €75K apartments in Bankso, it's properties that people can actually live in. Of course she has a vested interest in Bulgarian property doing well, but in fairness, she's put her money where her mouth is and actually set up in Bulgaria.

I can actually see property taking off in Bulgaria in the long-term. Once Europe's labour market is opened up, there's going to be a stream of remittances flowing into Bulgaria as evidenced alread in Poland and the Baltics. I think that if you can get into decent suburbs of the big cities at market rates, you could do very well, in the long-term

Of course I have a vested interest here and not tried to hide that and I totally agree with Auto and Barryo that if you have to borrow to invest here or do not have the spare cash to take a punt with, do not do it. Not in Bulgaria, not anywhere. There is no flipping here at all and resale along coast and ski resorts non existant. However, there is a resale market here in more rural areas, although I take the point that something is only worth what you can sell it for.

I know that the properties I have bought a year or so ago for around 5,000 to 10,000 euros I could easily now sell on for much more because I have clients out each week looking and buying these types of properties. But while a few are for renovating and selling on, most are for holiday homes and to live in.

Rachel

Well, I seem to have started off quite an interesting thread here from my original post about my website Bulgaria Buyer.

I'd just like to add that we did not enter the market with the idea of flipping or reselling just before completion. We always looked upon it as a 3 to 5 year investment. We did not think that flipping was realistic despite all the hype from the estate agents. With hindsight we are probably overweight in Bulgaria and given the chance again would probably do some things slightly differently.
We would still have bought in Sofia and probably the St.Vlas area, but probably not in the ski resort due to the very short rental season. Between 3 and 5 years we will probably have sold in Sofia and the ski resort and may keep the St.Vlas apartment as a bolt hole possibly for personal use.

I have made a number of updates to the website since the orginal posting. Please take a look:

[broken link removed]

I must admit i have no interest in buying in Bulgaria - I dont have time or interest that is required to make a investment there but I think this thread has been informative and very useful for anyone who is interested.

Hi
I am a complete novice when it comes to foreign property but an now in a position afford a modest investment ..have spent a few hours to-day in the rds being bombarded by property developments in bulgaria,Nobody mentioned any of the things that auto mentioned..I will be takin sis advice as it makesmore sense that any of the sales pitches..thanks auto
S