Areas/houses for sale in the Black sea regions at reasonable price

@derekhandyman

Hello and welcome on board !

Please note that I have created a new thread from your topic on the Bulgaria forum so that members may guide you.

You may also refer to the Housing in Bulgaria section by creating a "looking for" ad to receive offers.

All the best

Bhavna

It depends how close to the coast you want to be, and what your budget is. One person's "reasonable" is another person's "too expensive"!

Right on the coast will always be spendy, though the further you go from Varna or Burgas, the lower prices usually are. 10km inland from the coast, depending on budget you have a good chance of finding something. Go 20km or so inland and village house prices get a lot more affordable for even meagre budgets and you're still easy driving distance from the coast.

thank you jane. I think I will be in the 20km budget. lol. TBH I wanted to get something really cheap < 10K and spend my retirement doing the building work to renovate it.

There are still houses available in that price range, within fairly easy drive of the coast, but they'll probably keep you busy in your retirement!

Our house needed a fair bit of work which is still in progress. Two bedroom house with basic indoor plumbing on 1/2 acre. It's a nice little village and we're blessed with amazing, kind and helpful neighbours. It cost 9,000 GBP last August. It's not much over 30km from lovely places on the north coast as the crow flies. Sadly we aren't crows and the road takes a longer route, but still under an hour's drive to a small beach town my neighbour says is the best place on the entire coast!

Closer to the coast in our region are the villages between Dobrich and Balchik, less than 30 minutes drive to the coast, less than an hour from Varna airport. Dobrich city itself looks a grim post-apocalyptic ruin as you drive in but actually has a nice city centre with a beautiful park and also has excellent shops. I still check the estate agents now and then as if we can I would like a city flat as well as the village house, and there look to be some decent houses in that area for under 20,000 EUR.

It's also still possible to get some real cheapies, as low as 2,000 EUR, but they will be pretty much derelict shells needing total rebuilding in overgrown jungle gardens!  I own one of those as well as our main village house.

I'm not sure of prices in the Burgas region but I would think going inland there'd be suitable houses there, too. Prices have gone up a lot and I think that area is a little more expensive than the north, because it's warmer and there are already more Brits there.

You may do well checking Facebook and YouTube as well as the estate agents. There are people there selling houses. Someone looking to move to Bulgaria recently told me about a guy on Facebook who only sells houses within 20km of the coast, reasonably priced. Some searching there could bring up something useful.

thanks again Jane.

I will be coming across in the spring to speak to estate agents in person. So hopefully I shouldn't end up with the e-mail problem.

@derekhandyman

If you find a village you like during your visit, it's always worth speaking to the mayor. He will know what properties are available in his village and you'll find the prices are probably much cheaper than going through an agent. It's always worth asking.

thanks grumpyoldbird. That's a great idea that I hadn't thought of. I will definitely do that.

@derekhandyman

Definitely check out a village fully, before you commit. Some friends bought a house without really checking out the village. It turned out to have quite a large Roma community, which wasn't an issue in itself, except they're not renowned for their kindness to animals. There were lots if stray dogs and puppies dumped at the side of the road. As animal lovers, that was a shock for them and they ended up rescuing dogs and cats. They only stayed in that village for 4 years and sold the house online, at a loss, just to get rid of it. They stayed in Bulgaria and have been in their second house for 14 years. Location, location, location.

@grumpyoldbird

There**** are also petty sneek thieves so if they can steel it they will .. .  You cannot leave anything lying about in your garden

@philip Mckay

That's like Bradford 😂

@grumpyoldbird I am from Bradford in my friend laugh out loud I admir it is bad in Bradford but in that bad it's like that all over the world oh my friend

@derekhandyman this website a good if you want to do a bit of repairs you can buy all different houses off this website it called rent to buy you want to have a look at this website realestateinbulgaria if you liver England you will have to open a business to hold on and out in Bulgaria but this company here if you get one off these you get the company already set up in with the payment of the house

    @philip Mckay
That's like Bradford 😂
   

    -@grumpyoldbird

And like our "nice" London commuter belt town!

But so right about checking the village, and the neighbours. We are so blessed that our house is in a crime-free village and we have amazing neighbours. There are a few Roma in the village and they are good, law abiding people. I imagine if any trouble started, the local community would soon discover who was responsible and sort it out quickly. I don't have any concerns about safety or thefts. Though we don't have flashy cars or wide-screen tellies to tempt thieves, either. Living reasonably simply like our neighbours do has a lot to recommend it.

@janemulberry Same at my gaff. Only way to go.

Lots of Roma in my village but as they've usually got employment and more stuff than me it's not an issue.

@Kath948381 What Kath said. The Roma round these parts are doing more than alright. Never had a spot of bother with them. Just another slice of village life, a bit of color and character. I do love Bulgaria me, Roma and all.

For quite a lot of people, "the English community there" is the reason that they avoid areas. Personally, I have no problem with running into the odd Brit now and again (you can always pretend not to speak English if you choose to) but I certainly wouldn't choose a property based on having foreign neighbours of any nationality. A shared language guarantees nothing.

    For quite a lot of people, "the English community there" is the reason that they avoid areas. Personally, I have no problem with running into the odd Brit now and again (you can always pretend not to speak English if you choose to) but I certainly wouldn't choose a property based on having foreign neighbours of any nationality. A shared language guarantees nothing.
   

    -@JimJ

I'm a Brit living in Austria and I know where every British community is, and personally, I would hate living where there were loads there. I know where the Brits are living in my district and I know I am the only Brit living in my town.

I couldn't go on holiday to a resort in Spain, I would find that hell on earth.

A group of us from all around the world meet up every Wednesday at a bistro to chat in English, the main idea behind it people can practice their English. It started small, I think we have had a total of 25 so it is a success.

But the reason I know so many Brits is because we have Facebook groups and help 1000's with their visas and Article 50 cards also have regular meetings at the Embassy.

@SimCityAT

That's worth knowing for when the time comes! 🙂

    @SimCityAT
That's worth knowing for when the time comes! 🙂
   

    -@grumpyoldbird

We even made a website

Hello everyone,

A little off-topic is ok but can we please get back to the topic ?

Areas/houses for sale in the Black sea regions at reasonable price

Thank you in advance

Bhavna

This is not super near, or super cheap, but it might be an interesting comparison. It's in a big village next to Provadia (which is a nice town in Varna province which has a Lidl, and a fortress, and a train station). It's 70km (an hour's drive) to the Varna Sea Garden and beach.

It was recently listed (Christmas '23) on Ebay by its British owner. Very large plot (4,000 m2), pretty much fully renovated, with UPVC windows and central heating. Classified ad 55k euros.

Probably hard to find a decent house with such a large plot, especially near to a decent town like Provadia. There aren't lots of pictures, so I don't know exactly what has been done... but I'd guess this kind of renovation could cost 30k euros or so these days. Plus Ebay listings tend to be a bit negotiable, and often include the furniture and appliances... so that might be worth another chunk.

The low-cost house route is good if you have income, and you have some DIY skills, and you have plenty of time to do the work over the next few years. But, honestly, I've been shocked at how much I've spent in the last couple of years on our village house, and on the finishing works on our new Plovdiv apartment (from "Bulgarian Standard").

My feeling is that it's now arguably a better deal to find an already-renovated property in the 40-70k range. 

I agree with what Gwyn said.

I've bought a cheap house and am spending money slowly doing it up, as I didn't want to spend a big chunk of money all at once, and prefer to trickle money into the project as i earn it. (Um, and yeah, that little matter of not having a spare 50k right now!) I'll do what I can myself, but for the big jobs have to pay to get them done.

I suspect by the time it's ready to move into permanently,  I will have probably spent more than if I'd bought an already renovated house, as the cost of building materials and labour continue to rise. For those who have the money available, buying renovated is probably a much better deal.

It's easy to underestimate how much work a cheap house needs! For some, it's the best or only way to get going with the big move. But in the long term, it's possibly not the lowest cost option.

Having bought my place in Samokov  was just a shell no windows or doors totally open to the elements .  Went there to get an apartment but none available so ended buying this 500sqm i+ internal area 4 story house .  Designed as 2 semi detached houses with 2 staircases that contra flowed so I converted to 4 apartments easily .  Only finished one apartment on ground floor and 2nd floor one is probably £5000 to finish.. all the apartments are wired mostly plumbed and plastered but spent a lot of money on it over the years and many months working hard to keep the costs down .. .. I bought it based in super borovets . Gondola bases going in at Samokov then 2008 happened.. omg the borovets project collapsed the BG  house market collapsed.  And the rest is history ..   many speculators lost lots of money..  but I thank god was not in that league.. I just wanted homes for the future.. but in hind sight after my samokov experience I'd agree hole heartedly that its best to buy already renovated if you can..  in Samokov there is never much to buy .. and my desire of being near a ski resort did cost me

@derekhandyman is some websites out where you can do minor repairs and you might get where you want to go it's some website sell houses like that

@philip Mckay Super Borovets what the heck happened there shelved was it?

Hi, the only still reasonable in price coast areas /40 min let's say/ would be Dobrich region. Burgas and Varna are too expensive now, not to mention the resorts. However prices keep going up everywhere

@Adriana Petrova

"Reasonable" is a relative term.  It's still possible to get a one-bedroom apartment in Burgas/Sozopol for €50,000, which is pretty reasonable in today's market; that kind of money can also still buy you an inexpensive renovated house in some parts if you do your homework.  The "Wild East" days of dirt-cheap property snapped up by dreamers are long gone, unless you're prepared to buy a run-down house in a so-so village for c€10k and spend too much time and money tarting it up.

    Hi, the only still reasonable in price coast areas /40 min let's say/ would be Dobrich region. Burgas and Varna are too expensive now, not to mention the resorts. However prices keep going up everywhere
   

    -@Adriana Petrova

The Dobrich region doesn't seem that popular with expats, but I find it has many good things going for it.

Lower prices, not just for property, but also in the local supermarkets and shops. Lots of space, for those wanting room around them, the average size of the land attached to village houses is about 2000 m 2. Near enough to Varna airport, nowhere in the region is more than 2 hours from the airport. Dobrich itself is a surprisingly good city. And the northern coastline is beautiful.

Not a region for those who want mountains, but I love the big fields of sunflowers and wheat, and even lavender now, as well. It reminds me of rural parts of Australia, where I grew up.  Toshevo, the nearest town to my village, is very like a Bulgarian version of Australian rural towns in the wheat growing areas. It just feels like home.

@janemulberry

I've come across these "cheaper prices in our area" claims before, but I've never yet actually found them to be true.  To be fair, I don't buy in the village corner shop type of emporia, so there may be some truth in that respect*, but otherwise supermarket prices seem consistent in branches across the country.  Some chains are indeed cheaper than others but that's usually because they're either running a special on some loss-leader or the quality of the product is inferior.

*I tend to doubt it: the Bulgarian pensioners I know prefer to avoid their local corner shops because they're more expensive than the chains, apart from the fairly rare occasions when they're selling local produce during a brief glut.

Jim, I didn't mean the village"corner shops", they're almost always more expensive! I do try to buy what I can in ours, simply because I don't want it to close down, but it costs a little more. One of my Bulgarian pensioner neighbours does shop there, because she factors in the cost of the bus ride and losing half a day going into town to shop.

And not the chain supermarkets, either, they will have their weekly specials, but the regular prices there will be the same across the country and often they're not the cheapest.

The nearest town has a few middle-sized non-chain supermarkets and according to my other neighbour, a frugalista who knows where to get the best prices for everything, they offer the cheapest prices for almost all items. Twenty leva does seem to go a lot further in those shops than the city supermarkets!

The estate agent I bought my house from also exclaimed over the lower prices in the local variety stores compared to city prices. No reason he should say that if it wasn't true, as we'd already signed all the property transfer paperwork and finished at the notary!