Property Bubble

Let me get my crystal ball and see....

That's a good question, and hard to answer. What were the factors that popped the previous Bulgarian property bubble? Are there similar things happening now that might affect property prices?

I'm far from being a property expert, and I don't have a crystal ball, either, but my take is that with city or large town apartments, the jump in prices is due to demand being far higher than supply. Bulgarians moving from the country to the city, or returning due to Brexit or Covid or because they now have the option to work remotely. The huge slowdown in building during Covid reducing available properties for sale. And the big price rise for building materials is passed on in the cost of new homes.

There may be a drop in apartment prices if a lot of new properties hit the market and sellers who want to sell quickly need to accept lower offers. estate agents want to do all they can to keep prices high, so homes will probably continue to list at the same prices but if the rate of sales slow or there's buyer resistance to higher prices, sellers may be more receptive to low offers.

But not all bubbles do burst when expected. In the UK and Australia people, including property investment experts, have been saying for almost 20 years that the property price bubble must burst soon. Neither market has experienced anything like a big drop in prices during that time. Small periods of slowdown, but prices keep going up. I used to follow a UK financial website and forum, and their property expert confidently declared that property prices had peaked. He said he'd sold his house and was renting until the price crash he believed was inevitable occured. That was in around 2005. He's presumably still waiting for that crash in prices, because they've continued to rise.

The property bubbles may burst eventually, but it's difficult to foresee when, especially when even experts get it so spectacularly wrong!

@Adriana Petrova

As I have no intention of buying or selling my Bulgarian homes  I don't know to much about the Bulgarian market.. I do understand it's going through a upward trajectory right now.  I don't think we are in a 2008 scenario that's for sure .. UK market is pretty static that's for sure but that's not surprising with this temporary inflation ...  Probably the Bulgarian market will run out of steam and settle again ..   but while people have money to spend it will keep going up ...  Toxic dept is the killer and the reasons behind that are complex or simply corporate greed ! As it was in 2008.. the affects can last a long time on a housing markets and Bulgaria is a testament to that .. it's taken years and years to stop being just static .  Just enjoy the ride.. that's if if your a home owner of course ..

The crash of 2008 was pretty much global, not an isolated Bulgarian incident.

There were a lot of problems and properties in Sunny Beach and Bansko (and a few others tourist spots like Borovets) and these areas did take a long time to recover.

But we're 15 years on, and a lot has changed. Even Bansko is now above pre-crash prices.

I had a contract for an apartment in Sofia back in 2005, and it was 600 euros per m2. Now, it could be 2,000-3,000 (and up) per m2.

Plovdiv hasn't risen as dramatically as Sofia, of course. But I bought a very nice studio for 40k euros when I first came here, and now it's hard to find anything ready to move into for less than 70-80k.

Prices are rising everywhere, not just Bulgaria. Especially property-wise.

Leaving aside demographics, inflation has been high, and interest rates have been low. So that encourages folks to put their money into property, rather than sitting in bank account depreciating and earning pennies in interest. I think Bulgaria also has significant demographic changes, especially in terms of migration (focused on big cities Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna) and much greater take-up of mortgage financing. The Euro change-over is coming soon too, and most countries saw price rises as a result (perhaps it will be more muted here as there has been a lev-Euro peg for some years).

Waiting for a crash/correction, seems like a risky strategy. You have to live somewhere, so that means renting for a few years while prices continue rising. But sometimes folks win the lottery, even though it's exceedingly unlikely.

Like @philip Mckay, I'm a big fan of Bulgarian real estate. If anything, I wish I'd bought more. :-) I don't have any mortgages or loans, so even if there were a correction, it wouldn't hurt unduly. I don't plan on selling, and I can always rent something out if I need some income.

Leaving aside the investment aspect, Bulgaria has some delightful places to live. And even with the higher prices, you still can get a lot of land/property compared to buying in the UK or other large EU countries. AND your utility bills and property taxes will also be much lower.

For someone with a pension or some form of remote (or passive) income, I still think that Bulgaria is hard to beat.

@janemulberry

If I'd had advance warning of the 2008 crash, I wouldn't have bought my French house in 2007. I paid the going rate, at that time, but my house is now worth less than I paid for it all those years ago.

As all markets, it's about supply and demand. I believe it was American prime that caused the last crash, because, in simple terms, they were throwing money at people for mortgages, who really couldn't afford them. Needless to say the banks are more stringent with lending these days, but there's also the question of how much people are prepared to pay. Mortgage terms have already been extended in the UK, just to keep the market moving. Without first time buyers, no one can move and once they're priced out of the market, prices will stagnate. Prices in Bulgaria are being pushed up by foreign buyers. This is a global phenomenon, because the same thing happens in London, where wealthy foreigners are outpricing locals, rural communities are being infiltrated by city dwellers buying holiday homes and pricing young people out of their own communities. In a nutshell....who knows?

The price rise in Sofia is impressive. Although the next generation is going to really suffer. Also the gap between the big cities and the villages is growing bigger and bigger.

Yes, it would be a huge pain to buy at the top of the market and see such a huge drop. I do feel for anyone in that situation. But I'm not sure these things can be predicted. All one can do is look at past burst bubbles and try to see what caused them, and whether similar factors are present now. But bubbles seem to defy any predictions sometimes, as with UK property prices. Usually, even if someone buys at the top of the market, hold onto the property long enough and prices will catch up again. Rather than selling to move somewhere else, I hope it works out that you can get some rental income on the property, instead.

Hubby bought our UK house back when mortgage interest rates in the UK were insanely high, up to 15%, had to work two jobs to pay the mortgage (this was years before we met). And then prices dropped because no one could afford to buy, so he was in negative equity for a while. But now our remaining mortgage payments are less than a 1/4 of what rent would be for a similar house, and the house value is 5 or 6 times what he paid for it. And he's had somewhere to live all that time.

Our little house is very much the lower end of the market for our area. Because we couldn't have kids, we stayed in what is really a first-time-buyer's property. Wages aren't rising in line with inflation and yet the selling prices for similar homes seems to keep rising way faster than inflation. If there's been a recent correction in UK prices, it's not yet taken effect here. We're a 45 minute train ride from central London, so the people who are now well and truly priced out of London (almost everyone!) are buying here and further out.

I've been saying for years prices must drop, because when no one can afford to buy, something has to give. I do hope we can sell up and move before that happens, but we have no way of knowing if or when it will. There could be a spectacular drop. There could just be a flattening of prices that lasts long enough for wages to catch up so people can afford to buy again.

But because we can't know which way things will go, my hope/expectation of what we might have after selling the house is fully 1/3 than hubby's!

@janemulberry

If you're in a 'first time buyers house', then you're in a better place than some, even if the market crashes again. If first time buyers cant afford it, there are always people down sizing, so there's always a market. The fact that you've stayed in that house until prices have caught up is a good thing. I remember the 15% mortgage rates. That was a scary time and a lot of people lost their homes. Thankfully I no longer have a mortgage and if I could give anyone any advice today, it would be to become mortgage free as soon as possible, because it takes a lot of pressure off.

Absolutely! Mortgages are great for getting started, but the banks benefit from them far more than the borrower!

Hubby was in a dreadful financial situation when we married. He wasn't in negative equity anymore, but he is very financial naive and believes what "experts" tell him, which has had some disastrous results for his finances. The mortgage story is just one of them! The bank's mortgage advisors suggested an endowment mortgage, and at the time lots of financial gurus (no doubt paid by the banks!) were also advising borrowers to get them.

Great for the bank as the principal never reduced and he'd paid interest on the entire amount borrowed for years. Meanwhile, the bank's investment he was paying into separately that was supposed to completely pay off the mortgage at maturity was going to have a massive shortfall of half what he'd borrowed at maturity! As soon as we got married I remortgaged the house on a repayment mortgage at a much lower interest rate and started overpaying whatever we could afford. Then thanks to that bank stopping mortgage loans I switched to a bank offering an even better deal - an offset mortgage. We haven't paid interest for years. I could have paid the mortgage off, but as we're not paying interest now, will let it run to full term.

I've taken the thread a little off-topic, but it is relevant as one of the drivers of the current high Bulgarian property prices are the interest rates which have stayed relatively low compared to other EU countries, and the ease of getting mortgages. If interest rates increase and mortgages become harder to obtain, that's likely have a knock on effect of slowing house price growth or even bursting the bubble.

@janemulberry

To be fair to hubby, endowment mortgages were pushed pretty hard for many years, so he's not the only one! And lots of us went for them as it allowed us to make lower interest-only mortgage payments, and afford a more expensive property. But there can be lots of potential pain later... especially if the endowment policy looks like it's coming up short.

As part of my move to Bulgaria, our property purchases have been cash-only, and I'm now 100% debt-free. I know it's not possible for everyone, but it has taken away a lot of the stress in my life and has made a huge contribution to why I'm so relaxed about my life in Bulgaria. The (relatively) low cost of Bulgarian property is what makes this much more plausible than buying an equivalent property in the UK. Not only do I now have no rent or mortgage payments, but the cost of running (property tax, electricity, water, etc.) a Bulgarian property is very low too. I wouldn't be happy if there's a property crash/correction, but given the above, it's not something that would affect us unduly.

    hi all, when /if at all/ do you think prices will crash?
   

    -@Adriana Petrova

All over the world, when people stop being so stupid.

House prices have been artificially pushed up to the point where fewer and fewer people can afford them, and rental prices are shoved up because houses are so expensive.

People work all their lives to buy a house, retire, then die after a life dedicated to paying off a mortage.

Add the rest of the consumer society, and most people are working for everyone but their own happiness.

Sadly, the bubble won't burst in any significant way because humans will never learn.

As part of my move to Bulgaria, our property purchases have been cash-only, and I'm now 100% debt-free. I know it's not possible for everyone, but it has taken away a lot of the stress in my life and has made a huge contribution to why I'm so relaxed about my life in Bulgaria. The (relatively) low cost of Bulgarian property is what makes this much more plausible than buying an equivalent property in the UK. Not only do I now have no rent or mortgage payments, but the cost of running (property tax, electricity, water, etc.) a Bulgarian property is very low too. I wouldn't be happy if there's a property crash/correction, but given the above, it's not something that would affect us.        -@gwynj

Absolutely! Living debt-free is so much less stressful and opens up a lot more options for where and how we can live. I made my share of bad financial decisions too, spending and running up debt rather than saving. Thankfully that is now all paid off. Phew!

I'd rather live a simpler life and stay debt-free.

    As part of my move to Bulgaria, our property purchases have been cash-only, and I'm now 100% debt-free. I know it's not possible for everyone, but it has taken away a lot of the stress in my life and has made a huge contribution to why I'm so relaxed about my life in Bulgaria. The (relatively) low cost of Bulgarian property is what makes this much more plausible than buying an equivalent property in the UK. Not only do I now have no rent or mortgage payments, but the cost of running (property tax, electricity, water, etc.) a Bulgarian property is very low too. I wouldn't be happy if there's a property crash/correction, but given the above, it's not something that would affect us.        -@gwynj

Absolutely! Living debt-free is so much less stressful and opens up a lot more options for where and how we can live. I made my share of bad financial decisions too, spending and running up debt rather than saving. Thankfully that is now all paid off. Phew!
I'd rather live a simpler life and stay debt-free.
   

    -@janemulberry

I was debt-free at 35 when I moved to Austria, the best thing I ever did. Bought the house for cash and it doubled in price in 15 years. I don't stress as we work on it each year. Life is too short.

I guess I could move back to the UK, but where I would want to live, public transport is dire in Wales and as the way the country is now, I would not feel settled. Each time I visit I can't wait to leave. I can only stay a week at a time.

@SimCityAT

Do u live in Austria 🇦🇹 now?

    @SimCityAT
Do u live in Austria 🇦🇹 now?
   

    -@Merry888

Yes

I think the Bulgarian property will be a bit more resilient than in 2008 .. one major factor is that pre 2008 the property boom was fueled by Irish and the UK citizens mostly..  buying property up as investments and with a market so cheap you could buy houses on credit cards..

2008 the crash happened made worse by UK &Irish investors selling up forcing the house prices to drop significantly fast..  the primary house buyers were foreigners not Bulgarians.. now you have secondary buyers who are Bulgarians .. these are mostly Bulgarians who live and work  abroad and want there own property in there home country..

Foreigners are buying again and Bulgarians are joining this also now ..  I rarely look at house prices these days  because at 64 I really only want a stress free life and enjoy what iv built over my lifetime.   Hopefully for those that are in BG investing rather than looking at living there  that the worst that will happen is a slow down in sales and a slow down in the boom that has begun again ..

@SimCityAT

Why r u on the Bulgarian forum? Do u want to move to BG from Austria 🇦🇹 🤔?

Lol. No  I will be moving from the UK.

    @SimCityAT
Why r u on the Bulgarian forum? Do u want to move to BG from Austria 🇦🇹 🤔?
   

    -@Merry888

For your information I am one of the people who help police Expat.com, that's my reason for being here, OK?

@SimCityAT

Oh ,I am so sorry.  I always thought Bhavna is the only admin here

@Merry888

Hello, we are 3 admins (Julien, Cheryl and myself).

We also have a team of Advisors and experts, volunteers who are also expats who have tremendous experience with living abroad. They have kindly accepted to help members by guiding them and answering their questions on the forum. They also keep a keen eye on the forum and help admins.

If you want to know more about our Expert program, follow this link : https://www.expat.com/en/experts.html

Sorry for the Off-Topic.

Let us get back to the topic : Property Bubble.

Regards

Bhavna

@Bhavna

Thank you for this answer

Bulgarian Properties forecast for the property market in 2024:

We expect property price growth to slow further down to around 5%, which will be commensurate with forecast inflation. Supply will improve and some listing prices will be adjusted. Sellers will become more flexible and willing to negotiate, and this will enable deals to be done and volume to be maintained.

As estate agents, they're hardly likely to forecast that the bubble will burst, of course! But this is very much in line with my uneducated guess.

Proper bamboozled by these posts from grumpyoldbird about us expats hiking up property prices. Last I checked we were all about snapping up the cheap stuff, not the posh pads like Phil in Borovets. Its the Bulgarians thats nudged the prices up and fair play to them.


Unless they up sticks and move abroad again, I reckon those prices aren't going to take a nosedive anytime soon. Round here, people arent struggling. Us expats are starting to look like the ones counting our pennies! The idea us lot are a big influencers on property prices? That's a bit of a stretch!

@mickeyhart we get messages from estate agents to act quick as its a bull market,,folks just had enough of the disunited kingdom @

@Adriana Petrova

Here's my take on it, I'm no expert, but this is what I've been seeing.

I live in Varna, where prices since May 2022 have risen significantly.  This would be true of the other major cities too.  There are a number of factors that have caused such increases...   Firstly, many Bulgarians in villages want to move to cities and leave their village homes to find apartments in the city.  Secondly, there has been a large influx of Ukrainian migrants arriving in Bulgaria, since the start of the war and whilst the flow has slowed sonewhat, they are still arriving.  Thirdly, there are many people arriving from countries all around the world, particularly, France, Germany, Netherlands and Canada.  All these people arriving in Varna haven't pushed both rents and property prices up, as there is a shortage of property.

Whilst demand is still high, prices will stay high, but eventually the demand will slow, as people get settled and arrivals are fewer. It will also depend on many new apartments are built and how soon.  It's common for entire blocks of apartments to be sold before they've even laid the foundations!

As for village properties, yes there have been increases in house prices, but you can still buy cheap.  I've been regularly looking at houses in the villages around Dobrich, General Toshevo area and have seen the lowest prices that were €5,000 for a run down house, double to €10,000.  So to buy a half decent house now, that would be immediately inhabitable, you really need around €30,000 to €35,000 to spend.

However, I think village prices will suffer in the long term, as more Bulgarians abandon their properties and a raft of houses are available over the country.

To give you an idea of how insanely the prices have risen in Varna, my wife and I bought a three bedroom maisonette (penthouse)  in a nice area of Varna, in April 2022, for €148,000.  Our property is now valued at £210,000!  We also bought a studio apartment eight minutes walk away from our maisonette for €55,000 and that's risen to €75,000.   We bought two garages and a parking space too, as we new the inevitable will happen - a drastic shortage of parking spaces, as more apartment blocks get built. Our garages were €22,000 each and are now valued at €27,000.

The same has happened to rents, as landlords took advantage of Ukrainians arriving.  Before we bought, we rented a large two bedroom apartment for 550 Leva per month. We moved out into our bought maisonette, but had to return to the old apartment for post, we chatted with the new tenant - a Ukrainian family, who, shockingly told us the rent had tripled to 1,650 Leva!

Personally, I don't think we'll see another crash for at least another year, probably more.

@georgewheelwright I hope you find what you're looking for.  I feel for you guys in the UK right now, it has become a dreadful place to live.

@cyberescue1

Thanks for sharing, and I'm glad you've done well in your Bulgaria adventure!

I see the same in Sofia (very big rises over the last few years) and Plovdiv (which is our city).

As well as significant increases, there is lots of construction going on all over the city. Is this indicative of a bubble or not? It's often hard to tell! :-)

However, one thing that was very noticeable when I browsed the Plovdiv property listings recently (prompted by this thread): there are a LOT of new apartments on offer (both before and after Act 16), in Bulgarian Standard. BUT... relatively few listings (either for sale or rent) of completely finished apartments, ready to move into.

If there were a problem, the glut of new construction should lead to a glut of finished apartments with no buyers or renters for them. Whereas this suggests that currently they are mostly finished for their owner-occupier (or perhaps kept in the unfinished state as an investment).

I see a similar substantial rise in property prices in UK, Spain, and Cyprus, accompanied by significant price inflation in groceries, construction costs, utility bills. So perhaps we don't know if the value of our property investment has really risen, or if we're just seeing the effects of the government money (printed and) pumped into world economies in order to survive the Covid shutdown, and fuel the subsequent recovery.

But even if you can argue whether my 100 euros of property investment is REALLY now worth 200 euros... what's VERY clear is that anyone who rented instead (during the last few years, say from just before Covid), will have 0 euros of property, and their rent might well have doubled or tripled instead. Along with similar impact on their utilites/living costs. And if they're thinking of buying, now they have to find 200 euros, instead of only 100 euros.

This effect makes current owner/investors feel pretty good (200 euros still sounds like a lot more than 100 euros, even if they're devalued euros), and anyone who didn't buy (but can/could) is likely getting pretty antsy about finding something to buy before they miss the boat. This certainly provides lots of demand, and continues to inflate the bubble (if there is one).

It's all inflationary, and I have no idea why they talk about deflation here in the states, and real estate prices falling. We r having a soft landing...lol. Job reports are "peachy", as of last week ...Feds will pivot this year and the market estimates at least 3 rate cuts. It is an election year. Helicopter money will soon start to rain. They'll start printing again. In Europe Lagarrte said yesterday they are ready to implement cbdc's. It will be digital money and cash used in all transactions. Regarding the real estate prices, one can not help to wonder, what will happen when Bulgaria takes the euro as currency? Will prices go crazy again? I mean, they're ridiculous even now. And can anyone explain those Act 14, 15 and 16 regarding apartments to me please. Is there such thing about houses too? It's all so confusing

@cyberescue1

So u think prices will go up? Damn! We will be late to the party.. It will be worth maybe buying here in the states, and renting it out, while living in Bulgaria then. Things are changing so fast..What about when Bulgaria 😊 adopts the euro? What then? Glad u did great in Bulgaria guys. Good passive income from those properties u bought too. Congrats 👏. If anyone has ideas on how to earn passive income ,I am all ears 👂 😉 😊.  I guess, we should open another post regarding that..lol

@Merry888

Euro adoption

Many countries did experience quite substantial price increases when they adopted the Euro (both in property and general living costs). I was hanging out in France and Spain back when the Euro came in, and I remember that the rise seemed very noticeable. It might not be as bad in Bulgaria next year, but I very much doubt prices will go down. However, Bulgaria has had a fixed conversion peg Leva-Euro for some years, so, in theory, it should not have a lot of impact.

Passive income

I'd guess the one that springs to mind is usually a bit of property (especially as this is a property discussion). I imagine that @cyberrescue purchase of a studio was partly/mostly motivated by getting a bit of rent to add to the pension pot. Certainly, that was what was in my mind. Properties are a bit of hassle, as are (some/many) tenants... but it's probably quite a lot easier than working. :-) It's also relatively secure, and typically is inflation-proof (both property value and rent rises).

Act 14/15/16 & Bulgarian Standard & Notary Act

Bulgaria does inspections/approvals at various stages of a new construction project, whether it's a house or a block of apartments.

I think Act 14 is "shell stage" (floors, walls, I think roof). Act 15 is finished. And Act 16 is the "certificate of habitation", which is when folks can move in.

Typically, developers will either discount the price if you pay it all up-front, or have specific percentage payments tied to key milestones (contract signing, Act 14, Act 15, Act 16).

Most developers won't let you move in before Act 16, but some turn a blind eye to it. There are some (a few, I hope) buildings around where the building is occupied, but doesn't have (and maybe never will have) Act 16. This is usually a sign that the developer cut some corners, or didn't follow the plans/specification, or maybe ran out of money.

You can buy/sell a property without Act 16, but, obviously, you won't get full price for it (even if it's being lived in).

Bulgarian Standard is the level of finish required for Act 16. And, in Bulgaria (unlike many other countries), it's basically a weather-proof (100% externally finished) box. So you can expect to see rough floors/walls, windows, roof/ceiling, front door, electricity cables and plumbing in place. It's a bit misleading that Act 16 is a certificate of habitation, as, at this stage, the property is definitely NOT ready for you to habitate. :-)

To make your Act 16 property actually ready to live in, you typically need to finish the electrics (sockets / lights), paint the walls/ceilings (you might need a finish plaster coat too, beforehand), finish the floors (tile/laminate), often you need internal doors, install a bathroom and kitchen. You'll also need your AC units (or other heating/cooling), furniture and appliances. It's a significant investment of time and money, especially for expats with no local contacts / no Bulgarian language. It's much easier if you can find something ready.

When looking at listings, and seeing different price/m2 you can expect this to be higher (for the same property) as it reaches Act 14, then Act 15, then Act 16. And then finished (with the above work). And finally finished and furnished (i.e. 100% ready to move in, just bring your suitcase.)

The Notary Act is another bit of Bulgarian property terminology: this is your property deed and proof of ownership. This document is prepared by a notary, and signed by both buyer and seller.

@merry888

The other term you might see estate agents using to describe a property is "turnkey". That usually means what Gwyn said above, the next step on from Act 16, with plastered  and painted walls and ceilings, flooring laid, electric outlets and lights not just wires sticking out, and a kitchen and bathroom.

Some apartment prices look great value, but then you see it's just the Act 16 shell and the cost to finish it to where it can be lived in can be quite significant!

Same with old run-down houses. In rural villages they can be bought for less than 10,000 EUR, but at current prices for building materials and labour could cost another 30,000 EUR or more to get truly livable. Without my wonderful neighbours' help, I would have struggled to get renovation work done at a reasonable price.

Certainly with rural properties, there are some very unrealistic prices being slapped on places. I was surprised to see a couple of  ruins in my village with smallish land areas attached listed on a property website for 10,000 EUR and more each. I can't imagine they'll sell at that price when houses that need work still have roofs on can be bought for less! But who knows?

@cyberescue1  That was a great take on what going on  who better than someone living in BG ,,appreciate you taking rhe time to help others ! PS,,on the subject of migrants  Evety Hotel chain from Cornwall to Inverness are filled with youngsters, Somalian Ethiopian etc, I understand even benidorm is also beginning to do the same,,  are you seeing/ hearing  the same in BG ? Thanks.

@georgewheelwright I hear you mate.

You better believe were in the mother of all bulls runs. Thats not scuttlebutt about the bull run. Prices gone mad out here. You need 40 50 large now I reckon to get somethinf half proper. Bulgarians moving back is whats done it out my way.

I was on Bulgarian properties site trying to find info regarding Bulgarian companies incorporation  and thought I'd take. Quick look  at houses and land  for sale up here near borovets .. good god they seem to have gone ballistic ...  Almost doubled in Price from the last time I looked on there..   god I'm glad I'm not looking to retire here without a house already .. it must be  increasing every week

@philip Mckay

You're right, prices have shot up. When I saw the house I'm coming to look at next month, I thought it was a bit pricey. They're leaving pretty much everything, including and old 4x4. It's equipped as a rescue centre/ kennels, so I thought it was worth paying a bit extra. It was all renovated before the current owners bought it and although it's quite a while ago, it's been well maintained. I still have a look online though, out of curiosity more than anything else and in the few months since I first enquired about this house, I've now realised just how lucky my friend and I were to find this house at this price. They've had a lot of enquiries from Dutch people, but they'll only let it go to someone who's prepared to keep all the remaining dogs, the ones they haven't managed to home. I'm not a lucky person and I don't want to count my chickens, until they're hatched, but  now I can't believe my luck in finding this house. 😊

House buying can be really difficult in a place like Bulgaria because of the very wide market differences  for the same types of property ..  lathe prices are based on location in a small way city. Skiing/mountain , beach and rural.  The actual locations seam to be less relevant than UK.  I bought just like it is now ... Prices rising fast because of speculators.. took me 14 years for it to reach what I paid for it .. but anyway you've done and I hope it all you wished for .. sounds like the dogs are lucky to have you ,🙂

@philip Mckay

Well if it's any consolation, I bought my French house 17 years ago and it still hasn't reached what I paid for it. With the housing market as it is in my area, it probably never will. 🙄

@grumpyoldbird

Yeh my dad's just put his up for sale down near limouge as my mum died just before xmas and he is not really fit enough to drive all that way now  after caring for my bed ridden mum for the last 3 years ..

Life can be a real test just when you don't want it to be 😪