Agency " ok Bulgaria" information

I haven't, but I suspect they may be a "scraper" site. Owners may not have listed the house with them, instead they might have copied other agents' listings to get a commission from the agent who does have the house listed if it sells through their listing.

A number of Bulgarian property sites do that, so it's not necessarily a big  problem, though houses may have sold and still be listed on scraper sites, and they might not be able to answer questions about the property.

One thing I did notice after years of looking online at Bulgarian properties while I tried to convince hubby to buy - it's important to check the date on the listing. Some of the houses on OK Bulgaria and Cheap Bulgarian House (same company) have been listed for a looooong time and are unlikely to be in the same condition as the photos after being empty for many years.

@leannedouglas49

I think it's a small (British?) agency, and probably fine.

I checked a couple of good places I know well and I didn't think their properties in the area were particularly cheap, and they didn't have many listings. However, they do have a bunch of cheap properties scattered across Bulgaria - but that's a different issue.

I would suggest big property sites like Suprimmo or Bulgarian Properties where you can be confident that the agency and listings are legit, and they have agents comfortable with international buyers. I think Brits are also quite well served by Mowlem (Howtin/Emerge) and BulgariaDIrect who specialize in pay-monthly village houses on Ebay which are always worth a look. I can also suggest Ideal Homes VT (idealhomes-bg dot com) if you like the Veliko Tarnovo region (and many expats love it). Another interesting regional option (Burgas/Elhovo) is Premium Properties (premiumpropertiesbg dot com). These last two agencies have some cheap unrenovated properties, and frequently have some cheaper already-renovated houses.

I'm not personally a fan of Sunny Beach, but for a holiday property a small flat there might be a very interesting lock-up-and-leave option. I like Bansko too (the big ski/mountain resort), but there's no beach. :-)

@gwynj thank you for so much information!

Is it easy to find builders in the little villagers?

May I ask have you heard much of leaving the property and coming back to it being stripped and robbed. (I'm from a pretty decent area on the south coast in UK so burglary doesn't really happen in my area). That's the only thing really putting me off as I have a young daughter and wouldn't like to burgled if she was there as it would be me, my mum and daughter over there usually without a man. 

I'm living here on my own and an older female. There are a few houses in the village that appear to have been wrecked, windows smashed and generally stripped but fingers crossed I've not had those sort of problems. My neighbour is nice and so is her family, I don't prop up the bars, and there's a couple in the village, at night and generally keep myself to myself.

To me it can be just the same in the UK but maybe worse because I understand the language and robberies can happen everywhere. So in short nothing risked nothing gained.

But finding builders is another issue, I've been ripped off by so called " british master builders" and local Bulgarian builders who though that I was rich and out their price up half way through a job, but it costed them a lot more because I paid up but won't ever be using them again . So fingers crossed when looking for builders.

@leannedouglas49

There is a recent thread here about burglary and theft issues.

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1065066

Places do get robbed / stripped, but I have no idea how significant a problem it is. And I suspect it depends very much on the location of your property, and how much time you leave it empty.

You can pay for home security, but if you'll only be using it for a few weeks a year, it might be preferable to consider an apartment. Most flats are very "lock up and leave" and you don't have to worry at all about it.

A village house for a holiday home used only a few times a year can be challenging for lots of reasons, the maintenance being a sure and certain one while thefts are only a maybe.

Leave a month between visits over spring or summer and it's quite possible to come back to weeds taller as you are all over the yard. Plus the risk of burst pipes or slipped roof tiles while it's empty over winter. I worry what I'll find every time I go back to mine! It's not intended as a holiday home, we're renovating it in the hope it will eventually be our full-time home. But if I only can go for a week, the whole time is spent cleaning and chopping weeds. There are property maintenance services, but they can be costly for what they provide.

Depending what you want for your holidays, as Gwyn suggested, an apartment on the coast or in the mountains will cost more upfront but be safer and easier to maintain. If what you want is a house, it's important to factor in the cost ot repairs and maintenance. Especially in the cheaper price range, most village houses need more repairs than most people would expect!