Buy a house without an estate agent?

Honestly, I would not suggest buying a house the moment you arrive. However, I would suggest renting an apartment (or house) for a while until you get a better feel for the climate and area.

There are hundreds of horror stories about Brits coming in here, buying or building homes, investing literally hundreds of thousands of euros and losing everything, because they did not read the fine print in the documentation or simply accepted a Bulgarian version with no translation.

Real estate is virtually dead at this juncture, so shopping wisely and slowly would certainly benefit you in the long run. You should work with a reliable broker, unless you know someone personally. In the end, you will still need someone to translate for you, I assume, so why play games? Not all brokers are bad.

Hello

  I bought mine without an estate agent, you just need to find the owner and make an offer.  I got a 4 bed detached house with 2000 square metre garden for 8000 euros!  The same house was advertised on a website for 16000!

Regards

Dominic

Hi Dominic

I'm interested to know how you found the owner of the house you bought. I have seen houses for sale on the internet, you'll see the same house on more than one website with very different prices on each one it's very fustrated. I'm definately not going to rush in byding my time and keeping an eye on the market.

Me and my girlfriend visited the area we liked, went into the local pub and asked if there were any houses for sale locally.  We were then overwhelmed at the response.  The person we bought our house off had moved to Turkey, so the house was empty.  He still comes back to say hello when ever he is visiting his family in the village.

  We bought our house to live in.  If you are looking for investment purposes or to make a quick buck, I would really not recommend it.  Supply really is exceeding demand.  The village I am in is half empty, there are also a few villages near me that are completely empty. 

  Good luck

Dominic

Just want to let you know, there is a large furnished 2 bedroom apartment for rent in Vinitsa (12 km from Varna central) beginning October 1, if you want to rent for a while and look around before you buy. Rent is 350 euros a month + security, no broker's fee. Cats OK.
Please contact me if you are interested.

Hi there if you see a village you like go and ask the mayor which houses are for sale. Then the local municipality architect will have records of who exactly owns these. You will need a recommended and reliable lawyer who will then do the negotiating for you and check ownerships etc. Good luck and have a good look around first,I would definately agree with other posters to rent before you buy.