Advice on buying an apartment - Coastal Area

Hi Fraser,

Welcome to Expat.com

First of all, thank you for sharing your expatriation project with us.

For a good start, i invite you to go through the Bulgaria expat guide, you may find some useful information that will help you to make a smooth move.

I would also invite you to go through the various topics launched by our members in the Bulgaria forum. You may find some more complementary information.

I also hope that some members will give you more insight for each of the option you have given in your post. 
If you have other questions, please feel free to ask them on this platform.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Priscilla
Expat.com Team

Priscilla wrote:

Hi Fraser,

Welcome to Expat.com

First of all, thank you for sharing your expatriation project with us.

For a good start, i invite you to go through the Bulgaria expat guide, you may find some useful information that will help you to make a smooth move.

I would also invite you to go through the various topics launched by our members in the Bulgaria forum. You may find some more complementary information.

I also hope that some members will give you more insight for each of the option you have given in your post. 
If you have other questions, please feel free to ask them on this platform.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Priscilla
Expat.com Team

Thank you for the warm welcome Priscilla 😊

I will check out the guides you mention.

Fraser

Thank you for your post.   Having been here for many years you know the protocol.  Agents on the coast are as close to criminals as one can find.  They want a POA from the seller for a low price and then sell you at a higher price, plus they charge a 10% commission.   Regardless of the deal you will never get your money out of your property unless you deal direct with the seller. 

This is my fifth year here.  I have learned my lesson from HK University.   That is the University of Hard Knocks.

There are many wonderful opportunities however here is my advice.

1.  Check out the costs of the annual maintenance and then see if it is done.   Most management companies charge E8-E15 psm and do nothing.  Many buildings have years of neglect.  Denivi projects are nearly falling down after 15 years.  Flats that Russians purchased for E250 are selling for E80,000. 
You can fix the flat but you cannot fix the building. 

2   Coastal Cities are vastly overpriced and many Russians are selling at up to 60% discounts.  So you will need someone who has vast connections.   I have worked with three brokers, two of which I would consider the Al Capone's of Bulgaria.   Interestingly the first broker I met turned out to be completely honest.  It cost me time and money to figure it out. 

I have build a 110 unit on the Beach in St. Vlas but will not ruin my reputation by advertising it to you.  The ONYX St. Vlas is a competitors building that looks very good and he does maintain his buildings. 

3.  Have you considered slightly outside of the beach villages?   There are many nice places in nearby villages.   My advisor says they are great buys if you know that you are the only buyer and you may never get your money out of them.  So, consider driving 5 miles, avoid the boom da boom that goes on all night and find a nice house for E50,000.  I think that in 5 years these places will be selling as great opportunities.  You can find a property within 5 miles with a pool and some land.

4.  We have a flat in Sunny Beach at Vanera Palace-Sunny Beach-it is 150SM and a beautiful penthouse.   I think you should look at that development.  We love it and use it for out guests to stay.   We also have a home in St. Vlas and a home in Sofia. 

5.  We are as happy as pigs in mud here.   Take your time.  Come visit.  Meet people who can be honest.  Do not trust any Bulgarian Real Estate Broker. 

If you want to contact the only honest broker I have met he is Tanyo Taheb   +359 89 999 3000

His email is vlass.com.  I may have a direct email for his personal account and will look for it. 

My final advice is to not buy in Sunny Beach or Sozopol.    Buy in New Nessebar, Ravda or St Vlas.  You will regret living in Sunny Beach as it is filled with teenagers, drugs and noise.  Sozopol is nice but way too small to enjoy variety. 

I am happy to be a resource for you and recently looked at a property for a connection on this site.   I said--No Way---Priced right but too many structural flaws.

Johnavann wrote:

Thank you for your post.   Having been here for many years you know the protocol.  Agents on the coast are as close to criminals as one can find.  They want a POA from the seller for a low price and then sell you at a higher price, plus they charge a 10% commission.   Regardless of the deal you will never get your money out of your property unless you deal direct with the seller. 

This is my fifth year here.  I have learned my lesson from HK University.   That is the University of Hard Knocks.

There are many wonderful opportunities however here is my advice.

1.  Check out the costs of the annual maintenance and then see if it is done.   Most management companies charge E8-E15 psm and do nothing.  Many buildings have years of neglect.  Denivi projects are nearly falling down after 15 years.  Flats that Russians purchased for E250 are selling for E80,000. 
You can fix the flat but you cannot fix the building. 

2   Coastal Cities are vastly overpriced and many Russians are selling at up to 60% discounts.  So you will need someone who has vast connections.   I have worked with three brokers, two of which I would consider the Al Capone's of Bulgaria.   Interestingly the first broker I met turned out to be completely honest.  It cost me time and money to figure it out. 

I have build a 110 unit on the Beach in St. Vlas but will not ruin my reputation by advertising it to you.  The ONYX St. Vlas is a competitors building that looks very good and he does maintain his buildings. 

3.  Have you considered slightly outside of the beach villages?   There are many nice places in nearby villages.   My advisor says they are great buys if you know that you are the only buyer and you may never get your money out of them.  So, consider driving 5 miles, avoid the boom da boom that goes on all night and find a nice house for E50,000.  I think that in 5 years these places will be selling as great opportunities.  You can find a property within 5 miles with a pool and some land.

4.  We have a flat in Sunny Beach at Vanera Palace-Sunny Beach-it is 150SM and a beautiful penthouse.   I think you should look at that development.  We love it and use it for out guests to stay.   We also have a home in St. Vlas and a home in Sofia. 

5.  We are as happy as pigs in mud here.   Take your time.  Come visit.  Meet people who can be honest.  Do not trust any Bulgarian Real Estate Broker. 

If you want to contact the only honest broker I have met he is Tanyo Taheb   +359 89 999 3000

His email is vlass.com.  I may have a direct email for his personal account and will look for it. 

My final advice is to not buy in Sunny Beach or Sozopol.    Buy in New Nessebar, Ravda or St Vlas.  You will regret living in Sunny Beach as it is filled with teenagers, drugs and noise.  Sozopol is nice but way too small to enjoy variety. 

I am happy to be a resource for you and recently looked at a property for a connection on this site.   I said--No Way---Priced right but too many structural flaws.

Thank you for your very detailed reply, that really helpful information and it may save me a lot of stress knowing this from starting out.  I'm now a little bit more scared of the prospect of a corrupt broker or proprety agent taking advantage so I better tread carefully.  I have plenty time so I am not hurrying to do this.   

Actually I have a lower budget of £30,000, so I was just looking at some of the one bedroom apartments in developments that looked to be nicer.  I'm sure the online pictures all look good, but don't tell the full story.  We don't mind if it's not a huge apartment, but probably not a studio, maybe 50sqm to 100sqm depending on the place and facilities.  I've mostly just looked on Bulgarian Properies.com and a few similar sites so far.  They seem to have the most properties online and without knowing how things work, I was hoping to deal with them directly but now I'm far more wary.   

Actually I don't want to be in sunny beach, it is far too busy as you mention, so definitely looking at a quieter area and actually I don't mind if it's a bit more isolated, as long as it's within travelling distance of the main locations with public transport or travel options.  I was looking at the area of Kosharitsa which seems to offer very good value apartments and looks to be quieter up in the hills, but within travelling distance of the main areas.

It sounds like you really know how things run and which developments and which are well maintained.  Some of them look very luxiourous on the websites, others fairly basic.   I like the sound of your point 5. but I think it will be hard to know who is honest or not, I guess that is where your experience comes in and it seems you have learned who you can trust from trial and error over the years.   I hope to avoid Al Capone!!

If the person you mention as a recommendation Tanyo is the best person in your opinion to contact, I would appreciate his email if you can find it as I'll make contact when I'm ready to get things rolling, perhaps I could meet him on a visit first.  It's going to be 2021 when I start to do this, so will liking take a couple of trips across first to get a feel for things and view some places.

Thanks again for sharing, its good to make a helpful connection here, it seemed a little quiet.

If I were to do it all over again I would have purchased a home in a property a few miles from
Sunny Beach.  However my guests love to be there because it is a fun time.

I can recommend Tanyo Tanev.   Vlass.com   his email is t.tanev@abv.bg    He may have different ideas than I do as a owner vs a broker, but he will tell you the brutal truth. 

Better to create a network of four or five expats and visit the country and connect for a day or two and get our ideas. 

This is a beautiful place to live.  I can live like a king on only my pension.   I think ,  understand that  I think and have no definite proof that some villages can be the best investment opportunity in the country. 

This year my wife and I are driving to the second tier cities to examine them.   Beware of very small villages but look at the second tier cities on Rightmove.com.   I have no affiliation, but am driving tomorrow to see a house outside of Borovets.  It may or may not be good for us.   So investigate prior to investing.   Be sure you have a good solicitor and a Notary.

Johnavann wrote:

If I were to do it all over again I would have purchased a home in a property a few miles from
Sunny Beach.  However my guests love to be there because it is a fun time.

I can recommend Tanyo Tanev.   Vlass.com   his email is t.tanev@abv.bg    He may have different ideas than I do as a owner vs a broker, but he will tell you the brutal truth. 

Better to create a network of four or five expats and visit the country and connect for a day or two and get our ideas. 

This is a beautiful place to live.  I can live like a king on only my pension.   I think ,  understand that  I think and have no definite proof that some villages can be the best investment opportunity in the country. 

This year my wife and I are driving to the second tier cities to examine them.   Beware of very small villages but look at the second tier cities on Rightmove.com.   I have no affiliation, but am driving tomorrow to see a house outside of Borovets.  It may or may not be good for us.   So investigate prior to investing.   Be sure you have a good solicitor and a Notary.

I know what you mean about doing it all again, but it seems like you have a great setup.  I will look up Tanyo at Valss.com and very helpful having is email.  It scares me a bit that you stated the property companies are corrupt also, my mum owns a few places in the South of France and we don't have this issue as everything is crystal clear in terms of fee's.  It seems like you can get a reasonable studio for 15,000 euro's at the minute or a one bed 15 - 30k looking at the advert prices, so although I assume there is a commision from what I'd read up on, I should be looking at around 800 euro's for all the fee's on top to buy a property?

It is a beautiful country and your so lucky to live there. We'd go tomorrow if it wasn't for the kids and needing to work in the UK to keep my income going for now.  I've just turned 40 and I'm 20 years from my pension, so the plan is if we can purchase somewhere now, use it to holiday as much as possible and then move there in 20 years that would be the best compremise.

Sounds like you've got a lot of exploring still to do and it'll be a great experience examing the cities.  Yes I think I'm getting the idea that I need to find a trust worthy agent, a good solicitor and have these things in place before doing anything further.  I have also been recommended to use a UK based company that specialises in buying properties in Bulgaria, there were be a bigger fee, but also less worries with corruption!

For a budget of E30,000 you should look up Ben Collins Real Estate in Sunny Beach.  He is a Brit and deals with bargain properties.   He is honest.  I rarely vouch for anyone unless I can confirm their reputation.   He will steer you right.  He is a Brit who married a Real Estate Lawyer Bulgarian.   They work as a team.  Ben's email is enquiries@resalesinbulgaria.com

Johnavann wrote:

For a budget of E30,000 you should look up Ben Collins Real Estate in Sunny Beach.  He is a Brit and deals with bargain properties.   He is honest.  I rarely vouch for anyone unless I can confirm their reputation.   He will steer you right.  He is a Brit who married a Real Estate Lawyer Bulgarian.   They work as a team.  Ben's email is enquiries@resalesinbulgaria.com

Thanks I've had a look on his site and he has some places that look good, quite a lot sold.  So you don't recommend dealing with bulgarian properties?  They seem to be the biggest website and have more of a selection within our price range.

I like Bulgarian Properties and RightMove.  The important thing is to find someone you trust and who can be vouched for.  I trust Ben and Tony.    If you run into a lady named Bogdanna Grozdanova who has three offices in Sunny Beach and St Vlas---run away as fast as you can!  She is independent as Ben is and not affiliated with the two companies above. 

There are plenty of warnings on the postings about what to look out for.  If the Broker will not let you talk to the owner and confirm the price that is a red flag.   The game on the coast is lowball the seller, overcharge the buyer, pretend there is no commission and skim 20-30%.    Many buyers are  now wise to that practice.   The other issue is that the broker wants the contract to read for less that the true purchase price.   Instead of E30,000----something like E10,000.    This is to avoid the seller paying taxes, but if you later sell you will have to pay the taxes that the seller should have paid.  If a broker proposes that--run away as you will be stuck by the taxing authorities. 

The broker's game is to tell you that you will pay lower real estate taxes---Nonsense, the real estate taxes for the true value are not very high, but the gain tax is much higher.

Johnavann wrote:

I like Bulgarian Properties and RightMove.  The important thing is to find someone you trust and who can be vouched for.  I trust Ben and Tony.    If you run into a lady named Bogdanna Grozdanova who has three offices in Sunny Beach and St Vlas---run away as fast as you can!  She is independent as Ben is and not affiliated with the two companies above. 

There are plenty of warnings on the postings about what to look out for.  If the Broker will not let you talk to the owner and confirm the price that is a red flag.   The game on the coast is lowball the seller, overcharge the buyer, pretend there is no commission and skim 20-30%.    Many buyers are  now wise to that practice.   The other issue is that the broker wants the contract to read for less that the true purchase price.   Instead of E30,000----something like E10,000.    This is to avoid the seller paying taxes, but if you later sell you will have to pay the taxes that the seller should have paid.  If a broker proposes that--run away as you will be stuck by the taxing authorities. 

The broker's game is to tell you that you will pay lower real estate taxes---Nonsense, the real estate taxes for the true value are not very high, but the gain tax is much higher.

Thanks Johnavann, really appreciate all the helpful advice.  Happy to have 2 good contacts in Tony and Ben, I've sent Tony a message on linkedin yesterday just to make contact.  I have plenty of time, I'm just slowly putting money aside each month and aiming to build up a small pot to make the eventual purchase whenever that maybe, but probably in 2021 or 2022 fingers crossed.

Thanks,   use my name as they get many inquiries and are busy people.

Firstly, on the immigration issue, I think it's advisable to consider that the "transition year" provides very favourable treatment to British citizens seeking a residence permit in the EU (Bulgaria or elsewhere). While you're correct that you can seek a residence permit at any time in the future, doing it on the same basis as any non-EU application is likely to be more difficult/expensive. Therefore, it might be worth considering obtaining your residence permit during 2020, as a separate exercise to your property search.

I used an attorney in Plovdiv, and I obtained my residence permit while I was working in the UK. I popped over to Plovdiv for a long weekend, and returned with my long-term (5 years) BG residence permit for a EU citizen. It was surprisingly quick as first day we submitted the application at the immigration office (who took my photo), and next day we returned to pick up my card!

I already had a Bulgarian bank account (to meet the "sufficient means" test), so you'd need to allow an extra day or two to arrange this and get your certified (by the bank) statement.

While I think it's entirely possible to do this yourself, the language issue, and navigating bureaucracy makes the cost of an attorney entirely worthwhile. (I can't remember the exact cost, maybe 1,000 euros or so.) In addition, my attorney provided the rental contract (as you need to show residence in Bulgaria by virtue of owning a property, or having a long-term rental contract), so I didn't have hassle/expense of dealing with this either (especially as, at that time, I wasn't even sure we would live in Bulgaria, let alone which town).

For an EU citizen, without a job in Bulgaria, you're either "retired" or "economically inactive". For the latter, you need to show proof of financial independence (bank certified statement of Bulgarian bank account with 2,000 euros), proof of medical cover (Bulgarian policy is less than 100 euros, and they also accept a EHIC card, which is free), and proof of address/residence (as above).

I also have  a Spanish residence permit, and I tried (and failed) to get my permit in Germany (while actually living there, as I had a house there for 7 years). Bulgaria is, BY FAR, the easiest/quickest place in the EU to get your residence permit. And it was very cheap too (attorney fee, one Ryanair flight, 3 nights in a hotel). Even without attorney fees, Spain cost a small fortune in flights, hotels, appointment fees, health insurance policy, as it took multiple visits to immigration to get it finally approved.

As a bonus, at the end of 5 years, Bulgaria is 99% sure to issue you with your PERMANENT residence permit, regardless of whether you live here / work here / pay taxes here. Other EU countries have much more stringent requirements regarding the issue of the permanent residence permit. This permit is the true Brexit-beater, as it allows you to live (and work) in any EU country, not just Bulgaria. (A permanent EU residence permit - issued by any EU country - gives you almost all the rights - apart from right to vote, I think - as an EU passport. A Bulgarian passport is more of a challenge to get as you need to have proof of your Bulgarian language skills.)

Secondly, on apartment costs, this is pretty straightforward...

Utility bills are significantly cheaper than UK. Service/maintenance fees are usually (away from holiday apartments with pools and other facilities in ski or beach resort) very inexpensive. Property taxes are very low.

A few years ago, I went back to the UK to study, and I had a small (3 bed) semi-detached house near Leeds. Electricity, gas, water, and council tax were EACH close to £100 per month. My small flat in Plovdiv is usually (bit higher in winter) under £100 per month in TOTAL. (No gas, electricity for heating/cooling via AC, is £20-£50, water £5, property tax £20, service charge £5.) Apart from the service charges (which could range up to 12 euros per m2 per year), I'd expect a small holiday apartment to have pretty similar costs. However, a large, brand-new apartment in a fancy block in Sofia would obviously be significantly more expensive.

As a bonus, Bulgaria does not have big standing charges like UK utilities, so, pretty much, you pay only when you're using the place.

They also seem pretty relaxed about payment / non-payment, so they seem to turn off your services if you don't pay, and then turn it back on when you do pay. It's non entirely friction-free as sometimes there is a small re-connection fee. But, for example, this is worth it for your internet connection, rather than leaving it on year round when you only go for a few weeks.

They're also a bit more oriented around cash (lots of Bulgarian go into an electricity or EasyPay office and hand over cash) instead of the direct debit / standing order which is pretty much the default in UK now.

I have found that the most convenient is to use the online version of EasyPay (epay.bg) where you can register for an account (it's in English & Bulgarian), register all your bills, and pay by card. I now use this service to pay all my flat and house bills (water, electricity, internet, property taxes), my mobile phone, my insurances (car, medical, property), and my car vignette (road tax substitute). It works extremely well, and I highly recommend it.

Hi & once more nice to read what you write  😍
Now I have been at the mobile shop once more changed the  cardreader and  now  SP3 is installed,  in a few minutes,  but the speedy man which delivers me ink for my Lexmark printer is until now not coming.  So I have to call the shop in Varnsyvand ask what's going on.  . .
Tomorrow I will  visit  BCR  and ask for the nice little  empty restaurant inside the railway station in Varna,  control want and make a social community with me and others.  Next reopened and  beside this driving to Sliven repairing the scooter which I bought  and checking baby advocate how much money I can get  back because of his lies  !

So after this I can drive  and if you give me the address of this house or apartment I will drive there make pics and send them to YouTube,  so you know the REAL STATE  😊😍❤👂

Thirdly, I'm very happy to recommend my attorney in Plovdiv. Trustworthy, and speaks good English. Please message me privately if you'd like me to put you in contact with him.

I've used him for immigration (residence permits for myself and my partner), car registration (I bought a car on UK Ebay and then drove it over), and property purchase.

You can use an attorney to help you with a property purchase anywhere in Bulgaria, but the costs will be a bit higher than using one locally. (But the extra cost can be justified if it's an attorney you know well and/or use for other services.)

An attorney can advise you on the property purchase "process", but I think that's a bit of an expensive way to do it. The internet has all the info, and it's free. Or, you can buy me a nice dinner, and I can probably answer all your questions. :-)

The property purchase process in Bulgaria is like that of France, Spain, Germany (and others) which require a notary. The actual property transfer is handled by the notary, and they are regulated by the government. I would say that, largely (just like those other countries above), you can be confident in the trustworthiness of the notary, and the integrity of the purchase/transfer.

Therefore, any problems / untrustworthiness / scamming, would tend to be introduced via the seller, the real estate agent, or (most risky) the person signing on your behalf via a POA (power of attorney).

I have purchased property in Bulgaria while abroad with a POA. It's easy to get one certified at the Bulgarian Embassy in London. But, in this case, it's ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you're giving the power to someone 100% trustworthy (and, personally, I would try to avoid doing it, unless I absolutely had to, or it was a relatively small amount of money).

As I said above, I've used my attorney to represent me on a property purchase here too. But, if you're here, you can go to the notary in person (with a state-registered translator, probably 50 euros or so) and sign. Now that I know how the system works, I don't personally find it's worth the extra cost of an attorney (you are paying notary fees as part of the transaction costs). But it was definitely helpful to begin with.

Similarly, it's not strictly necessary to have a property agent. But it's very helpful because of the language issue (seller probably don't speak English, and you should be able to find an agent who does).

Rather than look for small agents, it might help to start with Bulgarian Properties (bulgarianproperties.com) who have loads of listings all over Bulgaria, speak English (with website in English), and have loads of experience with expats. Like all agents, they charge a commission.

If you want a new property, you can deal directly with the constructor, you don't need an agent.

I think the biggest Bulgarian property website is OLX.bg. This is Bulgarian only, but I navigate it using Google Chrome which automatically translates everything to English. Many listings are by the owner (no commission), but many are by real estate agents (so you would then pay a commission). I find it a very good way to find properties and do research on availability/pricing.

Either of the two websites mentioned would give you a very good idea about the properties available in your preferred resort, what they look like, and how much they will cost you.


Fraser

Finally, you mention the area...

I think you should probably avoid Sunny Beach. It is the biggest resort in Bulgaria, and party central. Unless you like party central! :-) Having said that I have a friend who loves staying there with his children as there's plenty for them to do.

There are many beach resorts, and while they are nice for holidays, I'm not sure how great they are to live year round. I think some of them can be pretty dead in winter (such as Sunny Beach).

For that reason, many folks like Burgas and Varna which are the big coastal cities. Here you can have access to city facilities, while having a Sea Garden (city park) for walks, and being close to the sea. As you'd expect, apartments in these two cities are more expensive than a beach resort apartment (and, as they're big cities, the beach/water is not as clean as a Blue Flag Beach in one of the resorts).

We bought an apartment in Plovdiv as it's a pretty city (and European Capital of Culture in 2019), and I managed to find some teaching work there. We enjoying being in a year-round town with plenty of shops, restaurants and hospitals. (While large by Bulgarian standards, Plovdiv, Varna, and Burgas are not very big in UK terms.)

There are quite a few beach resorts to consider, and I'm not very expert at all.

Last year, we went to Sunny Beach for a weekend break to check it out. It's too young/party/loud for us. Nessebar (immediately south) is a UNESCO site, and we liked it. Sveti Vlas (immediately north) is also quite nice as it has a new marina and is set against some hills. (These three resorts are neighbours on one long bay.)

This year, we went to Sozopol, and we liked it a lot. It has an historic old town as well as several beaches. And it's not as loud/busy as the Sunny Beach area. We're considering having a cheap place here, but we're not sure we're going to go often enough to justify an apartment, as opposed to staying in a guest house. We found several small places for 20-something thousand euros, but something with a great sea view is more like 40-50 thousand. As already mentioned, resort places with pools can have quite high service charges.

I think perhaps it's hard to find something which is both a holiday place in the short term, and somewhere to live permanently in the long term. You can spend a weekend in a studio, but you wouldn't want to live there permanently, I suspect. Given that property is not massively expensive in Bulgaria, it may be worth considering getting a smaller holiday place initially... and then, when you are seriously considering spending more time here, you look for a location/property that's more suitable to longer term living.