New members of the Bulgaria forum, introduce yourselves here - 2021

The Sofia Globe has the news on the Red list update, and has links to the government declaration (and translation).

https://sofiaglobe.com/2021/07/16/covid … red-zones/

If my link is not visible do a search for "sofia globe Bulgaria adds UK Cyprus".

Good idea, Gywn. Returning to the UK, one would be best to travel direct, as I don't believe it's possible to enter the UK from France at present.
Bulgaria's decision to move the UK to the red group makes sense, given the high Delta infection rates here at present. From what the epidemiologists are saying, it's likely to be October before UK infection rates significantly improve.

When you travel to Bulgaria through a Green-or Orange country it’s not even necessary to stay in this country for some days or weeks.
I am travelling on August 9 from red-country Spain (Madrid) to Amsterdam early in the morning and a few hours later I am getting a plane from Amsterdam to Sofia. So, I will arrive in Bulgaria the same day. But I have to mention that I am fully-vaccinated which makes it easy to get on these flights.

Hi
at least all those who live from the Covid and its constraints on the backs of the populations will see their bank accounts explode 

@ernstbrandes

You might be right, but I doubt it is so easy to get round the Red list ban!

Spain is only Red today, so unless you booked your flights today, you got flights / advice when Spain was Green/Orange.

Plus you will have to fill in the BG health declaration which asks where your journey started... not just your last leg.

This declaration mentions 14 days of health history, so that is why I think a break will be needed.

But good luck anyway maybe it will be OK!

drialardnas wrote:

Hello, i m looking on a property finder at the moment. I ve thought about buying in Bulgaria for many years.
I like the idea of pay monthly then trading up once i m there. At the moment just for short stays but relocating in a few years.
Thank you for any advice in advance.

Hi there,

The Covid problems will be over ... sooner or later.

Finding property is not quite difficult but you have to set some criteria in advance. What is most important is first to choose a specific region in Bulgaria - either a mountain region, or a valley, or seaside, or urban/village etc.. This is very much in relation with the purpose of the property and your preferences.
Then comes the specifics of your future property - land, house, house with land, apartment, villa, etc. ....

After all this is detailed search can start with good chances of success.

Thank you. I like quiet. Mountains sound lovely. Don t need a large house. I prefer more land. I can t wait.

drialardnas wrote:

Thank you. I like quiet. Mountains sound lovely. Don t need a large house. I prefer more land. I can t wait.

That's a good start.
Now you need to define a specific part of Bulgaria - e.g. Northern, Southern, South-West ... etc.

The most popular mountains are Stara Planina ( the Balkan), Rila, Pirin, Vitosha, Rhodopi, Strandzha, Sredna Gora, Predbalkan etc. Actually there are about 39 mountains in Bulgaria, and if counted by their specific parts, the total number of geographical places will reach 227.

http://www.planinaria.bg/newsbg.php?n=36

Considering the climate conditions is a good approach. You will also have to take into account the distribution of some minority groups, and avoid living in close proximity.
I would advice on considering the viability of the village/region where you intend to buy.

And then comes defining the budget. Of course it would depend on the size of the house and the adjacent land. The current condition of the house is also a factor - it might need repairs, or not.

Basically that's it. This information is enough to start a search.

Hello

So pleased to have found this forum 

My name is Rosie and I am from the UK.

I looking to buy a studio flat in Bansko and hope to fly out in September to view properties.

It would start as a holiday home with intention to live there as I can work remotely.

I am doing as much research as possible.

It would be great to say hello and get any advice, especially from anyone else who has managed to buy in Bansko.

Many thanks
Rosie

Hello,

I am Florence, from Alsace in France.
I lived in Varna from 1993 to 2009, back in France since then,
My dream to live there when I retire :-)
So I have a few years left to convince my husband !!

Hi
I am irfan from England
I am Currently living in Istanbul since 2020 but I am wishing to move to Sofia
Could you please give me your opinion as how your stay is going over there in Bulgaria?

ah Flok68, a compatriot from Alsace !  hurry back to Bulgaria, free country 

Hi Irfan,

Life in Bulgaria was greatly influenced by the Ottoman Empire, and there are many traces in the language, in the traditions, in the dishes ...
The way of life is closer to the way of life of Istanbul than to your native England, in my opinion.
My life in Bulgaria was at a time now past: the immediate post-communist period, but I love this country without always being able to explain by reason what the heart feels !

From Strasbourg to ?? where in Bulgaria ?
We will be in Varna at the end of august,
So we can share a "choucroute" (Kissel Zele na bulgarski) if you are in the area.
E scheener Owa (nous sommes des Sudistes, Vallée de Thann)

I hope you can convince your husband to move, Flok68. 

Thanks
I am planing to travel to Bulgaria next week

Flo si on commence à "elsassisch babble" on va se faire chasser d'ici
Suis nordiste (Vosges du Nord) et en Bulgarie comme retraité depuis 19 ans, bien sûr marié à une...bulgare 

Hi, Im Scarly, currently live in England, bought a ski place in Borovets back in 2014. Decided Bulgaria might be a nice retirement option for a few years with more on offer than Spain etc, so bought a derelict house with a lot of land back in Dec 2019.  Quite a lot of the work has actually been done, new roof, cladding, windows etc but due to Covid I have not even seen either place in 18 months and also missed the residency permit window.
Not really sure what to do ongoing, looked into a Cat D visa but its very complicated and ATM as we all know Bulgaria has closed its borders anyway.

Scarly, a few of us are in a similar situation. Covid coinciding with the Brexit residency deadlines messed my intentions up big time!

I'm five years off retirement, so am thinking the simplest solution might be to use my 90 days per 180 till I can apply for a retirement D visa. Once borders reopen, of course! Things are so crazy!

Following as i m thinking of retiring there  too

Hi, My real name is Mark,
I retired in August 2015 (my wife Susan in 2013) from working abroad in the Middle-East, to live in Turkey.  We are looking for a better lifestyle in an 'EU' country with lower inflation, stable currency, better management of the Covid situation and a tolerance for dogs.
So, many of our Expat friends have moved from TR to BG and are very happy - we, and our 4 dogs, want to be happy too.
Thanks, Mark.

Hello Mark, moving there shortly. Just bought z place. I have dogs soi hope so. Moving from UK
Pleased to meet you.

Thank you .... 'Sandra' (?)

Hi Scarlet

That is so inspiring that you have bought  ski property and you are doing it up!!

I am from the UK and want to purchase a flat in Bansko.

Have you got any good advice on what to take into consideration with regard to the position of a flat throughout the seasons?

Ground floor flats
Small terrace areas connected to flat through doors to the bedroom ect
Drainage
Snow build up and snow melting

I hope you don't mind me asking 

It would be lovely to see any photos of your ski home in progress sounds amazing!

Many thanks
Rosie

Hi Rosie

Have you found my message on your profile ? concern Bansko

@Rosanna Hanna

Have you been to Bansko? It's a really cute little town, and Bulgaria's largest ski resort.

We like it a lot, and we have a small apartment there.

Many people live there year round, so it's perfectly feasible, especially if you love the mountains and outdoors activities. However, we find it a little too small, and a little too touristy (higher prices) to be here all the time. But great to visit for a few days/weeks!

Our place is near  the stadium so it's an easy walk to the park and town. But that means it's further from the gondola. You might prefer to be near the gondola for the winter sports, and have a longer walk/taxi to the center. Many larger buildings (hotels/aparthotels) might have a winter shuttle bus as part of their facilities, in which case distance to gondola is less of a concern.

The more "resorty" buildings with tourist facilities (swimming pool, sauna, gym, wellness, shuttle bus, etc.) will obviously have much higher monthly maintenance. If you want these facilities "in-house" then you might be happy to pay the maintenance fee, especially if you live here year round. We feel that it's a bit expensive for a few weeks a year, so we preferred a regular apartment block without these luxuries, and with Bulgarian-standard maintenance. (As a generalization, town stuff tends to be for "regular folks", without the facilities, while big blocks near the gondola are more geared to tourism.)

As a bonus, while Bansko property prices have recovered somewhat after the construction glut/crash, they're still quite inexpensive compared to the main cities (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas).

I think the main decisions are location (town vs gondola vs heading up the mountain) and what kind of building/facilities you need (or what kind of maintenance you're willing to pay).

Ground floor with a terrace or upper floor with a balcony is a matter of personal preference.

If you have skis or bikes, you might want a storeroom too.

As lots of the apartments for sale are in resorty buildings, you can easily have a look at booking.com or similar to see what kind of feedback these aparthotels have.

Hello

My father before he passed away, purchased a nice plot of land with a house - which has since been demolished due to its dilapidated state of repair and recommended by the structural surveyor.

The plot of land is in Botevo near Yambol. I am thinking of having the house rebuilt.

Does anyone live in this area? Thank you

MarkPlym wrote:

Hello

My father before he passed away, purchased a nice plot of land with a house - which has since been demolished due to its dilapidated state of repair and recommended by the structural surveyor.

The plot of land is in Botevo near Yambol. I am thinking of having the house rebuilt.

Does anyone live in this area? Thank you

Welcome to the Forum,

Maybe start a new post to get a better response?

Good luck

SimCityAT
Expat Team

I too wish to build a house on regulated land.  I would be interested to exchange information with you on the forum ... not necessarily the same area,  but about a 'self-build' project.  However,  your project may be a rebuild/refurb and mine will be new-build, but a lot of project info will be common:  eg planning, getting contractors, materials, standard and special features etc etc.
Hope to hear from you, Mark.

@Gwynj

Thank you for your generous and informative response.

No I have not been to Bansko, I discovered it on a digital nomad site and have been (somewhat obsessively) researching the region online.

At a minimum the property would be a holiday home, which would be worth it.  However as I can work remotely I hope to utilise the property as a space to live and work from.

‘Resorty’ or standard:

Taking all variations into consideration my understanding is the annual cost to keep a studio flat going -  if I was never there - would be no more than 1K per annum and likely much much less?

This includes maintenance rates and taxes while electricity/ water are not charged when not in use?

I am not really interested in the luxuries that come with a resort, main focus would be decent neighbours and the building is of quality construction.

Location:

Walking 30 - 40 minuets to get to A-B is not for me a personal hindrance, only for a big food shop where I could get a taxi.  Love hikes and nature but not a winter sports advocate.

It would be great to get any information on the following:

Likelihood of extending 90 day visa if I am in full time employment and wish to reside in Bansko at least 6 months per year.
Trusted and efficient legal team and property surveyors.
Internet installation

Gwynj thanks again for your advice - so cool to have a wave from someone from the UK who is actually in Bansko and has walked the walk! Awesome! 

It’s important to express the main crux of why I am looking into this.  I don’t own any property in the UK and I want to avoid the trappings of an expensive UK mortgage. If down the line I can live/ work in Bansko in a property I own outright, this could give me financial freedom that I had never considered possible.  Just the basic luxury of owning my own space would be a dream come true even if, to start, I could only visit for 90 days.

Bansko looks beautiful I can’t wait to visit soon and thanks again for any information so much appreciated.

Thanks
Rosie

Rosie did you find my message with the link of an interesting property for sale in Bansko ?

@Rosanna Hanna

By the way, welcome to Expat.com!

I think Bulgaria is a good stop as a Digital Nomad, and, actually, is a pretty good option for having a home base as a Remote Worker, rather than a Perpetual Traveller. :-)

Why? If you decide to hang around, there's a flat rate income tax of only 10%. There's a very low cost of living. High speed internet is typically available and not very expensive. And it's a very nice place to hang out. (And property prices are quite accessible, especially for a small flat in Bansko, or a village house to renovate.)

I think you'll also find that Plovdiv gets some love as a city for digital nomads too. This is a real city for year round living, with access to all amenties. It's a fomer European Capital of Culture and has some very nice historic sites (including the amphi high up on the hill, which is still used for concerts and events). But property prices here are higher. If you do some internet research here too, you'll find some very positive feedback and some rather nice pictures (Kapana, Old Town, Amphi, Ancient Stadium, Regatta Venue, Youth Hill, Hill of the Liberators, Maritsa River, etc.).

Back to beautiful Bansko...

Typical Bulgarian maintenance for a small flat might be 10-20 leva per month. A more resorty building might be 10 euros/m2 (give or take) per year. So, a smaller studio or 1 bed apartment might be less than 500 euros per year.

My internet is about 10 euros/month.

You are quite right that water and electricity doesn't get charged per month, only by usage.

Water and electric bills are pretty low by UK standards. Ditto property taxes (instead of council tax).

Council Tax alone in UK is typically over £80 per month. For a smaller flat, I'd be surprised if your total bills (water, electricity, internet, property taxes) were over 50 euros per month.

UK citizens get visa-free travel to Bulgaria for maximum of 90 days in 180 days. So you can spend up to 6 months a year here. Bulgaria is currently non-Schengen, so your 90 days here don't count towards your visits to other EU (Schengen zone) countries, or non-EU countries. So you could pop over the border to Serbia or Turkey instead of heading back to UK.

If you want to stay longer, it gets trickier. We got here before Brexit, when it was pretty easy. Now, UK citizens have to get D visa, followed by applying for residence. Easiest grounds are retiree (with a pension) or a student at a Bulgarian university. If you found a proper job, and they were happy to give you a formal job offer/contract and do the immigration formalities, then employment could be an option too.

For freelancers/digital nomads, I think it's not so easy, even if you're earning great money. So I'd suggest sticking to the 180 days limit.

Our neighbor, Serbia, also gets a lot of love from the digital nomad community, especially capital Belgrade, and second city Novi Sad. Similar in terms of cost of living, taxes, connectivity. They have a bit more immigration flexibility as not yet EU (but expected in next few years), so they will grant a residence if you purchase a property (no minimum cost specified), or incorporate a Serbian company (and open bank account) for your remote (or local) freelancing work.

@Gwynj

Again thank you for such a great reply so informative and on point.

I am happy to focus on Bansko two main reasons:

Away from major cities but with a good nomad network
More accessible price range
(And of course there is something about the mountains)

Thank you for reaffirming and clarifying the ongoing cost involved in a studio flat purchase.

Excellent internet can be easily installed if needed.

It is still a huge leverage for me to own a place and if to start I visit 90 days/180 days so yes that is c. 6 months of the year. 

I am an Irish descendant so still part of the EU however I have not yet applied for my Irish passport. Mainly due to huge delays which I understand have now calmed down after Brexit. (Ah Brexit what an exhaustion to us all!)

Thanks again Gwynj your responses to this forum are incredibly helpful.

Hi,the ski flat was a newbuild, I also have a partly renovated house near Vratsa.

Regarding things to consider when buying, the first is of course your budget. I spent 40k Euro on a one bed flat and then spent about another 10k Euro on adaptations and furnishing. As far as I see, new build will not come with a kitchen and mine had no sanitary ware. There are plenty of resales though .

Then, think about how exactly will you use the flat? Are you a very strong ski ier? Do you want things to do outside the fairly short Bulgarian ski season? I cannot comment on Bansko but I chose a flat away from nightclubs and noise but only a short walk from a ski life, remember, plodding along in ski boots carrying skis is not a lot of fun!  There is horse riding, mountain biking and a few places do stay open all year.

The main mistake I made was not buying a car park space. There was not one left for sale and I thought well, ok, it will be fine but it has been far from fine! No fun digging the car out of heavy snow and renting a space in the hotels car park (underground) is expensive and in peak season there are not always any free. 

Take your time. I took about a year to find the (almost) perfect flat and a full five years to find the right house but it can be done. There are many furniture shops etc in Sofia, including Ikea and most agents will be keen to sell you a fixed price furniture pack.

Finally if you are looking to be there more than as a tourist, learn the language . In the resorts many people speak some but in the rural villages few people do. I have a little skill now and if I ever do get to move there for good, I will attend a language school in Sofia and do a proper course.

Good luck!

Hello,

My husband and I are planning to spend our retirement on the sea cost of Bulgaria. We are from Romania and lived in Canada for the last 20  years. Can we get along without the Bulgarian language? Which are the nice places near the sea cost with people living there all year?

Hello, planning to move to Bulgaria shortly. I hope you can get along without speaking the language. Xxx

I think you will struggle with no language skills at all. However you will pick some up in day to day living, but in my experience, it will be no good at all to hope people outside the real tourist areas speak English.
A few examples:
Getting internet connected, and TV. Luckily the agent I bought from arranged this, but nobody in the relevant office spoke English at all.
Paying bills and opening bank account..I had to take an interpreter with me, I now have things set up to pay on line, but again, nobody spoke English.
Shopping..I used to rely on just smiling and looking at the amount on the cash register, most supermarket workers do not speak English.
Buying and running a car..I have never met a mechanic with any English language.
Medical and Vets, A few staff do have some English skills but many don't.

In the big towns and tourist areas, yes, some people, especially younger people do speak English but I personally think it is very important to have a least basic Bulgarian skills, just to be polite and show one is trying to fit into the culture of Bulgaria. In the remote village where my house is, the average age is over 60 and I have never encountered an English speaking person at all.

I m trying to learn.

Welcome to the expat.com forum @drialardnas... and good luck with your move!

Did you get your residence permit already?

As @ScarlettR says, many of the older folks don't speak any/much English. During communist times the schools taught Russian... but now English is taught. So you will find that younger people are much more likely to be able to talk a little. So my local Lidl has a couple of cashiers who seem happy to say a few words.

If you speak a language other than Bulgarian, that can also prove useful, as many Bulgarians have worked abroad. My builder (and one of my neighbors) speaks German, and my car mechanic speaks Spanish. So I've been able to communicate with them OK.

I've found that most are quite tolerant of a bit of Google Translate on your phone too. My neighbor Ivan is very comfortable with this, so we've had several conversations this way.

In my experience, some of the bureaucrats in government offices (or perhaps in electricity/water offices) can be a bit impatient. So sometimes it is worth getting a translator to come along with you. But even this varies quite a lot, as while some are impatient and frustrated and only want to speak Bulgarian, there's often someone who is patient and friendly (even without English), or they'll know who is the office's best English speaker and they'll point you in their direction.

To be polite, I've learned how to say Good morning/afternoon, how are you, please, thank you. And the very useful "a little English please?" which alerts them that I'm a stupid foreigner, and they should go find the person who can speak English! :-)

Haven t got residency yet. I m learning a bit. I can speak a bit if French and my partner speaks some German.
Thank for the advice.