Decisions, decisions.

Gorgeous Rila Mountains.

 

So it's been a while since our holiday now. The main reason we have had to wait so long to go ahead with anything is because we are waiting for (a very long and slow) house sale here in the UK to go through before we have any money to buy our Bulgarian dream. As we said the holiday was meant to be a reckie rather than to find a property so we didn't think we'd have to make everyone wait so long.

 

Anyway that is the way it's turned out. Thankfully both the owners of the house and the owners of the extra land have waited for us (not sure if M and D have been having a hard time from them!) and now we know we will have the money by the end of August.

 

We have kept in touch with M and D via email the whole time and just today have sent over photocopies of our passports so they can send us the preliminary contract! EXCITING!!!!

 

So between then and now we have been working hard and enjoying the summer in Brighton. We have also had to answer a whole lot of questions before we were 100% sure of buying this property.

 

All practical questions - such as how much 'council tax' is in Bulgaria, whether we should set up a business to begin with, what the exact process to buy the properties is, etc. - have all been answered wonderfully by M and D.

 

But then we had other things to figure out. Of course we have read all the forums and blogs warning you about Bulgarian estate agents and advising to use your own solicitor. All the horror stories are lurking in our (and our parents) heads all the time, but in the end there is not much we can do about it. Flights in summer are too expensive for us to go out to Bulgaria ourselves to sign the deeds so we have to give power of attorney to someone. We only know the estate agents. We send a 1000 GBP deposit after the preliminary contract is signed, but then we have to send the rest of the money out and just wait for the deeds to be sent to us. We also can't afford to get our own lawyer/solicitor so we have to use the estate agents. As well as using them as our translators. Basically we are putting all of our trust into M and D (Cheap Bulgarian Houses). We have gone through all the options but this really seems like the most plausible for us right now, if we want this particular property (which we do.) And although obviously quite nerve-racking, we do feel we got to know M and D in the short time we were with them - including going to their house and meeting another client of theirs who highly recommended them. Although we never did ask him if he used his own lawyer...

 

So yeah, it is a bit worrying but as we don't have much other choice at the moment we'll just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. Wish us luck!!

House hunting holiday. Part 2

Exploring beautiful BG.

 

The next morning we went back to the property we liked, but decided it was going to be too much work for us (one of the outside walls was falling down!) After this we weren't really sure what to do. M and D had nothing else on their books that would suit us.

 

As it was a boiling hot day we went to the village of Izvorovo (our second choice of where we would like to live) and got a beer at the shop. M and D spoke to the lovely shop keeper about us and managed to find out there was a property for sale on the edge of the village. It didn't have much land but it did have empty land surrounding it which we could look into buying if we wanted. We had nothing to lose so we went up to have a look.

 

The house was great; in need of some love but not about to fall down. There was a barn and out buildings, a very over grown garden and to top it off a beautiful walnut orchard backing onto a pine forest. It was also on a hill so had lovely views over the village and surrounding hills. We were already picturing ourselves sitting there with a glass of wine on a long summers evening! The only problems were that it wasn't quite big enough for our campsite (although there was a very nice plot of land joining it) and we had no idea of the price.  

'Our' walnut orchard. 

Annoyingly we had to leave the next morning to meet some other estate agents near Elhovo in the south east. We said goodbye to M and D and they told us they would keep in touch to let us know more about 'our' lovely property.

 

Before going to Elhovo we headed down to visit Sakar Hills Campsite, near Harmanli, for one night. This area was where I originally really wanted to be as it was the only route to Turkey so there would be alot of passing trade. However the feel down here was much more 'out back' with lots of deserted villages and gypsies. We ended up meeting the owners of the campsite - an older English couple who had been out here several years. Even they said that this area was 10 years behind the rest of Bulgaria (so about 50 years behind the UK!) We did tell them that we were looking to buy a property and they warned us off estate agents and even drove us to have a look at a property that was for sale! They definitely made us a bit worried as they said the most we should pay for a house with some land is about 3000 GBP - at least half of everything we'd been shown by M and D. Are we getting that ripped off? Or is it the region we were in? Anyway they were friendly and, even though it was rustic, the area was extremely beautiful. But in the end we decided that we didn't want to live there.

 

Sakar Hills Camping

The next day we called the other estate agents (Brits2Bulgaria) to cancel. We decided not to waste their time and that we would drive back through the center of Bulgaria on the old main road, just to explore another area and look at some more villages. We were very excited to hear from M and D that the property was 13500 GBP and that there was some joining land available for sale as well - although not the bit we'd seen. As it was on the way we decided to go back for one more look the next day.

 

In the end the place was perfect. It has everything we want/need - including a total of 2 acres of land - all for 20000 Euros (roughly 16500 GBP.) That is with all estate agents fees and legal fees (as long as we use the estate agents lawyers.) We were feeling very excited and over-whelmed - we weren't really expecting to find a property in one week! Anyway, after spending our last days with some friends near the Rila Mountains we had to fly home and think about what to do next! 

 

The first glimpse of our future campsite.