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!!