From Novinite
Bargain Bulgaria: The Black Sea coast is crowded. Look inland for rural calm
By Richard Webber
There aren't many places in the world where you can buy property for less than £10,000.
Inland Bulgaria is one. It might sound an unusual choice, but this former communist stronghold is becoming a property hotspot - just as long as you avoid vast swathes of the country's 230-mile Black Sea coast.
Step inland and you enter a slower world, where traditional Bulgarian life is treasured and beautiful landscapes remain unscarred by large-scale developments.
Natural beauty: The view from Tsarevets Fortress, where prices have plummeted
Natural beauty: The view from Tsarevets Fortress, where prices have plummeted
For anyone wanting a holiday home with a difference or contemplating upping sticks permanently, inland Bulgaria is worth a look.
'Though Black Sea coastal resorts were the preferred option for most British buyers over the past seven years, there has always been a market for rural inland locations,' says Stephane Lambert, of Bulgarian-based Stara Planina Properties, specialists in rural, costal and urban regions.
The northern and southern slopes of the Stara Planina mountain range, which cuts across central Bulgaria, attract most attention, particularly Veliko Tarnovo, the old medieval capital, and surrounding villages.
'Veliko is a picturesque historic university town on the edge of the Yantra river, which carves a deep ravine through the centre,' says Lambert, who has more than 600 properties on his books.
Since peaking in 2008, prices in Bulgaria have plummeted and are among the lowest in Europe.
'Prices have fallen by 50 per cent on the coast, in ski resorts and rural areas,' says Lambert.
'But in urban areas, such as Veliko, capital Sofia and Rousse, close to the Romanian border, the fall has been around 20 per cent.'
Away from the coast, two and three-bedroom village houses in need of modernisation cost as little as £10,000. Lambert is selling a two-bedroom property near Rousse, with a small studio and 500sqm garden, for £8,700.
And if that wasn't cheap enough, Mariana Pavlova, of buyahomeinbulgaria.com, is marketing a four-bedroom detached property for just £4,300.
In the quiet village of Gorna Studena, 35 miles from Veliko Tarnovo, the property needs modernising. Both agents have more properties in this price range.
'Prices have reached rock bottom;
I don't think they can go much lower, so now may be the time to buy,' says Lambert.
'Properties in that price range need everything done, including installing bathrooms, toilets and kitchen,' says Mariana.
'It seems the worst is behind us and people are starting to dip their toes back in the market, looking to snap up bargains before prices increase'
'For £9,000, I can find a property with a basic shower room and inside toilet. But spending £30,000 on these houses will give you a comfortable, modern home.'
Fully restored properties are available for £30,000 to £40,000. A two-bedroom house with a barn and quarter of an acre in the village of Kereka, close to the Balkan Mountains, is being marketed for £26,000 by Stara Planina Properties.
Among the renovated properties on the books of buyahomeinbulgaria.com is a three-bedroom house with a barn and plenty of land. Eighteen miles from Veliko Tarnovo, it requires minor finishing work, and costs £32,700.
At the peak of the buying frenzy, Lambert was welcoming 15 Britons a week on viewing trips. While the number has dropped due to the global recession, he's optimistic about the future.
'It seems the worst is behind us and people are starting to dip their toes back in the market, looking to snap up bargains before prices increase,' he says.
Mariana agrees, but believes the days of finding basement-priced properties in Bulgaria are numbered.
'It's not only due to foreign buyers, Bulgarians have started purchasing in villages, so demand is increasing.'
Lambert has noticed the market has changed. Speculative buyers snapping up two or three houses have been replaced by lifestyle buyers looking to live in Bulgaria or bag a holiday home.
David and Jo Canfield moved to Bulgaria from Harlow, Essex, in 2008. They live in Kapinovo, a peaceful village ten miles from Veliko Tarnovo.
Seeking a quieter life, they bought a four-bedroom, detached home with a quarter of an acre of land for £12,500. A further £40,000 has been spent bringing it up to scratch.
Jo, Who retired in 2006, and David, who returns to Britain regularly to work as a taxi driver, are happy with their lot. So are the Watsons, a few miles down the road in Tserova Koria, a village of 350 inhabitants in the heart of Bulgaria.
'We wouldn't return to Britain. Here, the cost of living is lower, the pace of life slower and everyone is friendly,' says Jane Watson.
Rental income is realistic in urban areas with universities, such as Sofia, Varna and Veliko Tarnovo, which has about 20,000 students.
'I have apartments rented out to students and locals and the yield is 4 per cent to 5 per cent,' says Lambert. 'In Sofia, you might get 5 per cent to 6 per cent - not bad considering British interest rates.'
Rental opportunities in the countryside may be less certain, but a growth in rural tourism offers opportunities, as Bill and Jane Watson have found.
They opened Natures View, a rural guesthouse, in 2005 after moving from Bristol. Originally looking for a holiday home, they were so impressed with inland Bulgaria they decided to move permanently.
Their ramshackle detached house cost £8,500, and a further £60,000 has been spent turning it into an attractive guesthouse.
'We have a 360- degree view of mountains and a lake - it's stunning,' says Mrs Watson. They've enjoyed one of their busiest seasons, having been full from May to September.
'Tourists come from all over Europe;
this year we've had to turn people away.'
Mariana Pavlova says: 'Inland Bulgaria is full of beauty. As soon as you move away from the coast, you find lush, green, rolling hills, deep valleys and wooded hillsides.'
It might be just a matter of time, too, before these regions have their own airport.
Currently, international flights arrive at Sofia, Varna, Plovdiv and Bourgas, all around three hours from Veliko Tarnovo.
Discussions have taken place about opening nearby Gorna freight airport to passenger traffic.
Though Stephane Lambert doesn't expect property prices to recover to the levels of the peak within the next five to ten years, he stresses that prices have stabilised.
'Moderate growth should be seen over this period in the near future. Growth is likely to be strongest in urban areas,' he says.
But anyone buying in Bulgaria should tread carefully, ensuring they use a reputable estate agent. Unscrupulous, fly-by-night agents have damaged the country's name.
'A company can be checked using internet forums, such as my bulgaria.info,' says Mariana.
The problems on the Black Sea coast have not been resolved. Its sun- soaked, cheap-and- cheery seaside towns were seen as potential money- spinners by speculative investors, who dreamt of not only increasing equity, but bumper rental yields from holiday lets.
The trouble was that with companies galore jumping on the bandwagon and, in some cases, an absence of building regulations, supply soon outweighed demand - and that was before the property bubble burst.
Now, in the wake of the credit crunch, a glut of empty properties, half-built apartment blocks, lack of rental income and general disillusionment has tainted Bulgaria's reputation on the world property stage.
And that's a shame, because the country has much more to offer than the man-made concrete jungles scattered all along its pretty coastline.
Generally, one of the most common problems associated with buying in Bulgaria is establishing clear ownership.
'Many properties are very old. According to Bulgarian inheritance law, property is divided equally among heirs on death, so ownership can become fragmented,' says Lambert.
Another obstacle is that foreigners can buy houses, but not the land they stand on. This is overcome by setting up a company to legitimise the ownership of land.
A condition of Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007 was for this restriction to be removed, but it is still in place. Until it is changed, buyers pay around £350 to set up the company, and then submit an annual tax return via an accountant at a cost of approximately £170.
Despite such issues, life in rural Bulgaria is, according to Lambert, 'free from the hassles of modern living'.
'Village life centres on self-sufficiency, something the rest of Europe lost more than 100 years ago. People are hospitable and generous, there's a respect for elders and absence of yob culture,' he says.
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Sat Dec 18, 2010 5:25 am
