Lets see who really loves living in Bulgaria.

Many people have bought property in Bulgaria and are now living the dream and enjoying life to the full. However, many more who bought have now moved back to the UK for various reasons. So thought I would ask those of you who wish to comment to tell us a little about your life in BG and also those who moved back to the UK - the difficulties they incurred. How have you adjusted to living life in both countries? Would you ever buy property overseas again?

Having only been in bulgaria for three months full time so far, I'm not sure what the future holds yet. But i can say the first time I came to bulgaria seven years ago it felt like home. I've always wanted to be in a position to stay permenently and now is my chance. Apart from the freezing weather, which our house isnt geared up for yet, its everything i hoped for. The people are friendly and welcoming and amazingly helpful considering all the work they have to do for themselves.
I have been lucky enough to live all over the world and in many parts of england and i can honestly say, theres nowhere else i'd rather be than here.

Do we make the right choices in life........ no

If your like me you make your choice and stand by it no matter what it is

Blink wrote:

If your like me you make your choice and stand by it no matter what it is

We are like you Blink, we made our choice to buy a lovely holiday home to enjoy our retirement :Sunny:and have stood by it no matter what,
and no matter what has been and still is a big. big issue. but life goes on

beautifulangel wrote:

Having only been in bulgaria for three months full time so far, I'm not sure what the future holds yet. But i can say the first time I came to bulgaria seven years ago it felt like home. I've always wanted to be in a position to stay permenently and now is my chance. Apart from the freezing weather, which our house isnt geared up for yet, its everything i hoped for. The people are friendly and welcoming and amazingly helpful considering all the work they have to do for themselves.
I have been lucky enough to live all over the world and in many parts of england and i can honestly say, theres nowhere else i'd rather be than here.

Glad to see you are very happy in BG.

varnagirl wrote:

Do we make the right choices in life........ no

Oh Varnagirl I thought you are living the dream and well settled in BG.

I believe our choices are what we make of them and if there not what we expect then we can always choose to do something else. Thats the beauty of freewill. I think bulgaria is a difficult country to make a mistake with as it seems to be very difficult to sell property once youve bought it. Especially if you've renovated it up to english standards. However my dogs and horses didnt enjoy the trip over and I wouldnt make them do it again. So thats it I'll be here till i'm old and grey no matter what. I hope time will make it a good choice.

Good question Oddball. When I first moved here in 2004 I would have said just what Beautifulangel said. I hoped to spend my old age in our beautiful village. I believe that you make a decision and make it work with no regrets. However, life moves on and things happen so you have to know when to start thinking of moving on. Its not regretting but thinking hard about what the future holds for you. 7 years on and I am 7 years older and, when you have to admit that life is nearer the end than the beginning, ideas, thoughts and health begin to change.
Living in Bulgaria is not an easy ride and even though we have been much luckier than most and have managed to sell our original home, even with a small profit, I am considering once more if I need to move on.
I'm sure many will agree with me that a few months, or a even couple of years, are not the real test for living in Bulgaria. So many things change and so much stays the same. I might elaborate on these thoughts later after reading more posts. Our translator said she would like to see if we felt the same optimism after 5 years. Well, we do and then again, we don't, but at least we have been here 7 years now. That old 7 year itch or maybe I am still a gypsy at heart.

oldun wrote:

Good question Oddball. When I first moved here in 2004 I would have said just what Beautifulangel said. I hoped to spend my old age in our beautiful village. I believe that you make a decision and make it work with no regrets. However, life moves on and things happen so you have to know when to start thinking of moving on. Its not regretting but thinking hard about what the future holds for you. 7 years on and I am 7 years older and, when you have to admit that life is nearer the end than the beginning, ideas, thoughts and health begin to change.
Living in Bulgaria is not an easy ride and even though we have been much luckier than most and have managed to sell our original home, even with a small profit, I am considering once more if I need to move on.
I'm sure many will agree with me that a few months, or a even couple of years, are not the real test for living in Bulgaria. So many things change and so much stays the same. I might elaborate on these thoughts later after reading more posts. Our translator said she would like to see if we felt the same optimism after 5 years. Well, we do and then again, we don't, but at least we have been here 7 years now. That old 7 year itch or maybe I am still a gypsy at heart.

I love reading your postings, what ever the subject you cover all the positives and the negatives, all the fores and against. You are the most educated gypsy I have ever come across :Good luck:and keep up the good work

We bought our house as a holiday home . With summers in BG winters in the UK. Then we thought lets try living in BG for 6 months, well we liked it . Then we said lets try and see what a winter is like :Snow window:. We have been here full time ever since which will be 5 years come April. Do we miss the UK no not really. We can walk around here with no fears. But we could not do that in the UK. Yes the winters here are harder but you know that before you come. But you also know that Summer is going to be hot. The people here are wonderful, yes there one or 2 or so that you keep an eye on (Gipsy types mainly) but that is OK. Compare that to the UK and you would never venture into town after 8PM even worse after kicking out time.

What do we miss. More than anything else our grand kids, kids and friends but we do say is god bless SKYPE.

We are also lucky that we can afford to go back to the UK twice or three times a year. So we do see all our family :group:Its not like living in Australia or Canada. I suppose we could also say thank you to Easy Jet for affordable travel.

We also bought our house as a holiday home, but with a view to move out permanently in a few years.
However, we had a lot of ground and decided we wanted to cultivate it, while we were still able!
So we upped sticks and have been here nearly a year. No regrets whatsoever, and I think that if we can
survive this winter then anything's possible!

We have our chickens (2 left from the fox but getting more!) our lovely donkey, 2 dogs and are going to get
2 sheep and maybe a couple of goats in the spring!
We bought the ramshackle house next door to us for the land - the house is probably beyond repair - and the
outbuildings. The whole project is a lot of work, but it's our choice and we're working for ourselves.
Of course we miss the family and friends, but we're not really too far away, and as Tonyb60 says Skype is
a godsend!
So have we made the right choice? We think so!

when you make decisions, of course you believe they are right at that given time. :Sunny:we said we would give bulgaria 5 years and we have. are we ready to give up on bulgaria, no............but we are ready to compromise on some areas. age and health being the dominant factor
in that decision.
the winters are beautiful but harsh, we are rural and the plain truth is, if we needed help, we would not get it. no one would be able to reach us and we would be unable to dig out tons of snow. so your stuck until the weather improves.
are we happy to continue........No.
we have decided to spend 8 months in bulgaria and the winter months somewhere warmer.
are we happy with that change is it now the right choice to make for us. Yes.

l made a choice to escape from the rat race in England to seek a more quality of life.That was the biggest mistake l have ever made in my life because l had no idea how so corrupt these countries were.Even signing a so called contract to seal the deal is worth nothing and also the builder and estate agent seemed to be immune to prosecution since even the authorities are in cahoots with scamming the foreigner's in Tureky.lt is a very long story.But l lost a lot of money with no reassurance of protection.
l then went to Bulgaria with a promise of a good business yearly income.lt was something l have always dreamed of.A detached quaint bungalow with lots of land and surrounding open views.But once again l was duped into thinking this business was going to be a secure one.l found out a lot about this person that duped me and the background of this swindlers motives.l have lost 10's of thousands of pounds.The renovating on my property did not meet my expectations and was left unfinished.The builder also became very aggressive when l challenged him.Tells me a lot about trying to start up a new life abroad has no protection for the foreign buyer.The victim always suffers and the criminal always get away with the crime.No wonder crime pays.
l have lost almost everything now and l have no choice but to go back to England.The dogs will have to be put down and l will have to leave a lot of things behind since l cannot take it all with me.
People have let me down by viewing me as a potential way of making dirty money.l have also found out the police cannot do nothing about corrupt builders.
Life to me in Bulgaria is a wonderful place.But sadly it is those criminal minds that ruins the quality of life and brings the country down.The wagging tongue can either go against or in favour.The Bulgarian government must at all cost try and understand what corruption can do to the economy.
After all,the roman empire has defeated many of it's enemies except one.And that was corruption.That was Romans downfall and never recovered from that.

snail wrote:

l made a choice to escape from the rat race in England to seek a more quality of life.That was the biggest mistake l have ever made in my life because l had no idea how so corrupt these countries were.Even signing a so called contract to seal the deal is worth nothing and also the builder and estate agent seemed to be immune to prosecution since even the authorities are in cahoots with scamming the foreigner's in Tureky.lt is a very long story.But l lost a lot of money with no reassurance of protection.
l then went to Bulgaria with a promise of a good business yearly income.lt was something l have always dreamed of.A detached quaint bungalow with lots of land and surrounding open views.But once again l was duped into thinking this business was going to be a secure one.l found out a lot about this person that duped me and the background of this swindlers motives.l have lost 10's of thousands of pounds.The renovating on my property did not meet my expectations and was left unfinished.The builder also became very aggressive when l challenged him.Tells me a lot about trying to start up a new life abroad has no protection for the foreign buyer.The victim always suffers and the criminal always get away with the crime.No wonder crime pays.
l have lost almost everything now and l have no choice but to go back to England.The dogs will have to be put down and l will have to leave a lot of things behind since l cannot take it all with me.
People have let me down by viewing me as a potential way of making dirty money.l have also found out the police cannot do nothing about corrupt builders.
Life to me in Bulgaria is a wonderful place.But sadly it is those criminal minds that ruins the quality of life and brings the country down.The wagging tongue can either go against or in favour.The Bulgarian government must at all cost try and understand what corruption can do to the economy.
After all,the roman empire has defeated many of it's enemies except one.And that was corruption.That was Romans downfall and never recovered from that.

Your plight only highlites why it is unwise to move abroad when you are still trying to make a living. We have been saying for years that places like Bulgaria are not suitable for those seeking employment or for those with no income and who have children. The thing about living here is that Brits cannot charge the same rates as they do in the UK. In the UK there is the so called welfare state which is why so many European people go there, they get given housing and money with which they can live, here in Bg you will get nothing.

Good luck with the move back to the UK hope you find employment and that you have a better life.