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Just wondering if anyone has any good advice for us with what to look out for or avoid in Bulgaria. Not knowing anything about the place we really don't know where to begin. But Jim would like to fish, we have 3 dogs and would like to be not too isolated so nearish to a village/town. Anyone got any suggestions which part of Bulgaria we should be looking. Also want to be not that far away from an airport for my family to visit. Looking forward to any suggestions. Also are you happy with your move as not sure whether to do a move to Bulgaria or look in Turkey still. Thank you.

hi there we were living in turkey up until last may in akbuk near didim. for various reasons we decided a move was on the cards. never considered bulgaria until a friend mentioned it. we came over for a 2 week stay last march. stayed a week in elhovo ...which we hated, personal opinion, but then had a few days in yambol which i know isn't far away from elhovo but we loved it. we made contact with a lady who agreed to rent us her bungalow and we moved over for an extended stay in may. we totally love it here and it couldn't be more different to turkey. the upshot is that we managed to sell our villa in akbuk last august. so we have taken our time looking for the right property and we have now been in our own house for 3 weeks. we did look round bourgas and a little around starra zagora and had discussed looking further north but we were happy and settled in this area and have made nice friends english and bulgarian. we live around 14k from yambol now which is close enough to and far enough away for us. we are 2 mins walk to open countryside for the dog. we have chickens and rabbits. but its only a short drive to shops etc. my advice would be to rent first ............i wish we had done that in turkey. hindsight is a wonderful thing and we've all got a degree in it. not sure if this will have helped you at all but if you would like any more info about our experience please feel free to send me a pm. good luck with everything.

Thank you blanche yes your post has been very helpful to us more so as you have moved to Bulgaria from Turkey. I think you are definetly right about renting first!

Hi Flower

I too would agree with members always best to rent first - We made the mistake of buying in a village in the middle of nowhere, looked great at the time but now there are all sorts of problems like getting goods delivered as no roads. Nowhere to go for a walk at night as cannot see without street lights, When we have bad weather we get stuck in the mud, No amenities, one way into the village and one way out. the main town 24km away hence cannot pop to the local pub/restaurant to meet anyone. All elderly people in the village so early to bed early to rise. So there is no way we could every consider living there but OK for a holiday.

Thank you oddball, lots to take into account.

I agree... rent first. The most popular areas to move to, at the moment, seem to be the Veliko Turnovo and the Yambol areas (I am on the Yambol/ Burgas border) my husband has recently spent a fair bit of time in VT area and he does like it as well, now that he has spent some time there. I would probably start with either of these two places and go from there.
For us, we have to be near the coast AND the airport. Western and Northern Bulgaria are also a lot colder in winter than where we are (another important factor for us) There is still a lot of snow on the ground in many parts of VT - here it has pretty much all gone!
Sofia to VT is an easy route, there is currently lots of talk about an airport at Gorna Oryahovitsa ....but this is Bulgaria so who knows what will happen and when!!
Plovdiv has an airport - but I don't know enough about the area to offer any useful info, but it is a popular hunting area.
Burgas has an airport that is now open all year round and you can get reasonably cheap flights, as long as your visitors are flexible with dates. As regards fishing - it depends how "
serious"
a fisherman your husband is...if he just likes to sit on a riverbank (as my husband does) and "
clear his head"
!!! then there is fishing all over BG!!! Although my husband does have the intention of going fishing in the Strandja mountains in the South East one day...when he gets the time!!!

If you plan to rent I would suggest trying the Yambol and VT areas first, neither may be to your taste at all...but at least you know for sure!!!! If you employ an Estate Agent to help with your search for property, go back to the village on your own and make your own mind up with no pressure, they will most likely just concentrate on selling the house, and not know too much about the village itself.

Good Luck!!!

Our motivation for moving wasn’t that we hate England or anything like that. We actually started the process of buying a property but unfortunately the deal fell through. Then we realised that for the same amount of money that we were going to use as a deposit on a small semi-detached house about an hour from London with a postage stamp garden, we could buy a detached house with a big plot of land in rural Bulgaria with no mortgage, lower utility bills and in our opinion a better quality of life. There are of course downsides! If you do choose to live in Bulgaria or any other country that isn’t your home land, the chances are you will be leaving friends and family behind. We each have three siblings who we are close to for starters so the decision to move is not one to be taken lightly. If you can’t stand your family then maybe it’s a good idea to move abroad as you will certainly see them less . Not only will you be leaving your friends behind but you may also find it hard to make new ones when you arrive. If you move to a community of Brits then you will have few problems but if you move to a rural area without speaking the language then it will be harder without a doubt. Everyone we have met has been very welcoming and kind so we are really working hard on being able to communicate better as it’s annoying not being able to say what you want ! If you are retiring to Bulgaria then hopefully you have a pension and something tucked away to live on. I know a lot of people are investing in properties to supplement their income as well. If you are moving out here with a job, what’s going to happen if you lose it? Are you going to be able to find alternative work? The sensible thing to do is work out roughly how much you’re going to spend per month and set aside a “rainy day” fund. When I worked in finance there was a stat doing the rounds saying that most people in the UK are only three months from bankruptcy if their income were to stop tomorrow. Scary isn’t it, but certainly believable when you think of the amount of debt in the UK. We thought that if our money was to stop we would want a year or two so that we could re-group and work out what to do next without having to move back to London to get a job. With that in mind we waited a year after we bought our house to save enough for refurbishments and for our rainy day fund.

nu2bg wrote:

Our motivation for moving wasn’t that we hate England or anything like that. We actually started the process of buying a property but unfortunately the deal fell through. Then we realised that for the same amount of money that we were going to use as a deposit on a small semi-detached house about an hour from London with a postage stamp garden, we could buy a detached house with a big plot of land in rural Bulgaria with no mortgage, lower utility bills and in our opinion a better quality of life. There are of course downsides! If you do choose to live in Bulgaria or any other country that isn’t your home land, the chances are you will be leaving friends and family behind. We each have three siblings who we are close to for starters so the decision to move is not one to be taken lightly. If you can’t stand your family then maybe it’s a good idea to move abroad as you will certainly see them less . Not only will you be leaving your friends behind but you may also find it hard to make new ones when you arrive. If you move to a community of Brits then you will have few problems but if you move to a rural area without speaking the language then it will be harder without a doubt. Everyone we have met has been very welcoming and kind so we are really working hard on being able to communicate better as it’s annoying not being able to say what you want ! If you are retiring to Bulgaria then hopefully you have a pension and something tucked away to live on. I know a lot of people are investing in properties to supplement their income as well. If you are moving out here with a job, what’s going to happen if you lose it? Are you going to be able to find alternative work? The sensible thing to do is work out roughly how much you’re going to spend per month and set aside a “rainy day” fund. When I worked in finance there was a stat doing the rounds saying that most people in the UK are only three months from bankruptcy if their income were to stop tomorrow. Scary isn’t it, but certainly believable when you think of the amount of debt in the UK. We thought that if our money was to stop we would want a year or two so that we could re-group and work out what to do next without having to move back to London to get a job. With that in mind we waited a year after we bought our house to save enough for refurbishments and for our rainy day fund.

Fantastic advise there Nu2bg I have often wondered how people actually manage as many of them sell their property in the UK then move to BG with only the profit from the sale, which as we all know this money does not last long term, as even in BG prices are creeping up. So, hypothetically assuming you sold a house in the UK and had a clear profit of say £80K, now the new property will need renovations of some kind so you set aside £20k for that. You are then down to £60K and if you budges to say £10K a year that only give you 6 years. So my question is after the 6 years how would you manage until you start to draw a pension. Now the ADAY pension legislation guidelines are that personal pensions cannot be drawing until age 55 or in some cases old rac's or 32 buy out bonds cannot be taken till age 60 or if they hold Gmp thanks 65. so how do people manage. What if they over spent within that 6 years. I find it difficult to get my head around living off savings long term. We all need a 'rainy day fund' and living in BG we really have to have an emergency fund too.

Maybe I am being too skeptical but it has to be clear in my head long term not just for a few years.