Hi everyone

Sorry I have not had much to say since the original posting introducing ourselves, but the OH tends to get involved in the regular discussions on the forum (alias Mrs Eq).

Our house in now on the market (to provide our funding for our move to Bulgaria), so lets hope that it does not take too long to sell!!!

It is amazing what a new venture can do to get one going, what with decorating, fixing the toilet (wouldn't flush), fitting new taps and repairing the up and over garage door to get the house presentable for sale at least its getting me ready to be more DIY orientated. Thank goodness for You Tube for video guide, The OH says I am a typical man get something and don't read the instructions, at least now I don't climb the walls with her desparately trying to get the loo to flush s the siphon in the cistern had broken and needed replacing.

Combined with the decorating, we are going through the whole house to get rid of unwanted things. I have managed to get the OH to part with hoarded stuff on the principle of have we used it in the last 3 years and will it be of use in Bulgaria. So out with ironing board, , but on a more serious note I have found it tough to get rid of books (all primate related) that have been up in the loft since we moved which I had collected when I was a primate keeper, but as already said what use will they be in Bulgaria.

In any spare time we have we are checking out website after website after website, relating to property for sale in Bulgaria, regions in Bulgaria, costs of living, taxes, pet passports, horse transport (as at the moment Murphy our 16.2 gelding is improving with schooling that we may be bringing him with us), reviews, OurBulgaria forum, furniture suppliers in Bulgaria, rotovators, electricity generators, growing produce, keeping goats and much much more.

We have also started trying to learn the language with a basic language DVD which also helps with understanding the letters on the alphabet.

All in all the sooner Bulgaria becomes a reality the better for a most certainly slower pace of life is wanted as my head seem to be totally frazzled at the moment. We are tending to lean to Ruse being one of the areas we want to explore when we come out in May.

Anyway time to sign off for at long last the sun has come out and want to get a few rays before I end up looking like an albino.

All sound good Mr Eq You certainly you won't feel it now before you are on your way to living the dream. Good luck with the sale.

Oddy

Good luck with everything. Bring Murphy - there's fantastic hacking in most areas of Bulgaria and not a fence in sight usually

Nothing beats seeing the beautiful Bulgarian countryside by horseback

Good luck to you and I hope it all goes well which I'm sure it will if you follow the help and advice you get on here as I did.

Hi equinus,

We are also in that stage of de-cluttering,tidying up &
refreshing the house in readiness for selling early next year.
I think we have lots in common re the excitement and planning for the move over. I have found myself getting quite obsessive about keeping up to date with house prices, cost of living....in fact ANYTHING to do with Bulgaria.
But it keeps me going , whilst grinding out a living with a reluctant 59 year old body!
Good luck to us both eh?

kevspur wrote:

Hi equinus,

We are also in that stage of de-cluttering,tidying up &
refreshing the house in readiness for selling early next year.
I think we have lots in common re the excitement and planning for the move over. I have found myself getting quite obsessive about keeping up to date with house prices, cost of living....in fact ANYTHING to do with Bulgaria.
But it keeps me going , whilst grinding out a living with a reluctant 59 year old body!
Good luck to us both eh?

Hi Guys

Really excited for you both and sincerely hope you find your dream in Bulgaria - We bought a place that we had to renovate and to be honest it has cost us more to renovate it, that it is unlikely we would recoup that money if we sold. We do love the place however, if I had to do this again I would certainly buy a place that was already renovated to western standards. So do take your time and have a good look around. Rent if you have to. Have you checked out the property for sale on here [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] some stunning houses makes me want to start all over again

Good luck and we hope you live the dream soon.

Oddy

Thanks Oddy.

We agree with what you say, and if Mr Eq had a building trade under his belt we would probably go for something needing work. But we are sensible enough to realise that a renovated property....and by this I mean somewhere with an inside bathroom and stairs and a sound roof and windows, not a palace.....is the way to go for us. We would rather spend our time building the foundations of self sufficiency (or near!) and sorting out some way of making a minor living.

Area is one of the things we are unsure about. When we think we know what we want, something else turns up. Trouble is, we have no way of knowing what is a "
good"
area and what to avoid. We don't want to end up in an area of high ex-pat residents just because it must be "
safe"
. Equally we don't want to end up in the areas with a dense poulation of Gypsies or other nation's ex-pat communities. Hopefully things will become clearer eventually.

How lucky are we that we don't drink or smoke or need to go out all the time? (sounds boring, but we've been there and done it and got the t-shirt)

Mrs Eq.

For what it's worth my advice would be to come out and rent for at least 6 months (better still a year) to find the perfect place for you. Don't rush into anything and take your time to get a feel for a place/area/village. One person's view of a particular place may not be the same as someone else's.

Find out more about the access in winter, water situation in summer and pro's/con's of an area before committing to buy anything and potentially making a mistake. There are plenty of rentals about, some with over 2,000sqm's of land and renovated. Rental prices aren't high either.

Suzee.

Suzee wrote:

For what it's worth my advice would be to come out and rent for at least 6 months (better still a year) to find the perfect place for you. Don't rush into anything and take your time to get a feel for a place/area/village. One person's view of a particular place may not be the same as someone else's.

Find out more about the access in winter, water situation in summer and pro's/con's of an area before committing to buy anything and potentially making a mistake. There are plenty of rentals about, some with over 2,000sqm's of land and renovated. Rental prices aren't high either.

Renting for a while is something we have touched on before. A lot depends on when we sell our house. If it goes this year, coming into winter, we will rent here for a few months and carry on working and saving till we come out in May, and then take it from there. Good job we don't like lazy holidays!

We have already realised we would like a well to help out with animal and garden watering, and as a backup in winter (with bottled for us) And yes, access, especially if there is an emergency. I am anti 4X4 but realise there is very definitely a place for them in rural Bulgaria, so my little Yaris will have to go.

By the way, been reading your blog....Mr Eq has difficulty getting my attention when I get into it. Really enjoying it and will comment when I finish reading.

Mrs Eq.

A well is a good idea..we use ours to water the vege garden and lawn an even in minus 25 degrees temps it never froze, which was handy to keep the loos working at times. Don't be in a hurry to get shod of your Yaris as it will be a cheap run around during the non snowy months. We have two 4x4s which are used mainly when the snow gets too deep or if we all want to go on a driving holiday..3 adults, 1 mid sized child, a big dog and lots of luggage. The other car is my Peugeot which I use as a runabout because it is so reliable and cheap to run.