If you are thinking about buying real estate in Bulgaria, then before making an important decision, you need to get acquainted with the necessary information.
The video will also be useful for those who are already on the way or in the process of buying real estate in Bulgaria, to set priorities in advance. I would like to note that we do not work in the real estate and tourism sector, so the information in the video is as it is, without any distortions.
All real estate purchases in Bulgaria can be divided into three main groups.
Real Estate Groups
1. Purchase of real estate for permanent residence in Bulgaria.
2. Buying a property that you plan to use only occasionally, for recreation.
The rest of the time the property is empty or, at best, rented out.
3. Buying real estate as an investment.
That is, you do not intend to live there yourself, but are buying it for the purpose of renting it out and receiving income, or in anticipation of an increase in the price of the purchased property.
Property for permanent residence in Bulgaria
If you are buying a home for your own permanent residence in Bulgaria, then you need to approach the choice with special care, because you will have to live in it.
We recommend that you immediately exclude resort complexes from your search. We recommend that you look for real estate in ordinary towns where local residents live. For several reasons. There is the necessary infrastructure for comfortable year-round living. In ordinary cities, there will often be no maintenance fee (monthly payments for servicing the entire building). And if there is one, it will be minimal.
In regular towns, transport and telecommunications are better. You will have the opportunity to choose an Internet provider. And nearby there will be chain stores with prices significantly lower, and a much larger selection of goods than in resort stores.
There will also be schools, kindergartens, medical and sports facilities, etc., the choice of which depends on the specific locality. An additional advantage of such a choice is that such real estate can be rented out or sold at a higher price if necessary. But in the case of an apartment in a resort, this will be problematic. For example, at the moment, in the same Sunny Beach, some apartments have to be sold for half the price. Because money is needed, and demand is weak. This is not the case in ordinary cities, there the demand is always stable and much higher.
It should be taken into account that in Bulgaria there is practically no central heating and gas. With some exceptions, heating is provided by electricity. Electricity prices are higher. Therefore, the choice of floor is very important. The higher the floor, the warmer the apartment will be. Depending on the floor, electricity consumption varies greatly. Electricity costs can vary by hundreds of euros per month depending on the floor.
In Bulgaria, the 1st floor means the second. But we do not recommend rushing to buy an apartment on such a floor. Because in Bulgaria, the ground floors, or as they are also called, the ground floor, are often occupied by offices and shops, which, as a rule, are poorly heated or not heated at all. The office may not work and it turns out that your floor will be, as it were, above the street. We had such an apartment where all the air conditioners were turned on at full power, but it was still cold. And then we came across a warm apartment, where you can do almost without heating in the winter.
What’s the mystery? Bulgaria is located in the south of Europe. For example, the same Varna is located at a latitude further south than Gagra. Therefore, the Sun gives significantly more heat even in winter. The size of the electricity costs is affected by the location of the windows in your apartment, the southern direction is preferable because again such an apartment is cheaper to heat in winter.
In Bulgaria, we have often seen a practice where an electric blanket is purchased, in which the owner of the apartment sleeps, and the apartment itself is not heated at all in order to save money.
It is clear that this causes dampness, and as a consequence mold, so the choice of floor is very important for Bulgaria. But note that the price changes significantly depending on the floor, but despite this, the best floors are usually bought up first. It is also worth paying attention to the area in which you are going to buy housing, the price depends significantly on this. There are also areas where the so-called national minorities live. Before buying, inquire about the availability of Internet providers in the house, if there is only one, then this should alert you, the price for its services will probably be overpriced.
Before buying, be sure to clarify everything about parking, ideally buy a parking space, especially if it is a large city, and especially close to the center. Otherwise, you may have to leave your car in a paid parking lot and far from home. In Bulgaria, a higher percentage of the population owns a car, and the built-up area is higher, and therefore it is much more difficult to find parking for your car.
Holiday properties in Bulgaria
Ideally, you need to buy housing for a seasonal vacation in the same place where you would buy it for permanent residence, i.e. look for housing in ordinary cities or villages where local residents live. However, such housing is much more expensive. Because of this, many still buy real estate in resort complexes. But when choosing a cheaper option, you should take into account the considerable fee for servicing your property, which is charged throughout the year, the cost of electricity and water, and the cost of equipping the apartment and repairing it. It will be more difficult to rent out such real estate, especially outside the holiday season. Therefore, there will be no particular benefit compared to renting the same apartment or staying in a hotel during your vacation.
Keep in mind that when buying a resort property for recreational use, you will have to travel to the same place year after year and perhaps after some time you will get tired of it and start thinking about selling.
For the amount you pay for an apartment, you can spend 10-15 years on luxurious vacations in different places around the world, rather than going to the same place year after year.
Property in Bulgaria for investment
When buying real estate for investment purposes, study what the demand for rental housing is in the intended location of purchase of the property. I remind you that there is a large and stable demand for rental housing in large cities such as Sofia, Varna, Burgas, etc.
Resort real estate located in complexes, as an investment, makes almost no sense. Do not expect a serious increase in price, but a fall in price is quite possible, and in some cases the fall can be very serious. Sometimes homeowners sell for half the price to return at least part of the invested funds. It will be more difficult to rent out such an apartment, especially outside the resort season.
We still have questions from our viewers. And we decided to ask these questions to a professional realtor who sells real estate in Bulgaria.
Realtor answers questions
What types of real estate are there in Bulgaria?
The same as everywhere else: apartments, houses, land plots, hotels, commercial real estate.
Is it possible to buy a house with land in a village?
Yes, of course, it is possible. There is one small snag, the house is bought by an individual, and the land by a legal entity if the buyer is not an EU resident.
It’s interesting to see such a house as it looks in reality.
Please, let’s go to a village near Varna, a unique village and see several houses of different price categories. The village of Rogachevo is located 20 km from Varna and 5 km from the sea near the resort of Albena.
The peculiarity of this village is the large percentage of foreigners living there. At the moment, the village is still being built up with new houses.
Let’s look at this house consisting of three levels. There is a balcony on this level. There is a plot on which, for example, you can build a swimming pool.
The neighbor’s house, where Russian citizens live, but it was built by an English writer and his Ukrainian wife. Zhirinovsky’s neighbor. Yes, Zhirinovsky’s neighbor’s house in Moscow.
And here is the second property.
What neighbors…
People understand that the most important thing here is the plot and the building permit. The house itself can either be restored or removed and a house built on its foundation. Because when you buy a free plot, it takes about six months to get all the permits to connect water, connect electricity. This also takes a lot of energy and money. Therefore, it is easier to buy such a plot with some kind of house and build. Than to buy an empty plot for the same money and give another 10-15 thousand euros on top to connect electricity, water, and get permits. And all this will take 6-7 months of paperwork. Here it is very slow.
If you don’t want to buy a ready-made house, you can buy a plot of land and build your own house.
Roman also showed us areas for development.
A plot of 14 acres. A striking example of how a plot that costs 2 times more than the previous one, where we rented with a house. But here, in addition to the price, you will spend money on permits and about six months to get a building permit, connect electricity. And it turns out that if there the plot with the house cost 20,000 euros, then here in addition to the price of 33,000 euros, on average, another 10-15 thousand to prepare all the documents.
What should you pay attention to first when buying real estate?
But here, as everywhere, it is worth paying attention to the condition of the property, to the documentation that is available. Make sure that the owners who show the house are the full owners…
What are the features/differences in buying real estate in Bulgaria.
There are no such peculiarities, as everywhere. Look, like, buy, it is documented in the same way as in any other countries. The only thing is when buying land, because if you are not an EU citizen, then you need to open a company. Plus, most land plots have a plan for expanding the road, street. And therefore the state takes away part of the territory. If it is more than 20% of the plot, then they pay you the taken part, but at their own assessment. And accordingly, you should start from this when buying real estate. For example, if you buy a plot of 10 acres. It is quite possible that they can take away one hundred square meters. And the type of house that can be built and the amount of tax depend on this.
Are there any special features to buying real estate by the sea?
There are no specific features as such. The only thing you need to consider is if you buy an apartment or a house in a resort part of the city of Varna or Burgas. That is, there are certain settlements where grocery stores do not work all year round. But only from May to October. This is the only such special moment, a minus, I would say. Since you have to, if you have an apartment or a house there, you have to go for groceries 20-30 kilometers from the place in the off-season.
What are the ranges of real property prices in Bulgaria? For 1-room, 2-room, city house, village house.
It all depends on the area. For example, if you choose the Varna region, then the prices here vary from 600 euros and up on the secondary market. And in Burgas, for example, Sunny Beach, then the prices there are very low. There you can find for 400 euros per square meter. And if Sofia, then in Sofia the prices are much higher than in Varna. There 800-900 euros and up per square.
How to buy real estate in Bulgaria correctly? (for residents of Russia, Ukraine and other countries).
The most important thing is to look, not to be afraid to ask and look at as many plots, apartments, houses as possible. Thus, to have a choice, to have an understanding and idea of what you want. And the best thing is when you enter an object, any. Whether it is a house, an apartment. And if this happens inside you: Wow! Then that’s it, refuse to look at anything else and stop at this choice.
How to pay for real estate in Bulgaria?
But the property is paid for only by bank transfer. The only thing is that you can leave a deposit in cash, but it is up to 5000 euros. Anything over 5000 euros is only by bank transfers.
How to sell real estate in Bulgaria?
If you live in Bulgaria, then it is not difficult. Advertising on the Internet, or contacting a real estate agency that will lead you to clients. If you do not live in Bulgaria, then it is best to have a trusted person, or friends or relatives, or trust some company with which you will conclude an exclusive agreement. Leave them the keys and they will show and sell this house, plot, apartment, real estate on your behalf.
That was the last question for today.
Let’s consider buying a 1-room apartment. One of the most popular options is the city of Burgas.
As we can see, the location is good, on one side is the city center, on the other side is the city park and the sea. Let’s look further, this is the ground floor, i.e. in our opinion, the clean first floor. Which in this case is not a plus, although it will be more comfortable in the summer, but in the winter the electricity costs will be significantly higher and there may be problems with dampness. Among the pluses, we can note the proximity of the store and bus stop, the distance to the sea, you can see for yourself. The dynamics of prices in this area for 1-room apartments – it turns out that the prices have even risen a little, which cannot be said about the prices at resorts.
The most popular and cheapest option now is an apartment in the resort of Sunny Beach. It so happened that several factors overlapped, and the prices for real estate in this and several other resorts in Bulgaria fell.
Here we see a 1-room apartment for 13,990 euros. Let’s take a closer look at this apartment, the price per square meter is 550 euros. The location is not ideal, but considering the price, it is adequate. If you decide to buy an apartment in Sunny Beach, try to follow the rule – do not buy real estate to the left of the main road (if you look at the map in the classic orientation – north at the top), because firstly, it is really very far from the sea and secondly, you will constantly have to cross the main highway. True, there is an overground pedestrian crossing, but you still have to get to it. Therefore, the path to the sea will be even longer.
The apartment in question complies with this rule and is located significantly to the right of the highway closer to the sea and is even to the right of the second busiest road in Sunny Beach. Maintenance fee is 480 euros per year, which is neither expensive nor cheap for a resort complex, this is an average price. The advantages include the proximity of a store and a bus stop, and the southern location. You can see the distance to the sea yourself, but as a rule, it is underestimated, it is better to check it yourself. For that kind of money, do not expect to find an object on the first line.
Let’s look for something cheaper, is there one?
Here is an object even cheaper by more than 2500 euros! 480 euros per 1 square meter. Well, what do we see, the location is very far from the sea and actually not on Sunny Beach, but beyond it, so to speak right in the field, which is absolutely unacceptable for most. Therefore, saving a couple of thousand euros can turn into big troubles. We see that both apartment options are located on the 1st floor. If you live in the apartment only in the summer, then this is even a plus – it will not be very hot and there will be lower electricity costs, but in the winter it will be cold and damp, perhaps you will have to do repairs in such an apartment more often.
A villa in Sunny Beach will cost you from 50,000 euros in a gated complex.
But if you take a closer look at the ad, you will see that the distance to the sea is 3 km, the maintenance fee is 10.50 of something unclear per square meter, which comes out to 1,323 euros or lev per year.
A villa in the prestigious resort of Sveti Vlas costs from 115,000 euros.
Long-term lease agreements are usually concluded for 1 year.
Keep in mind that the prices listed above are the lowest, and such properties are quickly sold out; there are probably some drawbacks there.
When searching for real estate we use the largest real estate website in Bulgaria, Imot.bg.
Is it dangerous to buy property in Bulgaria?
But now you have found what you were looking for and the next stage is the purchase of real estate, registration of ownership and payment. You should not relax here.
In order to safely buy real estate in Bulgaria, you need to carefully check the property legally. Especially for collateral. Selling housing that is in a bank pledge is a know-how of Bulgaria. By going to social networks in Russian-language groups, you can read stories about people who got into trouble. They bought apartments in Bulgaria. And then, to the unsuspecting owners of the apartments, sometimes after several years, bailiffs came with an eviction order. because their apartment goes to the bank. It turns out that in Bulgaria the legislation is such that a notary is not obliged to check the documents for the purchased apartment, including whether it is in a pledge, before making a transaction.
The buyer bears all responsibility for the transaction and verification of documents. Over time, the scammers modernized their scheme. The seller would take a certificate stating that the apartment was not mortgaged, and the next day the purchase and sale transaction would take place at the notary. But the scammers would take out a loan from the bank overnight using the apartment as collateral and sell it to the new owner the next day. Thus, receiving two prices for the apartment at once. It is clear that this is a whole criminal system. There were cases when government officials and notaries were involved, but it worked successfully for many years in Bulgaria. Now they seem to be trying to establish some order. But we recommend that before buying, you carefully check the property for mortgages or hidden debts hanging on the property.
Also, if you are buying a ready-to-move-in apartment, check for Act 16. Is the apartment directly connected to the energy and water supply company, is there a subscriber account or is the connection arranged through the developer. So that later you don’t have to spend years looking for clues and seeking justice.
I would also like to note that good apartments in buildings with good locations are sold out relatively quickly; when the property is rented out, there are very few available apartments, and what remains is usually non-liquid.
The best option is to find a professional realtor whom you can trust and additionally hire an independent competent lawyer who is not associated with the seller and who must thoroughly check the entire history of the property being purchased. Do not be lazy, collect information from several sources, devote time to this. An indirect guarantee of the purity of the transaction can be the purchase of real estate on credit in a Bulgarian bank. In this case, the bank that lends you money will be interested in not being sold a mortgaged apartment, the bank will be obliged to thoroughly check the purchase object.
If you are buying a new building at the construction stage, be sure to get detailed information about the developer, what is the percentage of fully completed and delivered objects?, were there any force majeure events?, if so, what kind. We do not recommend investing money at the construction stage at all, especially at the initial stage. An exception may be a symbolic deposit, which you are ready to sacrifice in advance. Even an ideal developer with an impeccable reputation can suddenly go bankrupt, and where will you look for your money then?
But we warn you, even if you follow all these measures, you will not be able to get a 100% guarantee of a safe purchase of real estate in Bulgaria and the risk of possible problems in the future still remains. A real estate buyer is a tasty morsel for scammers and all sorts of crooks. But it is in your power to reduce the risks to a minimum.
Maintenance costs
Real estate costs in Bulgaria consist of two components:
- annual tax;
- support fee.
All real estate is subject to tax in Bulgaria. The exception is agricultural land and forests. Foreigners who purchase an object automatically become taxpayers.
The tax rate is set by the specific municipality where the property is registered. It ranges from 0.15 to 0.25% of the cadastral value of the property (50% below the market value).
Maintenance fee – regular fees for housing maintenance. Paid directly to the management company. For gated community housing complexes, this is a mandatory expense. The fee can be fixed or calculated based on the area of the property. As a rule, one square meter of an apartment costs the owner 8-12 euros in maintenance fee. The higher the class of the complex and the wider the package of services provided, the more expensive the maintenance.
(Question and Answer)
Is it worth buying real estate in Bulgaria now?
If you have chosen Bulgaria, then yes, it is worth it, the prices for ordinary real estate are currently stable, not inflated, and in the resorts the prices have even generally dropped.
Prices are attractive now, but with the arrival of the Euro they will double?
After the transition to the euro, real estate prices will rise only slightly, if at all.
Can I get a mortgage loan to buy a property in Bulgaria?
Yes, you can, if you have official status in Bulgaria. With a temporary residence permit, the interest rate in Bulgarian banks was from 5% (but due to the coronavirus, banks suspended issuing loans). With permanent residence or Bulgarian citizenship, the rate on mortgage loans is now about 3%. To apply for a mortgage loan in a Bulgarian bank, you need a certificate of your salary and a down payment of 15-20% of the cost of the property you are buying.
I hope this information was helpful and will help you make the right decision.
