Orphange

Here in Bulgaria there are several orphanges which find it hard to find clothing for the children. Last xmas a couple of my friends and ex-collegue at Remax, Vesalina and Tania set up a fund raising project to try to get enough parcels of toys or clothing so that on xmas morning every child in one orphange would have at least one present to open. This was a great success.
My wife Sally, has continued to save old clothes and has made new blankets etc ready for this year. She has help from her mother and sister in law (Jean) who both regularly send over parcels in the post.
If there is anyone else who would like to help us in this effort, please feel free to email me and ask for our address, or if anyone is coming over, goods can be brought in and stored with us until xmas.
Clothes should be for ages 1 month to 4 years old, we see this as a small way to put something back into the local community.

Why do agents show a lot of properties?

I have been told several times by clients that they have tried to deal with other agents, but have been driven around all over the place only to find that most of the properties are unsuitable to their requirements. Why is this?
Well, there are two reasons why this can happen. Firstly, they are poorly trained or inexperianced and are asking the wrong questions when qualifying clients, or if the client does tell them what is required they do not listen. Secondly, most agencies here charge for viewing trips, this is understandable as most of the properties are spread far and wide, but this charge not only covers the fuel, it also helps to cover some salary expenses! So if your being charged 40 Euro (approx. 80 Lev) per day, the fuel is around 10 Euro (approx. 20 Lev) you can now see why if you do not buy from these people they still get a wage.
I do not charge for viewing trips! The reason is that if I qualify your needs correctly, we should only be looking at around 5 or 6 properties, unless you want to see more of course. Then we can take time to look at other things like maybe kitchens and heating etc.
In the UK most agents viewing to sales ratio is around 22-1 currently, so people view 22 properties before choosing one, here the figure is much the same I guess. But I do not want to waste your time, so I will only show you what is relevent.
I will also negotiate the purchase for you, I should be able to save at least my sevice fee, as I am very experienced at this practice and more so than most agents here, I feel you can only benefit from my service. If anyone needs to talk to any recent clients of mine I am more than willing to pass on contact details so you can talk directly to them.
I hope this answers the question and some others too.

Buying in Bulgaria

Many people do not realise that when you come over to Bulgaria to buy a property what you need to have with you. So I would like to let everyone reading this know exactly what to have.
Before leaving the UK, register with a money exchange company, I have found World First to be the best so far, Miranda Kelly is very good at her job and can help you get sorted. Her number is 0207-8011062.
After arrival, I recommend opening a bank account, this can be in Euros or Sterling. This will mean depositing around 25 Euros to open the account, then when monies are required from the UK, it can be transfered into this account.
When a property has been reserved, outgoing expenses are as follows.
1/ 10% deposit to reserve the property and have it removed from advertising.
2/ 550 Euros to set up a company. To have a property with land it is required to have a company, if you want just an appartment a company is not required. Think of a name to call your company.
3/ 5000 Leva (around £2,600) to place in a seperate bank account to show you have funds to operate your company. This money can be used to help pay the balance of the property when the company is set up. The company set up can take around 7 - 15 days at time of writing this.
4/ My commission, sorry but I have to live! So I charge 3% of the property value, with a minimum charge of 1,000 Euros.
5/ Decide if you want to come back to Bulgaria to conclude the purchase, or leave a power of attorney, this is the best way, but it is you who decides.
After the company is set up and we can conclude the deal. Costs then are as follows.
1/ Balance of the property cost.
2/ Notary (Solicitor) fees and taxes (like stamp duty), this is dependant on the cost of the property, however around 4% of the property cost is about right.
3/ 50 Euros to have the property registered in your company name. You can do this yourself for free, if you have the time and can speak Bulgarian!
4/ 50 Euros to have the water and electric transfered into your company name, again you can do this yourself, if you have time and can speak Bulgarian!
In all I would suggest that you decide how much you want to spend on your property and then work out how much you need to bring. You could, if your staying for a week or more, open the bank account on the first day here, and having already registered with World First, ask them to transfer monies over. Be aware, it takes 3 - 4 days to get the money over. You cannot go to a bank and withdraw money from your UK bank account with a debit card.
Please take this as good advice, as you could find your new home at risk of someone else buying it before your ready!

Beware Danger In Old Buildings!

This week has been eventful, to say the least. A friend of mine has a property that he is looking to sell and asked me to take a look, we arrived in this small village around 15 kilometres from VT.After entering the garden, I saw this lovely stone barn, it would make a fantastic development, too many ideas for it! However the floor level inside the barn is apporox. a metre lower that the ground level outside, so there are wooden stairs down, I proceeded to step down and the second step collapsed beneath me, I fell through the stairs and landed on my side on the stair string. I was and am still, in a lot of pain.
I (as a man) decided not to go to the hospital, it'll be alright I thought. Yesterday I was hurting so much I thought, best go to the hospital now then. The hospital looked like something left over from the second world war! old equipment, old buildings etc. but the staff were very helpful and I was een within minutes. The outcome? Well badly bruised, nothing broken, take it easy, as if I have a choice int he matter!
Moral of this story, do as we did, when you leave the UK, make sure you have good travel insurance for accidents, if your coming here to live bring your E111 cards.

Easter

Well we are having Easter this weekend in Bulgaria. Sally went into Veliko Tarnovo to visit our good friend Veselina, who sugested that Sally might like to help paint some eggs! This is a Bulgarian custom we came accross last year, you boil eggs and whilst they are still hot you paint them. They dry and look lovely. Over the Easter weekend you may get visitors, ie. your neighbours and friends, they also bring eggs, the idea is to hold yours above the visitors and bash them together, the one that is still whole is the winner, the other egg gets eaten!
You must watch out for the pratical jokers though, some of the eggs are wooden, or worse still, raw!
Sally has made 12 eggs, so keep an eye on my diary page to see if we get any visitors.

Bulgarian Builders

I had a question asked me today, could I recommend a builder? The simple answer is no! mainly because if I recommend someone and they mess up, the person comes back and says, well you said they were good.
I would say the way forward is to select a few builders and ask them to give you a quote, ask to see some of thier work at other properties, speak to the owners to see if they were satisfied. Get a contract signed between you and the builder and have it checked and signed by a notary.
Do what you would have done in the UK. Look around and check, ask other people who you know, maybe they have heard about the company you are considering.
Be aware, some companies say they are English builders, then employ Bulgarian labour! I am not saying Bulgarian builders are bad, but they do not know the kind of standards we are used to.
Be very watchful of your chosen builders, if your not here in Bulgaria, get a project manager to keep them on track.
I hope this saves some other people the heartache we and others like us have suffered.

Renovated Properties

Here in Bulgaria, many estate agents offer thier properties as "renovated", please be aware that this often means that it has been emptied and painted white inside and out. If you purchase this kind of house, you will still need to install kitchen units, a bathroom suite, new windows and maybe internal stairs.
Read the details very carefully as often downstairs rooms are often described as bedrooms, when we from the UK, would use the downstairs rooms as a lounge and maybe a dining room. Unless the details state there is a particular item there, assume that there is not. Always ask before you go to visit.
Traditionally Bulgarians use an outside kitchen during the summer, long hot days and evenings encourage you to eat outside, maybe under your own grape vines, and only sleep inside at night. During the cold winter months, it is common that only one room would be used for cooking, eating, watching TV, and sleeping. This is because it is expensive for the people to heat the whole house.
If the details say three rooms upstairs, there is usually enough room to put a set of internal stairs up into the hallway. The rooms will be two bedrooms and a small one suitable for a shower room, it may be possible to have a bath.
Most British people have a wood burner installed, attached to radiators around the house, so you burn wood which costs 40 Leva per cubic metre, the avarage usage for a winter is about 12 - 15 cubic metres. Also coal brickettes are good to burn, they cost 5 Leva per 20 kilo bags. We use this method as the electric is more expensive in the winter months. It is nice to see a living flame.
However, with the summer approaching fast now, we are looking forward to sitting outside in the evenings and having some BBQ's.