Bulgaria property news and articles

District: Tzarevo
Price Euro: €58,156
Price GBP: £46,874
Price USD: $92,951
Category: Apartments.
Area: 4 Floors
Extras: Electricity, Water, Pool.
Location: In Fishing Area, In vacation Place, Near town, On the sea, In Beach Resort.

The complex is located in the village of Lozenets right on the beach and it’s formed by two joint blocks with a private swimming pool.
In the beautiful village of Lozenets you will find everything that could make your holiday unforgettable.

Facilities:

* Reception
* Swimming pool
* Laundry
* 24 hour CCTV and security
* Parking

Specification of the apartments:

* Flooring: tiles in the common areas, laminate in the living rooms and in the bedrooms; terracotta in the bathrooms
* Bathrooms: fully finished with installed bathroom suites and a shower
* Apartments’ layout: an entrance hall, a toilet and a bathroom, a living room with a kitchenette and a dining area, and one or more bedrooms
* Building finishing: a reinforced concrete structure, colour silicate coats and wood edging on the facades, metal frames and high quality fibre-glass on the balcony railings
* Architecture: modern Mediterranean with large common terraces, oval glass motives in the exterior design

Click here for full details and up to date price and availability list.

Prices of real estates in Bulgaria during the past years go up vastly. At first sight it looks very difficult for some people to take advantage of this. The purchase even of just an apartment doesn`t fit everybody`s pocket and it is impossible to think of something bigger. Besides that the following maintenance of the property takes time and knowledge. Though if you have certain finance that you want to invest in real estates, you could think of buying stocks in some of the forty stock holdings with special investment purpose- SHSIP.

These are special type of companies that gain their finance from the stock exchange and invest them in different projects – residential and administrative buildings, commercial and office terrains, holiday villages, agricultural land and etc. As long as the projects are very different, the profit could come from rent, resell of already built properties or offices. The common here is that this profit is not obliged with taxes which defines the interest of making such collective schemes. Buying stock you actually buy shares of the projects of SHSIP. That way if the projects are successful you win too through your right of profit from the fact that the stocks get more expensive.
The stocks of SHSIP are being offered on the bottom of the stock exchange together with the other public associations. In order to buy stocks you need the services of an investment mediator. But before you do that you better get aware of the projects of all the companies, that you like and their experience till now. The main document is the prospect of offering securities, which represent you, before they go on the stock exchange. Just like all public companies they present a three month financial reports, and in the annual report you`ll get to get aware of what the management`s expectations for the company are. All this data you can find on the website of the Bulgarian stock exchange (bse-sofia.bg). Part of SHSIP display information on their websites and for some you can read about in the media.
Despite the short 3 year history part of the older SHSIP began to win. For 2006 11 of them have given dividends and the expectations are that their number will get bigger. In 2006 the property funds were just 11 but in 2007 they already are 40 and they run actives of 820 mln levs and the market capitalization is close to 1 mlrd levs. In reality the choice is much smaller because some of them are created by groups connected to shareholders with the purpose of using the tax preference. With them basically there is no trade/business and respectively there is no opportunity to gain any stocks.
Properties are known as secure investment but of course there is risk too. It is normal to get periods when prices go down and these periods can be long. There is risk in any project that even on a stable market can turn into a losing one. There is always a thread from inexperienced management or even frauds even though the holdings are legal and they are under the control of the Commission for financial supervision. Anyway we shouldn`t forget that this type of investments are long-term investments and during this time the projects of the company should grow and gain profit. So the lack of dividends are not a definite signal that there is something wrong.

It’s a choice you’ve got to make when house hunting abroad - buy an off-plan property or an older, resale one. So what are the real pros and cons of both choices?

At the moment it is likely that approximately a hundred thousand holiday homes are for sale ‘off-plan’ around the world.
Which means they are being sold either before construction starts or while the builders are still working away - but why would anyone buy a home before it’s completed?

The other options open to you are either to buy a recently-completed newbuild or purchase a ‘resale’ property - which could be anything from a 600-year-old farmhouse to a one-year-old beachside villa.

This property choice - between new or old - might seem a simple one, but it divides many buyers into two camps; those who think off-plan and newbuild properties lack character, and others who think resale homes are high-maintenance and old-fashioned.

But opinions aside, what are the real pros and cons of buying a off-plan and resale property? See over the page for some of the answers.

Off-plan

Many people prefer off-plan because these properties are paid for in instalments over several months or years instead of up front and in full. So no need to borrow the money (or release all your savings) in one go. Also, in a buoyant market off-plan properties increase in value while they’re being built. For holiday home buyers they are ideal too; it means the property can be tailored to their tastes and walls moved, plugs re-positioned, tiles changed or swimming pools shifted while the work goes on. Off-plan properties can be easier to finance -some off-plan agents and developers have banks lined up to lend you the money.

Re-sale

Buy a re-sale home and you get what you see plus you can move in almost immediately. Some say re-sale properties have more character, but that’s a matter of taste, however they can claim a history and many buyers like knowing that it’s stood there for a year, maybe a decade and possibly several centuries before they bought it. Older homes are also normally in areas where the property has a track record - a buyer will know which way property prices have been going in the past, and this feels comforting. You are not taking a gamble that a new resort may or may not take off. And in some markets, older and more characterful properties often fetch higher prices than their newer counterparts -and hold their price better during price downturns.

Also remember

Off-plan

Problems with off-plan properties occur if the builder gets behind or, worst of all, goes bankrupt. It’s then frustrating either waiting for the property to be finished or trying to get your stage payments back. Which is why it’s vital that you go over your off-plan contract in detail with an independent lawyer. The other main potential pain is that your villa or apartment can sometimes not look the same as the architect’s plans when it’s finished. More patience is required with an off-plan - it could be months or years until its ready.

Re-sale

Buy a re-sale property and, after paying a large sum for it (in one go) you will probably need to spend more; it’s unusual to move in and not find that, for example, the heating needs fixing, the cooker doesn’t work property or the brown walls need re-painting. It’s sold as seen - you are unlikely to be able to change the layout much! Plus it’s likely to attract upkeep costs sooner than a new property - and a re-sale property is very unlikely to come with any building guarantee. And remember that in some countries resale properties attract higher purchase taxes than off-plan or new properties.

Bulgarian property

There already are new Genral Regulations Plans of the Black Sea Municipalities and the time scale for them to be executed is 2 years. The Genral Regulations Plans for Pomorie and Primorsko are about to be voted. So are the plans for Sozopol, Tsarevo and Shabla. They are still working on the plans that have to be voted for Varna and Bourgas.

A reason for the storming urbanization so far on the Bulgarian coast is the slowing of the vote of the new law for regulations on the Black Sea coast. This is the opinion of architect Lidia Stankova who is in charge of “Regulations of the Territory”.
In April in Varna there was a conference and some of the guests were experts from the Dutch Ministry of Residential Policy, also representatives of the local authorities and councils of the municipalities of Varna, Bourgas, Dobrich and the municipalities south from Bourgas. The discussions were pointed at creating a strategy for stable development of the black Sea side. For example Holand is trying to get back as much as possible land by the sea in order to help the preservation of the nature to reduce the building work by the sea. This experience can be applied in Bulgaria.
In the strategy for development presented like part of the Bulgarian- Dutch project “My town” is planned that the Varna Harbor after all changes will be the main factor that will turn the city into the Seaside capital of Bulgaria in 2030. The project plans the building of a whole complex of tourist areas and areas for goods which will offer the opportunity to get more goods, favors, yachts and by that the Varna Harbor will turn into a core for the development of industry and tourism, which can be serious competition for the harbor in Kontantza.

The preferences of the clients are relocated into homes and offices far from the center of the big cities. The overbuilding of the central parts in the big cities brought certain loss of interest from the candidates to own real estates. At the same time the interest in the peripheral parts of the city has become bigger.

It didn`t stay unnoticed that there is a tendency to equal the prices of the new and the old developments as well as there is bigger interest to smaller homes. Another area of interest lately is the renting of offices in newly built multifunctional buildings on “Okolovrasten Pat” road (the Sofia ring road) and “Simeonovsko Shose” Road in Sofia.

Investors are also turning heads towards investing in developments in the skirts of the big cities or the closest other settlements. Example for this is the interest in building in Mladost 4 district in the capital, where after finishing the metro station all problems with the long distance to the center and the western parts will be solved. The same tendency is noticeable in other big cities in the country. The interest in Plovdiv is mainly into residential complexes in the districts of Komatevo and Ostromila but for building houses- the preference is to the nearest villages not more than 20 km far- Brestnik, Parvenets, Belasitsa and Markovo.

In Varna the preferences are for Troshevo, Vinitsa, Mladost and Vazrajdane districts and in Bourgas- Sarafovo and meden Rudnik districts. According to the statistics the biggest number of building permissions has been obtained in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas, where for the past few years grew the offering of luxurious homes in closed complex type, with well maintained inner infrastructure. On the other hand the preferences of the clients looking for homes in the cities are for 1 bedroom apartments – about 47 % of all enquiries for real estate.