It is too time-consuming to scour the whole of Bulgaria looking for a property and visiting agents. Although Bulgaria is roughly the same size as England and Wales, moving around the country is difficult -there are slow roads, mountains, few motorways and the slowest trains in Europe. You will probably get lost unlessyou speak Bulgarian and can navigate roads without road signs.
The system of buying and selling a property in Bulgaria is different from that in the UK, but the basic principles remain the same. Properties are listed for sale on the market, you go on viewings with an agent and you select the property you like. The agent then co-ordinates all aspects of the purchase. This model can vary, of course: some people choose a property off-plan (before it is built), and they may or may not even have seen the place where the development is being built. Others buy a finished property online without having seen it, and sometimes without ever having visited the region or even the country. Sometimes the developers sell directly and organise all the legal work.
Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think they must have such a one as their neighbors.
Henry D.Thoreau, 1854
This chapter is designed to take those who want to buy property in Bulgaria through the nitty-gritty of how to go about finding a house and making an offer. In the course of hunting for a property in Bulgaria you will be given lots of information, help and advice. Some you will remember, and some you won’t.The main thing is to enjoy the process and go along at your own pace. You are the buyer-you can arrive totally unprepared and just wander around the country for a week, or you can take in lots of information before you arrive and have a two- to three-day focused trip and leave with a property.
Skiing in Sofia
Vitosha mountain has become very much a part of Sofia owing to its accessibility by means of cabin lifts. Cherni Vrah, the highest point, gives wonderful views over the whole region. The winter ski-resort of Aleko lies at 1,868m altitude and the ski season lasts from December until late spring.The beautiful scenery makes the whole area attractive throughout the year. It is possible to take a 20-minutetaxi ride from the centre of Sofia to the start of the ski lift.The ride to the top of Vitosha takes about another 2omins, so you can be skiing within an hour of leaving the centre.
Alexander Nevski Memorial Church was completed in 1912 in honour of the Russian casualties of the 1877-8 War of Liberation from Ottoman rule.This gold-domed cathedral is the finest piece of architecture on the Balkans. Craftsmen and artists from six countries worked on the five-aisle church for 30 years and created masterpieces of icons, frescoes, murals and huge chandeliers. Italian marble was used for the interior decoration, and Egyptian alabaster, Brazilian onyx, gold and mosaic embody the spirit of the finest eastern Orthodox traditions.There is a superb collection of icons in the crypt.
The city of Sofia is one of the oldest cities in Europe. ‘Sofia’ is in fact the city’s fifth name-after Serdica, Ulpia Serdica, Sredetz and Triaditza. There is data on Serdica’s existence 5,000 years ago, and the earliest written evidence for residents on the lands of Serdica date back to the middle of the first millennium bc.’ Serdica’ (the emphasis being on the first syllable) is the oldest-known name of the town; it originates from ‘Serdi’- one of the 22 Thracian tribes that formed the numerous Thracian people.
Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital city, is situated in the central-western part of Bulgaria. According to the official data the population of Sofia is about 1.5 million people, but it is estimated that it actually exceeds two million. Sofia is the crossroads of important international routes from western Europe to Istanbul via Belgrade, and from Greece and Macedonia to the Commonwealth of Independent States. There are daily connections to a number of Balkan and European cities.
Sofia has the largest expatriate community in Bulgaria, with foreign compass, diplomatic missions and the headquarters of large Bulgarian companies jostling for space. It is the only region in the country where there has been a large population increase in recent years, as people have migrated from the smaller towns and cities to find work in the capital. Sofia also has the highest Property prices in Bulgaria.
One of the joys of Rousse is that you are never far from the countryside, and you can get there quickly on roads free of traffic jams. The rural areas around the town are reminiscent of southern England, with rolling hills, scatterings of deciduous forest and wheatfields dotted with tranquil villages. However, fields of sunflowers and vineyards add a more exotic touch than one would find in Sussex. Traditional farmers who use horses and carts co-exist alongside modern farms and brand-new Massey Ferguson tractors.
About 20km south of Rousse is the picturesque nature reserve of Roussenski Lom. Its name comes from the Roussenski Lorn river, which forms a tributary of the Danube
Everything that was to happen later in life had already happened in Rousse.
Elias Canetti, Nobel Prize winner
Rousse is a modern city of 120,000 people and is one of the most important cultural and economic centres in Bulgaria. This is the most European of cities in Bulgaria, both in terms of its architecture and its outward-looking stance.
Though Rousse suffered from economic setbacks after the Changes in the 1990s, it is getting back on its feet through new investment and the interest of domestic and foreign investors. In recent years the historic centre was given a complete facelift by the EU’s Beautiful Bulgaria Project (led by a British urban planner). This trend of renewal is continuing with private investors and new businesses, which are injecting fresh dynamism into the town.
Prices in Veliko Turnovo are increasing, and reflect the region’s ever-increasing popularity. Currently the shell price is on average €600 per square metre for new apartments in the city (without heating, kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, lighting and so on). But prices vary, reflecting the wide range of housing stock and their condition. Older apartments can be picked up for €40,000, with prices increasing to over €100,000 for older houses. In the surrounding villages older houses start from €20,000 for those in need of extensive renovation and can cost up to €100,000 for finished homes.