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Bulgaria: Location

Overview

The most important thing to consider when buying a home anywhere is its location – or, as the old saying goes, the three most important considerations in buying property are location, location and location! Especially if you’re buying as an investment, an average property in a great location is always preferable to a great property in an average location. Even if you aren’t interested in making money from your property, there’s no point in spending your money on a ‘dream home’ that’s next to an industrial area or a busy road, or is so far from anywhere it takes you a whole day just to buy a loaf of bread. In the popular property-buying areas of Bulgaria amenities and facilities are all you could wish for, but you still need to make sure you choose the right property in the right spot.

Many people come to Bulgaria on holiday and look to buy property in the same area, or base their decision on recommendations from friends, an area’s reputation or on how easy it is to access. But if you’re planning on retiring to a home in Bulgaria or even just spending a few weeks a year there on holiday, it’s important to take your time and consider every aspect of its location. When it comes to choosing a place to live, don’t be unduly influenced by the fact you’ve spent an enjoyable holiday or two there. A great holiday resort or place that was comfortable for a few weeks’ holiday may be less than suitable for year-round living.

The ‘best’ place to buy a home in Bulgaria of course depends on your preferences and what you want from a property. It’s important to sit down and evaluate the positive and negative aspects of every location you think may be suitable, to help you choose the place that suits you and your family best.

If you have a job in Bulgaria or plan to work there, the location of a home will probably be determined by how close it is to your place of work. Buy a map of the area and calculate the maximum distance you’re prepared to travel to work each day, taking into account the quality of the roads and potential traffic. Draw a circle of appropriate radius with your workplace in the middle. If you’re going to look for employment or start a business, choose an area that gives you the maximum scope. Unless you have reason to believe otherwise, don’t rely on the romantic notion that everything will work out once you arrive in an area!

However, if you’re looking for a retirement home, you must choose somewhere that’s easily accessible, low maintenance and close to essential services and amenities. A holiday home may be in a popular resort, but think what you may want to do with it in five, ten or 20 years’ time; will it be suitable as a retirement home, will you be able to sell it, will the resort be overcrowded?

If you don’t know where you want to live, read as much as you can about the different areas of Bulgaria and spend as much time as possible looking at those that interest you. The climate, cost of living and way of life can vary dramatically from one area to another. If you choose to live in the mountains or in a rural area, the type of life you lead will be as dramatically different as the scenery from a coastal resort location.

If you want to live in or near a village, be sure to investigate it, as Bulgarian villages vary enormously in attractiveness and amenities. As a result of the government’s ‘Beautiful Bulgaria’ initiative, many are clean, pretty and inviting, while others are run-down and unwelcoming.

Before looking at properties, it’s best to have an idea of the type of home you’re looking for and how much you want to. With this information you should be able to draw up a shortlist of the areas and towns that interest you. If you don’t do this, you’re likely to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of properties to be looked at. To cut down the time you spend viewing properties, it can help to have an idea of where you want to buy within a 30 to 40km (20 to 25mi) radius, or even narrow your choices down to specific towns and villages.

Verify all travel times yourself – and don’t rely on what estate agents tell you! There’s no point in buying a delightful house in a picturesque village if you want to visit for weekends and it takes you three hours to drive there from the nearest airport. Especially if you think you will be relying on public transport, try to visit an area a number of times over a period of a few weeks, during the week and at weekends, to get a feel for the neighbourhood or village (and make sure you walk around!). A property viewed at the end of a pleasant holiday after a tasty lunch and a few beers or glasses of wine may look entirely different another time.

Try also to visit an area at different times of the year to get an idea of whether the climate is suitable, whether services and amenities are available outside the holiday season, and what restrictions there are on transport – public and private – in winter. While the climate is generally mild along the coast, in the mountains and further inland a place that’s wonderful in summer can be forbidding and inhospitable in winter. Similarly, in summer the crowds, noise, heat and traffic pollution can be oppressive. If you’re planning to buy a winter holiday home, you should also try to view it in the summer, as snow can conceal all manner of faults – structural as well as cosmetic.

If you’re unfamiliar with an area, many experts recommend that you rent for a while before deciding to buy. This is particularly important if you’re planning to buy a permanent or retirement home in an unfamiliar area. Many people change their minds about location after renting for a while and it isn’t unusual for families to rent in two or three different places before settling down permanently.

When house hunting, it’s advisable to buy large-scale maps of the area where you’re looking and to mark off the places you’ve seen, perhaps using a grading system to record your impressions. If you use an estate agent, he will usually drive you around and you can use your annotated map to return later to those you like the most. One of the best series of maps of Bulgaria is published by a local company, Domino; the maps cover all the regions and most major towns and surrounding areas. Although printed in Bulgarian and English, they’re currently only available in bookshops and travel agencies in Bulgaria.

In resorts – whether in the mountains or on the coast – you should always try to find out the medium-term infrastructure plans for the area, especially for road construction and development of vacant land. Your home with splendid sea views and open fields for neighbours might be crowded out and the view blocked by other buildings in a few years’ time.

Foreign buyers are generally welcome everywhere in Bulgaria, particularly in rural areas, where they’re seen as bringing life and valuable business to villages whose population is being depleted, while the Black Sea coast has long been a tourist destination, where people are used to large numbers of foreigners. Given Bulgaria’s population decline and high unemployment, anyone who brings opportunity and ‘hard currency’ is usually welcomed with open arms. In any case, most Bulgarians are naturally friendly towards outsiders. In some of the poorer regions in the south, however, people can be inhospitable, particularly in regions with a history of ethnic tension, but these areas tend to be the poorest and least attractive parts of a region and so are of less interest to foreign buyers.

© Survival Books Limited 2006

“Buying a Home in Bulgaria” 1st Edition, Dougal Robertson.

Reproduced with the permission of Survival Books Limited.

Further information on this topic can be found in “Buying a Home in Bulgaria” 1st Edition, Dougal Robertson.

For extensive information about buying a property in Bulgaria, you can purchase this book at www.survivalbooks.net

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