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If you can't afford the conventional, look at the unconventional.

YouTube is full of tiny, prefabricated, and other alternatives to 'normal' housing.

One guy has even built houses with massive Lego bricks that are made from a mix of recycled plastic and a little concrete.

@GuestPoster339876

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@GuestPoster339876

Bulgarian property prices have risen enormously over the last years. It's not anything to do with pricing for foreigners. 10 years ago, perhaps the floor for a tumble-down was a couple of grand, now it seems to be 10-20k. Indeed, it's arguable that it's not even a property issue as there has been (globally) a lot of inflation and "quantitative easing" making our savings worthless.

Bulgaria is poor, but relative to the EU, which is a prosperous bloc. I'd guess cheaper has to be non-EU (Serbia, Turkey, Albania), but even there I doubt the pickings are particularly tempting under $20k. Especially if you want "move into" ready and only do "minor fixes".

I suggest you look at Ebay in case there are any bargains on offer. The pay-monthly guys (Bulgaria Direct and Emerge/Hawtin) are very popular with expats as they know how to pick solid village houses with potential, and it stretches your budget. I've purchased several properties via BulgarianProperties and I think they're a reliable bunch with a great website. It's especially good for searching/researching as you can look nationwide at all their listings within your budget, and see if there's anything appealing. OLX is good as it's a site mostly used by Bulgarians, so you can use it to verify that the "oof!" prices are legit local prices, rather than invented for you. :-) RighMove is also very good as they have plenty of Bulgarian property (including BulgariaDirect and Emerge that I mentioned).

You should also bear in mind that Bulgaria has a very low cost of living, especially in terms of property taxes and utilities. So even if you're paying a bit more up-front, you can still have a very affordable life here.

But, yes, unfortunately, you're probably right that even at 40k there aren't a lot of move-in ready properties. My impression is that 30k-40k now gets you a solid village house with a nice plot of land, in a decent location, but probably needing decorating and a western-style bathroom and kitchen. Disappointing, I know.

Alo (dot bg) or Imot (dot bg) are also worth looking at. Use your browser to live translate the page, Google does this well.

These sites are not "aimed at foreigners" if you are really finding "oof" prices - but as others have said Bulgaria prices have risen a lot in the previous years. So you may have to look elsewhere to get what you want for a lot lower prices.

The prices have risen dramatically, and a lot of absolute wrecks in our area are on the market for the 30k EUR range. And that's on the Bulgarian language sites! I think those are just chancers hoping the market will keep rising and make those prices look okay! However there's a few on Facebook in our area being sold partially renovated by expats who are selling up and returning to the UK, for much the same asking price, in the 拢30k to 40k range. Far better buys.聽 But that's in a remote corner of Dobrich province, not a wealthy or popular area. When we first started looking at Bulgaria in 2013, 拢10k would get a renovated village house in the more popular area near VT we initially visited! I would say Dobrich province is worth looking at if you don't mind rural.

If you don't have much available to pay up front, I second what Gwyn said about the pay monthly sellers. There's a few on eBay who have good reputations. Though their asking prices have also risen significantly in the three years since I bought our place on pay monthly with Bulgaria Direct for 拢10k, it's a good way to spread the cost and keep whatever you do have available for renovations.

But a cheap house is not necessarily a bargain. I've spent at least 拢12k on a new roof, kitchen, and bathroom. It probably needs at least as much again spent on it over the next two years before we can move here (we're waiting until I can get a retirement D visa) to make it all-year livable.

The truth is, there are no really cheap houses in Bulgaria. But there are a lot of properties far lower cost than anything on the market in the UK. And a lot of challenges, too.

Only move here because you love Bulgaria, not because it's cheaper.

@GuestPoster339876

If I'm following you correctly, your question boils down to "Why aren't there any cheap properties that I can afford to buy and that meet my requirements?"

One of the answers is that over the past few years there's been an influx of foreigners coming here to escape a variety of things they don't like about their own country: too many immigrants, especially economic migrants (oh, the irony), too many foreigners who don't speak the local language, too many people flouting the local laws, property prices rocketing due to people with more money than the locals can afford looking to buy in areas that appeal to them more than where they are now. I could go on but I'm sure that we all can add to that list.

The Bulgarian sites are indeed full of properties at eye-watering prices compared to twenty years ago, or even five - but that's just the result of a process akin to the gentrification that so annoys people living in "desirable" parts of the UK. The answer they get is that it's simply the result of supply and demand economics, and the perception of sellers that even comparatively rich "grockles" are willing and able to pay for what they want - and they're usually right. Who can blame people living in a grotty house on a miserly Bulgarian pension if they want to parlay the only thing of value that they've managed to hang onto in their lives into something that'll ease the rest of it?

The situation is compounded by the Bulgarian predisposition not to haggle over prices to any great extent, a phenomenon that certainly took me some time to come to terms with - it's the national sport where I come from! 馃榿

@GuestPoster339876

There are houses to be found at reasonable prices but it鈥檚 often down to luck. Restricting yourself to certain areas will limit what you can find too. We looked east, west and centre over several days, came home, then saw a house we loved, flew back and we knew before we even viewed that the house was going to be the one and despite pics being old it was everything we needed.聽

@GuestPoster339876

To answer your initial question: there are plenty of properties for sale which are anything but "sh*tty", which suggests that you're looking in the wrong places, or at the wrong type of properties - or that you're simply in the wrong country at the wrong time and with the wrong budget.聽

Where we live, there's not much at all on the market but what there is, is going for an average price of 鈧�2,500/m虏 - a couple of those I'd be inclined to class as "somewhat sh*tty" (for the money) but even so I doubt they'll be on the market for long! 馃榿

If you can't afford the conventional, look at the unconventional.
YouTube is full of tiny, prefabricated, and other alternatives to 'normal' housing.
One guy has even built houses with massive Lego bricks that are made from a mix of recycled plastic and a little concrete. - @Fred

I honestly don't believe I'm capable of building anything like that. I'm under five feet tall and am doing this completely alone lol. Also, foreigners can't buy land to build on, can they? Or did I misinterpret that rule?

@janemulberry

Only move here because you love Bulgaria, not because it's cheaper.

I'm not moving because "it's cheaper", but I still can't help the fact I don't have a lot of money.

@J@GuestPoster339876 To answer your initial question: there are plenty of properties for sale which are anything but "sh*tty", which suggests that you're looking in the wrong places, or at the wrong type of properties - or that you're simply in the wrong country at the wrong time and with the wrong budget. Where we live, there's not much at all on the market but what there is, is going for an average price of 鈧�2,500/m虏 - a couple of those I'd be inclined to class as "somewhat sh*tty" (for the money) but even so I doubt they'll be on the market for long! 馃榿 - @JimJ

Just a possibility

I wonder if the situation is the same as when I was looking at property in Malaysia and Indonesia. My error was searching in English. All the most expensive and the crappy stuff aimed at expats is to be found advertised in that language.

@Fred

The "dirt cheap" end of the market is split equally between foreign buyers and locals; sellers are understandably keen to get the best possible price and don't really care who buys their property.

The very cheapest properties are often snapped up by the "monthly installment" merchants, whose target market is exclusively foreign buyers. They obviously incur expenses when initially purchasing a property, as well as ongoing ones such as financing loans/tying up the invested capital, advertising, taxes, viewing expenses et al. The smart ones will do as much as they can afford to maintain goodwill with past clients as they know that in their segment of the market word of mouth recommendations are valuable. However, buyers shouldn't lose sight of the fact that they're part of the process of increasing the price of the sh*t properties because their matey never-never agent has a business to run, taxes to pay and a family to support - so needs a comparatively hefty return on his investment.

Bulgarian buyers have to compete for those same cheapo properties, so the Bulgarian language sites (and Russian language ones usually focused on seaside properties) are full of what are in essence often overpriced properties because sellers and property brokers are aware of what foreigners are prepared to pay and want a piece of that kind of action. So sellers in the "sh*t end" of the market are actually "ripping off" Bulgarian buyers by trying to charge them "foreigner prices" rather than the other way round..

In the "real market" for property, sellers don't care who you are as long as you can afford the asking price, which of course is anyway inflated by the perceived increased value of the sh*t end of the market.

The current situation has all the signs of yet another property bubble here - there have been several already in my time - and they've all so far been followed by a collapse in prices. The will-he, won't he adoption of the Euro is complicating this one though, and I suspect that many canny sellers are waiting to see if the likely increase in the cost of everything, especially property, will follow if the deed is ever done. Canny buyers might consider waiting awhile to see if that collapse comes, although in real terms the percentage decrease at the bottom end of the market translates to not very much hard cash.

If you can't afford the conventional, look at the unconventional.YouTube is full of tiny, prefabricated, and other alternatives to 'normal' housing.One guy has even built houses with massive Lego bricks that are made from a mix of recycled plastic and a little concrete.聽 - @FredI honestly don't believe I'm capable of building anything like that. I'm under five feet tall and am doing this completely alone lol. Also, foreigners can't buy land to build on, can they? Or did I misinterpret that rule? - @GuestPoster339876

Non-EU foreigners can't buy land but they CAN own a Bulgarian company which, as a local legal entity, certainly can own land etc.

@Fred
The "dirt cheap" end of the market is split equally between foreign buyers and locals; sellers are understandably keen to get the best possible price and don't really care who buys their property. - @JimJ

That explains things rather well 馃檪

Jax, I'm sorry I offended you with the comment to only move to Bulgaria because you love it. I've been in the forum here a few years now and have seen many people here who are just looking for the cheapest place in the EU (or, as Jim commented earlier, immigrating because they think there are too many immigrants in the UK!). Most of these folk don't actually like Bulgaria and most would have a miserable time here. I'm glad that's not the case with you.

I totally get the low budget thing. That's why I bought the house on pay monthly and am renovating as I can afford it. Unfortunately prices have risen steeply on all property here, not just the low end of the market and our expectations for what we can afford may need adjusting. OTOH, there are still relatively low priced properties that are more or less liveable, often Brits selling up a place they've at least partially renovated. Especially if they've been trying to sell a while, that could be the best chance to get something better at a lower price. Facebook groups are the best place for that. Unfortunately most places for sale in the 拢20-30k range will need a lot of renovations (and some will be not worth renovating), but you can get lucky if you keep looking.

On the land thing -- if you are looking at houses, as a non-EU citizen you will need a Bulgarian company set up to own the property. This applies to houses too, not just bare land. It shouldn't cost more than 拢500 to get help to set that up. Other costs to consider when budgeting what you can spend are notary fees, taxes, and agent's fees. You'll need to allow another 拢3000 or so to cover these, depending on the property price and what the agent charges.

Good luck, I do hope you find what you want.

Two very direct reasons:

1. Market demand drives prices higher.
2. The lower end of the market offers looks like this.

And yes, nobody cares whether you are westerner, easterner or a Martian. People will sell at market price or higher if possible. Or will not sell at all (my case).

One other reason for so many lower priced properties which @JimJ may have touched on. Some of the houses in the lower price bracket have been empty for years and have become derelict.聽 Land prices have also risen a lot. But in many other houses, this is just how many Bulgarian pensioners have to live.

With barely enough to get by, unless they have family living nearby to help them, an elderly occupant can't do the house maintenance anymore and there's no money to pay anyone else. The house falls into disrepair, though neighbours do what they can to help with a patch here and a bodged repair there. And older village houses can just be very simple. Walls mostly mud, holding a few red bricks together. Earth floors with lino over the top. Ceilings of mud and lime plaster over straw. Old wooden windows with paper thin glass. When the roof leaks, it will be patches with plastic bags because there's no money to buy anything better.聽 I'm sitting in a house like this now, which looks relatively modern but has the same traditional construction under a thin veneer of cement plaster. Unlike the previous occupant, I had the huge advantage of being able to spend 拢12k getting the leaky plastic bagged roof replaced and the earth floors in the kitchen and bathroom (complete with collapsed areas due to rat tunnels, the rats thankfully long deceased) cemented and tiled.

But the elderly widow who lived here before had to live with all that, right up to 2020. She'd lived in this house all her married life, then over ten years as a widow with nothing more than a meagre state pension. I have nearby elderly neighbours who live in much older houses that have never been renovated. This is their life.

I have great respect for their toughness and tenacity, and sadness that poverty means they have no other choice.

When they pass on, chances are, that house will come on the market. And that's why so many cheaper houses are in poor condition. It's someone's life story you are seeing there. It deserves respect.

I don't think you can have the best if both worlds. Sure like most things you can find a jewel in the crown but only if you are damn lucky have the capital to buy but you have to be quick and constantly viewing the market.

But if you do you buy something cheap, you are going to have to pump some money into the property.

Even in my house in Austria, its price doubled in 10 years, trembled in 16 years. I am still renovating it, because I'm in no rush. A friend of ours bought a house in a nearby town, bought their house for 鈧�400,000 and last year sold it for 鈧�900,000 after living in it for 5 years.

There seems to be some sort of "Blame Game" going on here: it's no-one's fault that I can't afford the Bentley Continental GT that Santa sort-of promised me but then forgot about, and it's not the OP's fault if they can't afford the going rate for the type and condition of property they want.聽 But there seems to be an element of "If I can't afford my dream house (whatever it may be) then it's because prices in dirt-poor Bulgaria are too high because I'm a foreigner".聽

The property market here is the same as in any other country: people want to get as much a possible for what they're selling (it may have to last them the rest of their lives) and a buyer - local or foreign - has to cut their coat according to their cloth.聽 If property prices in Bulgaria are too high for you, then you're either simply looking in the wrong country or your expectations are totally out of kilter with reality.聽 The days of pocket-change properties here are long gone, and they're not coming back; even if my belief that another bust will be along soon-ish proves to be justified, it'll only be an adjustment rather than a price collapse and will doubtless be followed by yet another bubble.

A few people are lucky enough to have an unmissable opportunity fall into their laps (I somehow happen to be one of them)聽 but most simply have to face facts: no-one's going to give their property away, however deserving you might be - and no-one's going to renovate it for you on the cheap either....

It is very hard to know what is realistic to expect, unfortunately. There's still plenty of social media stuff like YouTube videos or that article in last week's Daily Mail showing people buying houses for very little money and often showing a more rosy view than the reality. Most of these places are not anything like move in ready, more "spend 拢20,000 then move in" properties.

I do hope Jax finds somewhere to suit them for their budget. It's not impossible. Unlike my chances of finding a studio flat in London for 拢40,000, an opportunity I foolishly passed on several times when I first arrived and considered buying a place.

There seems to be some sort of "Blame Game" going on here: it's no-one's fault that I can't afford the Bentley Continental GT that Santa sort-of promised me but then forgot about, and it's not the OP's fault if they can't afford the going rate for the type and condition of property they want. But there seems to be an element of "If I can't afford my dream house (whatever it may be) then it's because prices in dirt-poor Bulgaria are too high because I'm a foreigner".
The property market here is the same as in any other country: people want to get as much a possible for what they're selling (it may have to last them the rest of their lives) and a buyer - local or foreign - has to cut their coat according to their cloth. If property prices in Bulgaria are too high for you, then you're either simply looking in the wrong country or your expectations are totally out of kilter with reality. The days of pocket-change properties here are long gone, and they're not coming back; even if my belief that another bust will be along soon-ish proves to be justified, it'll only be an adjustment rather than a price collapse and will doubtless be followed by yet another bubble.

A few people are lucky enough to have an unmissable opportunity fall into their laps (I somehow happen to be one of them) but most simply have to face facts: no-one's going to give their property away, however deserving you might be - and no-one's going to renovate it for you on the cheap either.... - @JimJ

I don't understand why people are taking this attitude and treating me like I'm being horrible about Bulgarians and Bulgaria, or taking advantage of the country/people, when I'm not.

A derelict, unlivable home in an area 40 miles from the nearest shop that needs 3-4 years of solid work done to it is objectively not worth forty grand or whatever. It just isn't. You can buy derelict homes in England for less than that.

Some are saying 'doesn't matter if you're foreign' but there are people in this thread who appear to disagree.

Bulgaria is a very special place to me, but it simply "is" that it is a better cost of living for me and it does factor into my move because 拢30k a year in the UK is completely unlivable at this point for a single person household where I live. I don't even live in a nice area. I want to move where I'll be able to stretch my money a little more, and be somewhere I actually want to be that feels safer and has nicer landscape.

I never said, at all, that I expected any special favours of anyone and I don't appreciate the tone, honestly.

All I "want" is a single room with a kitchen and a bathroom tacked onto the side. But I have to live in a mouldy hole to get one under 鈧�50,000.

I've already decided to rent, and just save while working over there.

I wish people could come online and speak without everyone getting all up in their own ass about everything. I'm so tired of it. I can't help that I can't afford expensive properties but that doens't mean I expect special discopunts and favours. Frankly, how dare you.

Renting is a good plan. Rents are still low here in comparison to the prices to buy. You can keep looking for the right place and be ready to buy when you see the opportunity. It probably won't be with a property website, a better chance will be a Brit keen to sell and ready to accept a lower price. Facebook expat groups for your preferred area are the thing to keep a watch on, YouTube, too. And once you're living there and get to know people, word of mouth might be the best chance of all.

@janemulberry

It took me 8 months to find the right house, and that was me actually living in the country and working it was hard work.

@GuestPoster339876

Some folks can be a little opinionated, especially about property. But I don't think any of it is meant with ill-feeling or deliberate disrespect. On the contrary, I think most of us are sympathetic to your situation. And most of us are fans of Bulgaria and enjoy our lives here, so we're happy to recommend it and see others come here and enjoy it too.

I suppose it was easier were groceries were half the price, and there were 10k renovated bargains on Ebay. But prices have gone up everywhere, so it's not like Bulgaria is a special case.

Moving to Bulgaria was one of my best ever decisions, we have a wonderful life here. One that would be impossible (for me) to replicate elsewhere in the EU. Perhaps, in fairness, even impossible to replicate in Bulgaria, if I arrived today. But there's still so much to like, even with higher property prices.

@janemulberryIt took me 8 months to find the right house, and that was me actually living in the country and working it was hard work. - @SimCityAT

I can imagine. I lucked out and the cheapie I never intended to live in that needed so much more work than I expected turned out to be a house I now love in a village I now love. Quite a surprise how much like home it feels, considering I cried my first night here and was ready to give the keys back to the agent and forfeit my deposit!

But the challenge finding a suitable property is why the plan to rent is a good one, and more likely to help Jax find the house they hope to find.

Well, looks like they have left. The posts are now Guest Poster. I think they may have been looking on the wrong sites, or have limited their search to a more expensive area, if all they could find in their price range was the type of places they described in their last comment. Last time I looked on the nearest Facebook group specialising in properties ( last month trying to find someone to do legit rubbish removal and not fly tip it) it looked like there were still some decent move-in ready ex-expat homes for around 拢40,000.

I imagine that I, as the Resident Curmudgeon, am probably the target of the "How dare you" etc but it seems that the OP is at least partly living in some alternate reality with their "objective view" that Bulgarian sellers are out to get them with their excessive greed and supposed belief that foreign buyers are made of money.聽 What that "objective view" is based on, goodness only knows - sellers everywhere are out to make as much money as they can and buyers aren't forced to buy anything they feel is overpriced.聽

As several other members have also pointed out, the Bulgarian language sites demonstrate that prices are high, or even unrealistic, regardless of who might be buying; making comparisons between 拢40k derelict properties in the UK and the "mouldy holes" that are all you can get for 鈧�50K here is simply laughable - there are plenty of decent liveable-in houses for that kind of money for anyone who cares to make the effort to look for them.

As I've mentioned several times, there are some pretty good offers going in various of the FB BG Property For Sale groups and quite a few that would probably suit the OP - they're not hidden and can be easily found if one can be bothered to look. If I were interested in areas other than where I am now - and had some spare cash to splash - I'd certainly be seriously considering some of those offers.

I'm sorry if I'm yet again "daring" to offend any tender sensibilities, but I certainly get the feeling that someone's carrying a mighty big chip on their shoulder!聽 In the final analysis, no-one's suggesting that "not being able to afford an expensive house" makes a house-hunter some kind of pariah - and goodness knows I'd love to be able to even begin to dream about some of the 7- or even 8-figure houses for sale in Sofia - but there's plenty available at the OP's budget.聽 I also haven't noticed anyone suggesting that the OP's denigrating Bulgaria or its people - where that came from is anyone's guess, although there does seem to be an element of paranoia regarding the continued mention of "foreigner prices" for those "mouldy holes".聽 If that's really so worrisome, buy from another foreigner via FB for Pete's sake!

@JimJ

You and others were just being honest, there is no point to be unrealistic.