How to Buy Property in Bulgaria
Why Bulgaria?

• Beautiful countryside and coastal areas, offering great locations for properties in unspoilt landscapes
• Rich history and vast number of architectural treasures
• Good potential of future capital growth, with expected accession to the European Union (EU) in 2007
• Diverse range of properties in cities, mountain ski resorts, coastal areas and countryside
• Property is cheaper than many other parts of Europe, with houses in some rural locations as low as EUR 6,000
• Improving infrastructure, with funds from the EU
• Black Sea Coast averages nearly 300 days of sunshine annually
• 385 km of wonderful coastline and sandy beaches
• some of the best ski resorts in Europe – high and with guaranteed snow
• more than 80km of new ski tracks
• ancient Greek relics, Roman amphitheaters and Byzantine churches

How to buy a property in Bulgaria?

There are few steps if you plan to buy a property in Bulgaria:

Research before you buy
As with any investment, you should not enter into it lightly, and spend much time investigating the market. Read as many articles as you can about real estate investment (especially those that focus on Eastern Europe). Even if your purchase is a home, rather than an investment, you need to understand how it may be affected in the future.

Find your property
There are many ways of searching for property – with perhaps one of the most convenient being to use the internet. After you have chosen a type of property or location, you may consider organizing a viewing trip. Viewing trips typically last two or three days and allow you to visit a good cross section of properties that meet your criteria. To make the viewing more efficient, please contact us. Only by providing your criteria by e-mail/telephone we can show you around property that fully meet your criteria.

First, we have to determine what you are looking for:

If you are looking for a property close to the sea, beach or with sea views, you should for it somewhere along the Black Sea Coast; possibly considering areas close to major cities such as Varna and Bourgas.

Places with natural historical interest bring the spirit of far-off ages. If you want to become a part of a unique atmosphere, you should take a look at our offers for Veliko Turnovo, Plovdiv and Gabrovo.

Many people prefer a bustling city life with lots of activities. If you are one of them, pay attention to our offers for Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna.

If you think a place to retire, with beautiful scenery, quiet area and other foreign families in neighbourhood, is suitable for you, you should consider the following locations: Albena, Balchik, Elena, Troyan and Teteven.
Negotiate the price
If you are using us as your agent, you can tell us what price you are prepared to pay and we will then negotiate it on your behalf.

Choose an offer

Set up a Bulgarian company if the property has land

The next stage is to determine whether the property you want to buy has land associated with it or not. The reason being that if it has land, then you will have to form a company in order to purchase it. It takes 10 days on average to set a company and you should not have to pay more than 600 EUR in total. Open a bank account if not already done and deposit the paid-up capital of the company into the bank account. 5,000 BGN for EOOD and 5,100 BGN for OOD, that money can be used in future.

Ask your lawyer to conduct all legal checks, debts on the property and etc.

Sign preliminary contract and pay a deposit

This is the first contract that you sign and it is signed by both parties. In this contract, you will generally find full specification of what you are buying and what land is associated to it, quoted in square meters. The contract will state the actual deposit amount that you will give to the buyer and will contain any protected clauses.

At the time of signing the preliminary contract you will also be expected to pay a 10 percent deposit to the owner. This is generally expected to be paid in cash, and is handed to the owner when the contract is signed by both parties.
Sign the notary deed (i.e. the final contract upon which you take ownership)

To sign the notary deed you need to go to the notary public, together with the seller. This process can be managed by us as your local real estate agent. The notary will verify the identity of the buyer/seller and essentially authenticate the preliminary contract and supporting documentation, including any power of attorney documents.

Make the final payment (typically immediately after signing the notary deed)