Newbie - Bulgaria - Homesteading - HELP

Hello Everyone,

To be very succinct and to get the ball of conversation rolling, I want to relocate to Bulgaria (or a place similar to it in Europe in terms of LESS governmental control).

I'm looking to start a homestead there - lifetime dream of mine.  I feel like time for getting this started is running out, if it hasn't already.

To those that are already established there, can you please give him hints, tips and tricks as to who I should be looking to buy property from and where?  Or even if you've got room for an extra person to help around your place until I'm up and running, this would be great.

When I say where, I would like to be close to an expat community from UK or other English speaking countries.  Alternatively, near the border of Greece.  I speak multiple languages.

I need help to get this going ASAP so please I welcome any and all information regarding this.

Thank you in advance.

Hi Dominic, there was this topic a while ago. permies bulgaria
And i believe there have been more about Bulgaria in previous times if i remember right.
Use the search bar to find topics and if you find someone of special interest, you can try to send them a purple moosage. Then they'll recieve an email that there is a purple moosage on Permies for them.

Hello Hugo,

Thank you so much for your reply.  It was getting lonely!  I was hoping for some fresh perspectives and replies in my post, but I will follow your advice anyway.

Be well.

Hugo Morvan wrote:Hi Dominic, there was this topic a while ago. permies bulgaria
And i believe there have been more about Bulgaria in previous times if i remember right.
Use the search bar to find topics and if you find someone of special interest, you can try to send them a purple moosage. Then they'll recieve an email that there is a purple moosage on Permies for them.

Hey Hugo,

I just checked the link and I had already seen that thread a month ago or so.  I got in contact with one of the posters (Nick) but never heard back unfortunately.  


Regards,

Dom

Well. If you really want to chop wood for 9 of 12 months, Bulgaria is great.

I was there in 2009, looked at some properties, but met quite some con men.


Would advise you to look at diggers and dreamers (there is a couple on there living in Bulgaria), or Kathy in Voditsa if she is still around.

Houses, there is a website called "cheap bulgarian house" which looks like the only reputable real estate agent I have found (avoid Bulgarianproperties and ebay)


Would be good to check out the mybulgaria forum, outdated, but it can prepare you

Also there might be some interesting people/hosts on workaway and helpx


Good luck!

Peter van Zon wrote:Well. If you really want to chop wood for 9 of 12 months, Bulgaria is great.

I was there in 2009, looked at some properties, but met quite some con men.


Would advise you to look at diggers and dreamers (there is a couple on there living in Bulgaria), or Kathy in Voditsa if she is still around.

Houses, there is a website called "cheap bulgarian house" which looks like the only reputable real estate agent I have found (avoid Bulgarianproperties and ebay)


Would be good to check out the mybulgaria forum, outdated, but it can prepare you

Also there might be some interesting people/hosts on workaway and helpx


Good luck!

Hello there Peter,

Thanks for offering your advice.  Yes I am very worried about the con men there.  Also Bulgarian properties was the site i was using the most, thanks for the heads up.

Do you have a homestead?  Any advice for where to get myself set up?  As I said, looking for a place that isn't heavily controlled by the govt.

Thanks.

I would advise you to

- Investigate the real estate scams in Bulgaria yourself (read up on My Bulgaria Forum.

- Contact multiple people like the ones I mentioned and others on for example helpx and workaway, travel to different regios and see what you like best


I forgot about the straw bale house people. If you search for straw bale house bulgaria you will find a post on mybulgaria forum and workaway.


"A place that isn't heavily controlled by the government" --> You have just ruled out all countries on Earth, all of them will get the RNA vaccinations, 5G satellites etc.
Also not even the jungle is safe anymore -> deforestation, killing of natives etc.

Get as far away from civilization as possible, would be my advise.


What I have seen;
- A british real estate agent offering me a house in EURO amount, paying the same amount in LEV to the owners (half the price)

- The same guy buying properties off auctions of disposessed people -> There you can buy a house for about half of what cheap bulgarian house offers. Just find a lawyer to tag along when you go to / respond to an auction

- Scams involving properties with incorrent/fake title deeds or ready made companies (read up on the SAMAX ebay scam)

- I got a translator. So obviously asked the real estate agent, provide the papers in english and bulgarian. Then he invites me to a shady notary, who wanted me to sign on the spot, documents in Bulgarian.
Obviously I said, no I want them in both Bulgarian and English, then I can verify if you are trying to defraud me or not. And walked out of the office because he did not want to provide it

- Houses which are falling apart, painted a bit, and sold as if they are still habitable



Oh yeah I forgot, the best welcome  I ever had, meeting a village lady (around 70 years old), selling her second property. Go by personal references and personal contact, not estate agents.


One example, when I went to the town hall for land ownership document verification, they mayor asked "why did you go to an estate agent, why not ask us for help" ..

Makes sense, if you have a trustworthy mayor, not like the ones in Spain who converted land from agricultural to building land status, pocketed a lot of money, and once they left, everybody had to buy other septic tanks to stay legal (before that they wanted to demolish the illegal constructions)


https://permies.com/t/116224/Eco-village-bulgaria-searching-people --> did you see this?


Also, there is https://ecovillage.org/gen_country/bulgaria/

Hey dominic,

i am considering renting, leasing or even selling (fully or partially) my property in bulgaria.
i have 6400m2 by a damlake, in sinagovtsi, vidin. the place is home to the project "merope", but i really need some changes is my life

Perhaps we can talk?

I would have thought Bulgaria would be one of the last places to go.
Ready made dictator I believe?

From;Bulgarias problems 2020
Angered by widespread corruption, by the power wielded by unelected oligarchs and shrinking media freedoms, demonstrators from across Bulgarian society have been turning out in their tens of thousands to call for the downfall of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s government and general prosecutor Ivan Geshev.

Though unrest was already brewing following ecological protests earlier in the year, it was Ivanov, a former justice minister and long-time critic of the status quo,
who helped trigger the latest events when a video of him disembarking by boat at a luxury and allegedly illegal seaside mansion belonging to politician Ahmed Dogan went viral.

Yes politics aren't what they should be. Dictatorship? no. Maffia? yes. If you compare this with the rest of Europe i actually prefer living in a place like this. Politics interfere much less with your private life when living a permaculture homesteading life, especially if you're a foreigner. society here is just less strict with their boxes and labels and rules and allows a certain freedom. If not because of actually supporting freedom, at least because politics just doesn't give enough fucks. Even lockdown really hasn't been too much of a thing here.

I've lived here for 7 years, and will continue to do so.

Annelies, I am so interested to hear your viewpoint as you are actually there!

My view (seven visits to Bulgaria and in the process of buying an old wreck of a house with 1/2 acre) - everything Peter said about estate agents is correct! Many agents grossly overprice properties, or do inappropriate renovations to push the price up. In Bulgaria, the buyer pays the fees, not the seller, and some agents add on as much as 2,000 euros for their fee. The thing to watch for with Cheap Bulgarian Houses is how old the listing is - a house listed five or more years ago and standing empty since probably won't be in the same condition the photos show.

Talking to the local mayor is essential, as he or she is the one to mostly decide how much they want to enforce the rules on things like septic tanks and water supplies.

Politics - the difference I see is that in Bulgaria no one (apart from the politicians) tries to pretend that there isn't corruption. I live in the UK where corruption in government is rife and yet everyone pretends it doesn't exist. Friends who've lived in Bulgaria for many years say the mafia won't mess with people who don't mess with them. Gun running, drug dealing, pimping, or dissing the local mafia boss's son or daughter can have unpleasant consequences, but for most people the mafia won't interfere in any way with everyday life, and in most rural areas there are no mafia.

Dominic, one thing you need to look into before buying property or committing to anything is the visa situation. Unless you're an EU resident, getting a long term visa can be a challenge for people of working age. Not impossible, but definitely some hoops to jump. Check on the Bulgarian Embassy for the country you're resident in to see what the D visa requirements are.

Hey, we are actually renting out our countryside house for 6 months to an year. It{s in tha balknas mountain nad near the town of Tryavna. Literllay last house in the forest. You can see it on our workaway profile where yo ucan see we're no scammers - after having many volunteers here. Maybe that would a good start for you to find a house in Bulgaria. The last couple we had did exactly that and now have a beautiful house near gabrovo, in the mountains.
https://www.workaway.info/en/host/432238953496

Dominic Jones wrote: I just checked the link and I had already seen that thread a month ago or so.  I got in contact with one of the posters (Nick) but never heard back unfortunately.  Dom

I feel o bad about this!!!