Property in Bulgaria presents an excellent investment opportunity

We believe that this investment potentiality should be seen not in the way, presented by many investment and consulting agencies.

They all together appeal to buy apartments in complexes in order to resell them in the nearest future. Those who have got big financial opportunities are suggested to build these immense apartment complexes. This statement is true to a certain extent. In recent years Bulgarian sea-side has been attacked by a huge number of such apartment complexes. They offer us the first line but in fact it’s the twenty first. Of course you can sell your apartment in the future but in this case we can’t speak about big profit. At the end it turns out that it’s not an investment at all. It’ just one failure project.

There’s one more problem that exists with apartment complexes. They’re getting old really fast. The quality of building is not very high. The complex is built within one really short period in order to sell it as fast as possible. But it’s getting hard to sell it and the reason is the abundance of apartments. Let’s say there’s one apartment complex consisting of 50 flats. Out of 50 flats only 5-6 have been sold. When the building of the complex began there was nothing in front of it and now it’s hidden by another big complex which quality is much better and the apartments are sold with same price and even less. Of course, you get frustrated.

Thus, one investment is successful in the following cases, which concern not only builders and buyers of plots for building, but dealers also:

1. If a complex is located on the first line or very close to the beach (it’s forbidden to build on the beach since it is government property) or the location of one complex can be on a hill, raised above the sea line. You have also to check the regulation plan, density of building, etc. You should keep in mind that if the plot is regulated, then you are allowed to build on it and you should know the percent of the territory and the number of levels that are allowed. If a plot is not regulated but is located in a very attractive place and you are dying to buy it and start building you should also keep in mind that any building is forbidden here just for geological or ecological reasons. There’s a draft law that prohibits any building in 100-200 m from the sea-line. This project has not been approved yet. If it is approved, it won’t cover territories with an approved regulation plan or those territories which are in the process of changing their status. Even in this case you have to ask from the sellers for official documents on plots you’re going to purchase.
2. The design of a building and the apartments plan should also be on a high level. The process of selling apartments in such complexes may last for more than one year. If an apartment is already furnished you must not be stingy in buying furniture of a better quality than that which is in your new “furnished” flat. Furniture is not so expensive now compared to a price of your apartment. That is why you should not be scared of the fact of what will you do with all this “luxury furniture”. At the moment there are many offers of entirely furnished apartments sold for 500 Euro per sq.m. Some years ago same apartments were sold for 1 200 Euro per sq.m.
3. Forming of a price requires professional and careful approach. First of all, you have to find an optimum in the building process. It also requires big experience. The expenses on finishing materials and the stability of the whole building construction also depend on foundation and concreting of one building. Thus you have to be very attentive in choosing a project or a building company. Your expenses on your first building can be 2 and even 3 times more than you have expected. But if you work with a professional team you can avoid these problems. In case of a low basic cost which is formed not at the expenses of the quality of construction, you can easily modify the prices following market movement or in case of a wholesale discount.
4. The complex has to have a zest. It can be some architectural element or design of a landscape. There should be one professional approach in design work, fulfilled on a high level. It should also be reflected in the complex name. All these brightly colored apartment complexes with pompous names can not be recognized in two years. Plaster starts to fall off the walls and the building acquires shabby look. You can only feel sorry for that.

What is strange about this situation is that relatively cheap apartment complexes (500 -800 Euro per sq.m) are sold but not so actively. Apartments offered with high prices (1 500 – 2 200 Euro per sq.m) do not correspond to their quality and the demand is quite low. Unfortunately really luxury apartment complexes are quite few and the demand for them is obvious.

A resort location has got many advantages like communications, stocks for building materials, etc. There are disadvantages as well. In recent years the Sunny Beach and the Golden Sands have become over packed with newly built apartment complexes and hotels which just ruined the general look of these resorts. You can hardly call them vocational places. The Sunny Beach officially gets the status of a “city” – city which fades in winter time. In the Golden Sands the situation is the same - one big never ending construction. You can only imagine poor tourists jumping through mud and dust. You will certainly ask: “What all these people are doing here?” The answer is quite simple. All these people are just trying to reach their apartments which in the nearest past were located on the fist line and now only God knows what line it is, because in front of their complex there’s another building which is much bigger and hides when ever existed sea panorama. The situation like this reflects the sales. Spain also underwent such problems.

You will ask “What has to be done then if there are no spaces to build?” There are plenty of plots in other regions which have already got a building status or just in the process of receiving it. The land costs about 100-200 Euro which is quite a good price for the first line. Bulgaria has got a big capacity to build about 5-7 big resorts. There are kilometers of a beach line with road attachment and other communications like in Kamchia, Shkorpilovci, Chernomorec, Byala. These are not the projects for the future. This future has already begun. The potentiality for investments is huge.

There is one more interesting project for investment which has not been so much popularized in Bulgaria like in Russia. We are talking about Town House. In Bulgaria it usually consists of 2-10 houses, sometimes with a common swimming pool. The area of one house is about 120-200 sq.m. It doesn’t look serious compared to a town house with an area in several hectares with a common 24-hour security.

In Moscow such town houses became very popular. The need in such settlements is obvious, since not everybody wants to live in an apartment. Traditional neighborhoods for building villas in Varna “Trakata”, “Euxinograd” do not really satisfy the buyers who are looking to purchase a house for 200 000 -500 000 Euro, First of all because of the quality and the plan of the offered villas and second, the neighboring houses do not look very attractive.

There are plenty of offers with different range in prices. The thing is that one apartment is getting old within 2-3 year period and 10-15 year old house will not be interesting at all for an exacting buyer with money, since he will need a house surrounded by same luxury villas. In Sophia properties are much more interesting in architectural way and even the prices are more attractive. For example, Dragalevci can be hardly called a luxury complex. The whole complex plan and the security are not well provided. Besides, on the way leading to Sophia, you have to pass through shabby dusty roads with a usual traffic jam. We believe that new modern town houses need to be built in the vicinity of every big Bulgarian city.

Lands are most attractive type of property in Bulgaria. The accent in selling lands is oriented to more interesting regions. Earlier there was a great demand in agricultural lands since they were very cheap and in big amount. Now it’s getting a little hard to change land status. That is why investors are more interested in panoramic plots or plots located in resort areas where there is approved plan for the territory development and where there won’t be any problems with the changing of land status. There is still an interest in buying agricultural land but it’s mostly used for the agricultural purpose.

Time passes by and building technologies even slowly continue to develop. Building companies pay more attention to the quality of building materials and to better architectural solutions, because the competition requires that. Buyers themselves become more and more demanding. One can install just a hole for air conditioning and others install an air conditioning system for the whole building. The selling price remains the same. You can finish a porter with terracotta flooring or you can do it with granitogress and put painted banisters. Or you can use marble and granite and use plaster for walls from Akzo nobel. Your client will note that and will choose your building. There is plenty of wood and natural stone in Bulgaria. Natural materials have always been in favor.