The British Are Willing to Reduce Asking Prices

Pari Daily, 22.04.2010, Interview with Polina Stoykova, BULGARIAN PROPERTIES' Chief Operations Manager

In an article in Pari Daily from April 22nd 2010 entitled The British Are Selling Their Properties on a Mass Scale BULGARIAN PROPERTIES' Chief Operations Manager Polina Stoykova comments that the British are selling their properties to Bulgarians and to buyers from other nationalities.

Ms. Stoykova, is there a trend showing an increase in the age of Russian property buyers in Bulgaria, as Russian agencies have been writing in their analyses?
At present most Russian buyers are between the ages of 50 and 60. They buy properties in Bulgaria before retiring planning to come to the country after retiring during vacations or for a longer period. Russian buyers look mainly for cheaper properties. Most of them do not fall in the category of “the wealthy Russian” though there are such as well, but fewer. Many Russians are sentimental when choosing Bulgaria to buy a property. They buy because of their childhood memories when they used to come to the Bulgarian seaside. Moreover, they are attracted by the Bulgarian culture which resembles their own and by the fact that they can communicate with the people here.

Apart from Russians who are the other foreign property buyers in Bulgaria?
Despite the crisis there are quite a few British buyers as well – last year they were the biggest group among the foreign buyers. They mainly look for cheap rural properties. The nationalities of the property buyers in Bulgaria vary greatly – from buyers from our neighboring countries and from other parts of Europe, from Russia and other Russian-speaking countries to buyers from faraway destinations like Australia, the USA, Canada and even China.

A very important issue that has to be raised is the right of foreigners to buy houses with gardens and apartments with ideals parts of the land – currently they do not have that right and foreigners cannot buy land as physical persons. That is why they have to register a company in Bulgaria in order to buy a house with a yard - this is not a complex procedure but it raises the expenses of the purchase and puts off some of the potential buyers. It is time we considered allowing foreigners to buy houses with yards and apartments with ideal parts. This and the low property prices in Bulgaria would attract a lot of foreign buyers.

Are foreigners selling the properties they bought before the crisis?
Yes, a lot of foreigners - mainly British and Irish are selling their properties – holiday properties, rural properties, city properties, etc. Their decision to sell is most often a result of their need of money.

What prices do they seek for their properties – are they too high for the present situation or are they reasonable?
There are sellers who want to get the price they have paid for their properties. But most of the foreign sellers understand that prices in Bulgaria are now much lower than before and are ready to sell at lower price to make a fast sale. The reason for that being that fast sales are made only at bargain prices. In comparison to Bulgarians foreigners are more flexible when it comes to negotiations and are willing to reduce the price in order to make the sale. They lack the sentiment which we Bulgarians feel when it comes to our properties.

To what extent do the British manage to sell their properties in Bulgaria?
Many of them manage to do so by selling at good prices and by being open to negotiations. What is more, during the years foreigners bought a lot of properties with good parameters – with central location, in already functioning holiday developments or rural houses which they have repaired up to modern standards. These properties attract the attention of the buyers and if the price is good deals are concluded relatively quickly. In this sense foreigners took the risk of buying off-plan properties or properties in need of complete refurbishment, they invested in them and now these properties are once again on the market which makes the supply of a much better quality than a few years ago. There are many cases when British sell their properties to Bulgarians or to buyers from other nationalities.

What properties are sold most often?
Most often they are one-bedroom apartments in the new developments in seaside and ski resorts, rural houses, plots of land and newly-built apartments in the big cities.

Foreigners have never been keen on buying Soviet-type apartments. However, they sometimes sell older properties in the city’s central area.

Do they rent their properties out?
It is those people who have bought properties in quality developments offering property management services who rent their properties out. Rural properties are difficult to rent out without a good organization and people who are there on the spot. In Sofia people rent their properties out for short and long periods. Many foreigners bought properties in Bulgaria planning to rent them out for an additional income or to resell them with a profit after a while or after renovating them.

Did you know that the British even have sites for letting their properties in Bulgaria?
Yes, a number of British people made sites even only to advertise their own apartments or houses. But the more successful practice for renting out is through a property management company. If one tries to do it by themselves there are too many things they have to take care of from afar and often it is not worth it.

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