Buying apartment in Sunny Beach Bulgaria

bri007

Hi all,

A girl I work with her and her partner have just bought an apartment in Sunny beach in Bulgaria for €15,000.

They get a lot of holidays each year so plan on spending anytime off over there and making use out of it and not for an investment or renting.

It got me thinking, has anyone else bought over here or would consider buying there? I was shocked when she said the price of it.

I wouldn’t have the money now but in the future I would love to buy something in the sun to spend holidays in it all year round..

She didn’t mention flights etc I would imagine that’s where the catch could be, expedience flights no doubt.

It's not warm in Bulgaria in winter. In fact it can be very cold..... Probably bit warmer in sunny beach but you wouldn't spend time after September or before April /May in it.
You could rent a house for couple of hundred for a month, if you knew the area or someone that did.
Tiger must be back!

Sonny noggs

Has the apartment been built or was it bought off plan?

handlemaster

OP take a holiday there twice a year for 7 years thats what you need to do to get this apt to pay for itself

Sonny noggs

What about service charges, maintenance, insurance, utilities etc.

SEPT 23 1989

Is it not a bit of a dump

Horusire

Been there myself. IMO it's a dump. Wouldn't go back. Didn't feel safe and was literally falling apart.

I was young and on the beer so couldn't complain. Plenty of clubs and bars etc.

bri007

It was build, think she said it was a few years old. It came fully furnished.

Just couldn’t believe how cheap it was. They are taking 3 weeks off next month to go over.

Sonny noggs wrote: »

Has the apartment been built or was it bought off plan?

bri007

I think she said it’s €600 a year or €12/14 per m2

Sonny noggs wrote: »

What about service charges, maintenance, insurance, utilities etc.

L1011

You would need to not get bored of repeating the same holiday over and over to get the use out of it. It is not somewhere you'd retire to realistically so its a holiday place only.

Ursus Horribilis

Sometimes things are cheap for a reason. I know someone who holidayed there and would never go back, no matter how good the price was. Property in Bulgaria was the ultimate con job during the last property bubble. It'd be well worth googling how Irish people got burnt.

dory

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

Sometimes things are cheap for a reason. I know someone who holidayed there and would never go back, no matter how good the price was. Property in Bulgaria was the ultimate con job during the last property bubble. It'd be well worth googling how Irish people got burnt.

Yup! When I saw this thread title I thought someone had resurrected a zombie thread. Lots of people got burned last time round. And I've heard lots of bad reports about that place.

Spanish Eyes

Personally, if I had say 20k or so, I would rent rent rent. In a place of my choice, different place every time, and enjoy the views, etc. whilst the LL takes on all the responsibilities.

Now don't get me wrong, members of my family have bought in Spain and France and are doing well with their holiday homes. But it is expensive on the upkeep. Community charge, local council taxes and so on. They don't rent them out either, so is really only used June-September maybe October really.

Each to their own.

But if it is cheap to buy it is usually for a reason.

catrionanic

Sunny beach is a dive. Pure brits abroad. Cheap booze, drink in, sense out.

I know it well because my parents have an apartment not far from sunny beach. They are in a beautiful seafront location. Very peaceful, very beautiful, and still very cheap - although not Sunny Beach cheap.

Its not an all year sort of place either. Late may until early September and then things close up.

Dawido

i've few apartments in albania myself, would really recommend it for holiday purposes

handlemaster

Dawido wrote: »

i've few apartments in albania myself, would really recommend it for holiday purposes

YeA maybe a holiday but to buy is a totally different story

Atlantic Dawn

Seems like a good investment to me, an EU country and you can buy 1 bed apartments for the price of a new Corolla. Can only go up.

hmmm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Seems like a good investment to me, an EU country and you can buy 1 bed apartments for the price of a new Corolla. Can only go up.

Sunny Beach and "can only go up". It's like 2006 never happened.

P.s. is anyone flogging Cape Verde yet?

Sonny noggs

hmmm wrote: »

Sunny Beach and "can only go up". It's like 2006 never happened.

P.s. is anyone flogging Cape Verde yet?

Any magic beans going?

Ursus Horribilis

I wonder when will Eddie Hobbs be joining the thread?

bee06

Flew into the airport nearby and drove through Sunny Beach on the way up the coast and that was enough for a lifetime. It looked grim and most of the people on the plane were just going for a piss up. If that’s your thing then grand but you don’t need to buy an apartment over there to do it.

Edited to add: there was actually one of those reality shows made about Sunny Beach a few years ago if you want to get an idea about the place.

2Mad2BeMad

my mam and dad bought an apartment there during the boom

think they paid 35k for it (was only being built)

they have gone there every year since, sometimes twice a year.
They did try to sell it 2-3 years ago for less then what they bought,
they told me they got no takers so just kept it.

In fairness they love it now, my dad would go there for 3 months of the year if my mam wasn't working.

When i was young id have to go with them
but i hated it
still hate it

its a dive of a place. Its cheap sure, the plane tickets are cheap if you book early so theres no catch.

Its just the place is run down so badly.
Russians own nearly everything there as well. In saying that in all the years I had to go, I saw little very little trouble, police were always there on strip.

Taximen can be dodgy so if you find a taximan you like or seems pretty cool get his card off him, they will happily give you a lift anywhere throughout your holiday.

Honestly if your friend plans on going every year, or has been there at least once and said they like it then fair enough buy away.
But if they havnt been there before, go over first even for 5 days and you will get a feel for the place.

But I wouldn't recommend anyone buy from there if you plan on renting it out or for selling in the future for profit.

L1011

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

if you find a taximan you like or seems pretty cool get his card off him, they will happily give you a lift anywhere throughout your holiday.

This pretty much applies to anywhere without rock solid pricing rules like Ireland has - and we've only had those since '06 or so.

Absolute worst ripoff merchant taxi drivers I've found were those working coastal areas outside Amsterdam, followed shortly by those in multiple other areas of the Netherlands - and then a giant drop down in dodginess to Latvia.

utmbuilder

sounds like a good spot for a mid life crisis, do it for the #gram

Dolbhad

I was there a few years ago. Wouldn’t go back again. Really couldn’t go beyond the tourist areas as it’s not safe. Seems to be a lot of corruption and mafia there. Wouldn’t fancy having to go back there every year cause I had an apartment there!! Even the airport was dire because it was so small and old. Couldn’t complain cause it was a cheap holiday and you get what you pay for.

myshirt

Dolbhad wrote: »

I was there a few years ago. Wouldn’t go back again. Really couldn’t go beyond the tourist areas as it’s not safe. Seems to be a lot of corruption and mafia there. Wouldn’t fancy having to go back there every year cause I had an apartment there!! Even the airport was dire because it was so small and old. Couldn’t complain cause it was a cheap holiday and you get what you pay for.

Including Legionaries disease.

Apparently a load of people struck down with it across Sunny Beach.

For me, it's 15 grand. It's not a lot of it goes wallop. But there are much better investments out there in emerging markets than this. Nevertheless, best of luck to the op's friends, let's all hope it goes well.

Atlantic Dawn

Having a look around the area on Google Street View it looks a little like Torremolinos meets Pripyat.

Eric Cartman

I had never really looked into bulgaria, or sunny beach there at all. It literally looks like former soviet (generic bad spanish holiday destination)

The wonderful '4 star' astoria hotel , 55 euro a night and theres an all inclusive option which according to the british reviews, the supply of chicken nuggets, pasta and chips on a never changing menu is a delight.

just down the road from the 'highly reviewed' stella sponsored red lion pub where sky sports is blasting out the sports game non stop on giant tv's while you drink piss in the sun with lads from bristol.


Streetview of the place makes it seem like its been completely built to try and take over from benidorm as the new ex-pat retirement destination for working class brits currently in their 30s.

After looking into it, I doubt id even visit it, let alone advise anyone to buy property there.

and ofcourse, they have a few places with signs up about paella and even a restaurant called the same, for those group of people who believe its the only foreign food that they can try on holiday and claim to be cultured.

Del2005

The biggest issue I have with Bulgaria is that they banned smoking indoors and it's not enforced. Was there with a group for an event and even the smokers didn't like it.

Cheap as chips but the smoking is a major turn off.

CollyFlower

"Sunny Beach" sounds lovely, lovely name. I'm trying to think of what the Irish equivalent would be, would it be Bray? ... After reading this thread it reminds me of the property (time share) scheme that a lot of people bought into and are stuck with that investment forever.

NIMAN

Heard the Russian mafia have huge links to all the hotels, resorts there.

Phileas Frog

CollyFlower wrote: »

"Sunny Beach" sounds lovely, lovely name. I'm trying to think of what the Irish equivalent would be, would it be Bray? ...

Modern day Mosney

sabat

€600 a year is huge annual fee for a €15k investment, plus there'll be owner's internal furnishings and maintenance and utilities too so you could easily double that. I would also guess that a lot of these developments have a construction shelf-life of about 20 years and a value too low for heirs to bother with shared inheritances so you'll end up seeing many abandoned units in the future.
If you have €15k to invest in travel you could feed it into a broad-based dividend yielding stock portfolio, starting from next spring and make enough for a return flight anywhere in the world (€600—700) every year and still have your money. (not a guarantee)

SozBbz

dory wrote: »

Yup! When I saw this thread title I thought someone had resurrected a zombie thread. Lots of people got burned last time round. And I've heard lots of bad reports about that place.

+1 to this.

Isnt Sunny Beach the exact place where so many Irish people got stung the in 2008?

Also, I've heard some not so great reviews of it as a place in its own right.

IMO if things are that cheap, they're cheap for a reason. I'd avoid.

99problems1

hmmm wrote: »

Sunny Beach and "can only go up". It's like 2006 never happened.

P.s. is anyone flogging Cape Verde yet?

You can't get cheaper than 15k.

15k is not even a decent car.

Ursus Horribilis

I took a look at it on Google streetview and nothing about the place would make me want to spend a few hours there, let alone take a holiday. It's also telling that someone in this thread said their parents tried unsuccessfully to sell their apartment. I remember the question being asked last time around about who would buy these if you owned one as an investment? The locals don't earn enough to afford them. And they don't seem to be all that attractive to others either.

6541

My mate bought two apartments there during the boom. He lived in Australia and had the apartments on a Buglian letting agents books. For two years he didn't see any rent and was told the market was slow. We all decide to visit. When we landed at the apartments we discovered a Bulgarian family living in the apartment. I could go on and on here. At the end my mate sold both apartments for a loss, financial and his dignity.

Ursus Horribilis

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

I took a look at it on Google streetview and nothing about the place would make me want to spend a few hours there, let alone take a holiday. It's also telling that someone in this thread said their parents tried unsuccessfully to sell their apartment. I remember the question being asked last time around about who would buy these if you owned one as an investment? The locals don't earn enough to afford them. And they don't seem to be all that attractive to others either.

If the locals don't make enough to afford them, they must surely be expensive by local/bulgarian standards, no?

So theoretically, if you upped your budget to 25k or 30k, could you not buy in a place that would be quite nice and well regarded/gated/etc. (which would be beyond the reach of many local bulgarians but within reach of many on this little island of ours?)

(for clarity, I know 0% about Bulgarian property, other than it was a conjob last time around. I also know 0% about Bulgaria).

Eric Cartman

Deleted User wrote: »

If the locals don't make enough to afford them, they must surely be expensive by local/bulgarian standards, no?

So theoretically, if you upped your budget to 25k or 30k, could you not buy in a place that would be quite nice and well regarded/gated/etc. (which would be beyond the reach of many local bulgarians but within reach of many on this little island of ours?)

(for clarity, I know 0% about Bulgarian property, other than it was a conjob last time around. I also know 0% about Bulgaria).

a 2 bed in sofia will still run you 120k in a good part and 80k in a bad part so I don't think the price is keeping people away.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

If the locals don't make enough to afford them, they must surely be expensive by local/bulgarian standards, no?

So theoretically, if you upped your budget to 25k or 30k, could you not buy in a place that would be quite nice and well regarded/gated/etc. (which would be beyond the reach of many local bulgarians but within reach of many on this little island of ours?)

(for clarity, I know 0% about Bulgarian property, other than it was a conjob last time around. I also know 0% about Bulgaria).

Why would you try to buy something more expensive in a country where 15,000 Euro is expensive?
That doesn't make sense.
You want to spend more money? Sure you can obviously buy something a lot cheaper, probably in a nicer area than sunny beach also.

TheQuietBeatle

I've been to Sunny Beach, to sum it up - dirty hookers everywhere, thiefs, scary taxi drivers with guns, mafia.

You'll get maybe 4 good months of sun there, it's not worth it even if everything was nice there.

Avoid.

Spanish Eyes

How the heck did Bulgaria get into the EU? LOL.

Sounds like a dodgy country, and there are others too not too far away either. But they have exported many of their problems to us I suppose.

Anyway, I did visit it, and Romania. Some charming places outside the resorts. Nope from me for the Black Sea though.

bri007

Thanks all, yeah I think it doesn’t look as attractive now. I’ve been looking into it more the last few days, google street view, forums online etc and backs up what everyone is saying here.

I’ll leave it to my friend in work for now

sunnyday1234

bri007 wrote: »

It was build, think she said it was a few years old. It came fully furnished.

Just couldn’t believe how cheap it was. They are taking 3 weeks off next month to go over.

It sounds like she bought the place without even seeing it ????

bri007

She goes there regularly and viewed the apartment before the start of the summer.

quote="sunnyday1234;111092015"]It sounds like she bought the place without even seeing it ????[/quote]

bubblypop

bubblypop wrote: »

Why would you try to buy something more expensive in a country where 15,000 Euro is expensive?
That doesn't make sense.
You want to spend more money? Sure you can obviously buy something a lot cheaper, probably in a nicer area than sunny beach also.

Well my knowledge of Bulgarian property is limited to this thread, where I'm being told that 15k is a flat that most locals couldn't afford. Which makes me assume cost of living/living expenses are really low.


So people on here are saying 15k gets you a flat in a 'party/tourist' area, wouldn't 30k get you a decent house in a quiet area? etc.

embraer170

1 Bedroom apartment in Sofia €90-100k, Varna and Burgas 35-45k, other smaller cities probably 25-30k.

You might get a falling down house in a village 30 minutes from a city for 10-15k.

In the normal residential market, you can expect dreadful finishing but places do seem built to last. I would have my doubts about the vacation properties for 15k.

There are some lovely places on the Bulgarian Black sea coast but Sunny Beach is definitely not one of them.

Dublinstiofán

I actually hate the bad rep Sunny Beach gets. That RTÉ trash programme they showed a few years ago is always referenced and it’s not (in my opinion) any sort of true reflection of the place itself. You give a group of teenagers a grand and tell them to go mad anywhere in the world while filming them and it will yield the same results!

A lot of the posts in the thread are "oh I hated it I wouldn’t go back" but to be honest I’d say some didn’t do a bit of research and find the decent places. I’ve attached 2 photos of what you can find there if you bother looking.

I’ve been there a few times and a lot of places have very good food, reasonable drinks, almost guaranteed 25-35 degrees in summer, easy airport access with a new terminal building and reliable/cheap public transport. As with everywhere there are some downsides but if you keep your wits about you, your money safe and know the local scams (which applies travelling anywhere) trouble won’t find you!

I’d suggest if your friend is looking at places to buy that they consider looking just outside the main Sunny Beach strip as it is quieter. Nessebar is a beautiful place as are some places in Sveti Vlas and on the road to Kosharitsa there are some places for sale.

knockers84

Been to Sunny beach multiple times and is not half as bad as people say. I know multiple people who have properties there where letting agents look after them with holiday deals etc.

Pros:

Food, clothing alcohol is extremely cheap
Great weather during the summer
Great beach
Great Bars
Good restraunts
Always felt safe even late at night

Cons:
Run by the mafia, obviously love tourists as they spend money and don’t want a bad name to get out about the place.
Packed with young drunk people late at night.
Taxi drivers a little bit dodge but always negotiate a fee before you get in.

If you do get an apartment look for holiday deals and not flights on their own as a lot cheaper. Any apartments I stayed in were stunning.

Needs Must

Went once, and wouldn't go back. Have friends who went recently and they had the same experience I had.
Definitely wouldn't recommend buying property there, just not an enjoyable place to visit.

Waste of money and tying your holidays to one place. Like a timeshare but more expensive.