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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.

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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.

[Deleted User]

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]

[Deleted User]

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.

[Deleted User]

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

Amik

Glad to find this thread!

A friend recently invested in an apartment in a hotel in Sunny Beach. She plans to visit once or twice a year and rent it out the rest of the season.

It's quite nice and the rates on Booking.com high: 1000 EUR a week.

How do these setups work? Someone must clean the room and provide food. I assume she'll pay a monthly fee for the hotel to provide those services to guests?

Has the area gotten better in the past few years since this thread started?