Back again!

Hi there!

We are really busy with the Christmas season back in Italy. 4 more days! I'm also looking for new (additional) ways to make money - these being on the Internet. If I find something that works even for an old guy like me, I'll let you know! Up to now, I've done what most other similar-minded people have done - spend, spend, spend with NO income. However... I think I'm onto two or three things that might just work. More to come.

Plans are firmed up to visit Bulgaria again in February. I'll report from there (and hope the weatherman is nice to us!).

Ciao for now,

Craig

Busy Season?

Hi there!

"Busy season" is a good description for this time of year in the construction business on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. "Why?" you may ask... Because there is a construction ban in most areas on the coast from the beginning or middle of May to the end of September or mid-October. Things are rockin' along now, and will only slow down if/when the weather turns really grotty; heavy snow, long term deep sub-zero temperatures, that kind of thing.

What's on our schedule? A visit to the area in February is the most important item. We will spend some time investigating prices, but probably more looking over the work on some new apartments I've talked about before, the Hypnotic Apartments on the Nessebar South Beach. We should be able to publish the website just as soon as we have some additional information on the details. The website will be at http://www.hypnoticbeach.com/ when it's available. You can see some previews at http://hypnoticbeach.tenuta.info/, but be aware, the prices as well as all other information are preliminary and the plans do NOT show the designs that will be erected in the building! As I wrote above, we hope to be able to complete the site information by the end of February 2008.

Speaking of seasons, for those of you who live in the US, happy Thanksgiving (one day late) and happy shopping today! For everybody, we will say it later with certainty, but the best from us for your own special holiday season!


Elena and Craig

P.S. There are some new clippings on the News Clippings page on the website - use this link to get there Good2004.biz/news_clippings.htm.

Computer nightmares -- AKA "bye-bye MS!"

Hi there!

I made the mistake of thinking that the pc that we use in the shop in Marsciano (Italy) was too small and too slow for what we need it to do (it really was, because we loaded it up with lots of other garbage). So (natural sequence of events) I bought new ones (1 for the shop and 1 for the B&B). First priority was the shop because we're coming into the busy season (Christmas etc.).

I don't know if you've noticed, but these days, it's almost impossible to buy a computer any way but with the operating system pre-installed. And that means MS Vista(R). Which means that your old office equipment won't have drivers for it, the office software will probably not function any more, and even Norton Ghost (now Symantec Ghost Suite) won't function so you can make a clean transfer unless you have one of the expensive versions of Vista (the "home" Vista packages don't work here either). Also, most likely some of the new devices in the PC also will not function without Vista installed. In other words, you're locked into the Vista, like it or not.

I've spent the past week (7 days, not 5, averaging between 6 and 10 hours per day) trying to get the new machine to the point where my wife can use it without me standing at her side the full time she's on the machine. Two things happened that Microsoft will be unhappy about if they ever happen to read this:

1. I erased the MS Works (R) and MS Office 2007 Home and Student edition 90 day trial software that was pre-installed on the machine.
2. I installed an open-source office package (Star Office) that looks more like the software my wife is familiar with than the Office 2007 applications ever will!

The one thing I was not able to do was to get the Outlook 2000 e-mails into any new mail-server program (Outlook does not even exist in MS Office 2007 H&S edition). If someone has a solution here, I'm interested!

The end result is that MS lost not only the short term (relatively low price) sale of a new Office installation, they also managed to destroy my 20-year affection for MS products!

Good work guys!

Ciao for now...

Craig

P.S. I also got a new 22-inch LCD for displaying product pictures for the shop when not in use for other things (screen-saver). It's terrrriffic !!!

General Interest Clipping

Hi there!

There are some new clippings on http://Good2004.biz (as usual). One is a general-interest type in that it reports on investment in Bulgaria in the past year, not just real estate investment, but all kinds. Bulgaria is receiving a goodly amount of investments, and (in my humble opinion) rightly so!

Another short article reports on the fact that Raiffeisen Banks in Bulgaria have initiated a special program to provide mortgages for UK and Irish citizens. The article also talked about an earlier leasing program, but there were no details on this, and I don't recall seeing any other clipping on this program.

In general, the number of articles on our favorite subject seem to be increasing. Perhaps it's just that the construction season has started again in the vacation areas. In any case, BulgariaRealtor will continue to keep you up to date as much as possible.

Thanks for your attention!

Ciao for now...

Craig

Interesting News!

Hi there!

There are a few new news clippings posted on http://Good2004.biz. One is quite interesting for us real estate types... It talks about the number of people in a country (like Bulgaria) who own real property. The surprising thing, at least for me, is the fact that over 90% of the Bulgarian people own one or more pieces of real property! The factor is the highest in Europe and one of the highest in the world. The lowest in Europe is Switzerland.

Trying to analyse the information myself, I suspect that the reason goes back to the typical Bulgarian practice of all the children of the parents inheriting equal shares of the family property. This is also what makes the purchase of family property such a nightmare - there can be 30 people or more who own a share of the property some members of the family are trying to sell. This is also what makes a good real estate agent or lawyer worth their fee or commission!

Again, take a look at http://Good2004.biz/news_clippings.htm to read the article.

Ciao for now...

Craig

More to the posting just below...

Hi there!

The focus of the customers for real estate in Bulgaria is changing. There are a flurry of new shopping malls, compound-style luxury residential projects, and still alot of farm land business projects going on. The clippings at Good2004.biz/news_clippings.htm show the general idea. Another thing that is happening is that the real estate business is being pushed by number of real estate investment trusts - REIT's. This is usually good for the individual investor, provided he knows what he wants!

Ciao for now...

Craig

New News

Hi there!

We've been "off the air" for a while. The reason is that we have just published a new version of our Italian B&B's website, with on-line, real-time reservations. It was complicated, and took a while to get everything functioning. Take a look at http://Tenuta.info.

In the mean time, there have been a flurry of news releases that I have put up and will continue to put up on the Good 2004 website at http://good2004.biz/news_clippings.htm. The news is mixed and interesting. The biggest revelation is that the interest for the Black Sea coast properties seems to be switching from western Europeans to the ex-Warsaw Pact areas (Russia, the Ukraine, Romania). Prices continue to rise at around 15-20% per year for newly finished apartments, and the supply/demand relationship doesn't seem to be disturbing the price rise.

Interesting! Read it for yourself...

Ciao for now...

Craig

News!

Hi there!

Well, finally there is some news on the Internet! Take a look at the last four entries at www.Good2004.biz/news_clippings.htm. These are interesting for a number of reasons, the most important being (in my estimation) that the press is starting to use something approaching real analysis instead of knee-jerk reactions, at least about the real estate market in BG. One of the articles talks about the increase in traffic to the Black Sea coast airports (Bourgas and Varna) this summer, another talks about why things are maybe not as great as some people expected in terms of room rentals.

I apologise if the website is slow to react. Actually, I think it's my ISP again, overloaded with Italian kids home from school and bored without anything to do during the summer except play games on the Internet!

Say, did you read that Skype was off the internet for some time? Yeah, somebody apparently snuck a virus (or whatever) in a back-door operation! Bummer!

Ciao for now...

Craig

No news?

Hi there,

Well, the title says it all. No news in the press for the past week and more. I guess that everybody is at the beach enjoying the weather and their summer vacation instead of writing releases for the papers. I suppose that's not bad. That means that the tourist business in the Black Sea resorts is not dead!

Think about the item from not too long ago: the "body-count" - the number of people taking a vacation at the Bulgarian North Sea resorts - has stabilised, but the expenditures per year are increasing at more than 15% year-on-year. Sounds good to me! What do you think?

Have a good vacation!

Ciao for now...

Craig

News on Good 2004.biz

Hi there!

Just a very short notice. There is a new trip report on Good2004.biz about our recent trip to Nessebar. Take a look?

Ciao for now...

Craig

Back from Bulgaria

Hi there!

Well, the summer trip is finished. It was really nice, but there were alot of things to do there! I flew there and back on a new low-cost airline with a non-stop flight to Sofia and return to Rome-Ciampino. I have to say that the flight was LOTS better than the Sofia - Milano - Perugia return combination that Alitalia offers, including the seven-hour stopover in Milano! If someone wants to know who the low-cost airline is, please drop me an e-mail. I don't like to advertise on the blog... well not for free anyway!

It was an exciting time to be in Bugaria! The five nurses and the Palestinian-Bulgarian doctor who were kept in jail for eight and a half years in Libya were finally returned to Bulgaria and were then pardoned by the President.

I have to say, it's amazing how much work can pile up when you're out of the shop for three weeks! I'm working on a write-up for Good2004.biz, and I'll post that there on the newsletter page as son as it's finished.

Stay tuned!

Ciao for now...

Craig

GREAT NEWS!! and a New Look... sort of

Hi there!

The big news for us, of course, is the return of the five Bulgarian nurses and a paramedic from Libya. They landed in Sofia Tuesday morning, and were greeted by government officials and their families. You can read the complete eight and one-half year story at http://www.youarenotalone.bg/ in English or Bulgarian text and pictures. See also the text block to the right...

Over the past days we redesigned the look of our blog. It is mainly noticable from the wider text block (if you have a 16x9 dimensioned screen, you'll probably see it, otherwise you may not see any difference). Let us know what you think?

Ciao for now...

Craig

Three new clippings

Hi there!

There are three new clippings this weekend which will be published on Good2004.biz later this week.

One, “Romanians’ interest in Bulgaria,” discusses the fondness of the Rumanians for vacations on Bulgarian beaches, and why (better water, lower prices) and explains that the Rumanian Black Sea coast tends to be polluted by the water from the Danube River delta which channels “all the dirt from Europe into the Romanian area.” Buyers from Rumania are still seldom, but market surveys have started all the way down to our area of Nessebar/ Sunny Beach. Even last summer, we had Rumanian tourists in our hotel in Nessebar’s Old Town.

The second clipping talks about the ecological responsibility of construction projects and developments. The also show an example of return on investment:
“The project is being offered to clients at an average of 13% below current market value, so owners benefit from an inherent profit from the moment they buy. If a conservative average capital growth of 15% is assumed over a 5 year period with a 70% mortgage, investors stand to earn a substantial 183% return on investment equating to an average annual rate of 31.26%”

Which brings up a question. Do you know how to calculate a return on investment? This is a relatively simple calculation that is most easily done on a Microsoft Excel® or similar spreadsheet. If you don’t know how, speak to your financial advisor or look in the Internet for a typical calculation.

For those of you who don’t know (or have forgotten), Return on Investment (ROI) is a calculation that shows the interest rate you would have to earn from a bank to equal the return (profit) you get from an investment (in this case, buying a house). Since you can only expect to receive around 4-6% interest from a bank account, the return shown above of 31% is a nice investment. The bank interest rate can be fixed, and is relatively secure. HOWEVER, a speculative real estate investment is more risky. For example, you can have problems with the house’s construction, the market may not move with the speed – or in the direction – you had anticipated, you can have other non-related problems that make you back out of the investment without attaining the gains you anticipated. Not to mention possible political problems (although I think these are relatively unlikely in Bulgaria and the European Union).

If someone wants more on the ROI calculation, let me know, and I will show and explain a simple example in a future blog entry. There are also other financial measuring sticks, like payout or payback time, that can be used to describe the attractiveness of a project. Maybe we’ll discuss these in the future?

The third clipping - SATURATION OF SUPPLY ‘RUINING’ PROPERTY MARKET IN BULGARIA’S BANSKO RESORT - focuses on the potential negative aspects of investing in any real estate market. This shows what can happen in an over-developed market. This is one of the circumstances any investor should take into consideration when investing solely or principally for capital gain. Bansko has a number of problems to take into consideration when you compare it to the Nessebar area: it is dedicated to a small geographical area, it has infrastructure problems that will not be easy to solve, access in the prime skiing season is difficult, and it is a small market that is substantially overbuilt. The Nessebar – Sunny Beach – Ravda area is much larger, geographically and economically. The area is not overbuilt – and the summer construction-stop helps regulate this. The infrastructure is in much better condition, although still not great. Access is easy – daily national and international flights to and from Bourgas, plus easy access by highway, and (of course) no snow in the summer season!

Ciao for now…

Craig

Hot weather!

Hello from Bulgaria!

It has been really hot in the center of the country for the past few days: 37-38°C (around 100°F) up to 40-41°C (104-106°F) in the Danube basin, and is predicted to stay that way for the next week or so. The positive part for us is that the sea breeze at Nessebar has kept the daytime temperatures down to about 30-31°C (mid 80's F) and the nights are cool, around 20°C (70°F). The sun is hot, good for tanning, but the shade is comfortable.

I was on the beach today, and the water temperature is about 24-25°C (75-77°F), nice and refreshing when you get in, but not cold. The water is clear, and you can see your feet clearly for as long as you can stand on them. The south end of South Beach of Sunny Beach (the resort just north of Nessebar) has shallow water for about 25-30 meters (80-90 feet) out from the shore, with almost no waves.

Ciao! That's all for now...

Craig

Bad news?

Hi there!

There is a new clipping on Good2004.biz/news.htm about a decline in occupancy in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort area hotels. What does that mean for the apartment market there? The bears will shout "the beginning of the end!" and the bulls will shout "just a technical correction!"

Well, there are a few points that should be made about the hotel occupancy levels:

Firstly, the information shown doesn't discriminate between new hotels and old hotels or between the levels of the hotels (2-star or 5-star or in-between). This is significant because there are a number of old Soviet-era hotels that are trying to compete with recently built hotels, and (mostly) failing. To give you an example, we just reserved rooms at an older hotel in downtotwn Nessebar for mid-July (only 1 week in advance), and we are paying BGN 24 per night for double rooms (for 1 or 2 people) less 10% for more than 6 nights. That's about €11 per night, with three meals per day included!

Next point: hotels built in the beginning of the current boom period generally were not built very well, and the infrastructure was not appropriate for supporting them. These hotels are also having troubles competing with newer hotels.

The third item that is causing the distressed occupancy numbers is that more and more Bulgarians are going on vacation abroad! On the other hand, there are twice as many Roumanians vacationing in Bulgaria as last year. Confusing results here!

One other item is that the US dollar is weak against the Euro now. That is taking buying pressure off the resort markets (rentals and purchases) because the prices in USD are higher, and Americans and others with dollar-based or -related income and investments are feeling the pinch.
I also think that the success of apartment sales is impacting on the hotel business. Many Bulgarians bought or are buying apartments at the beach to have vacation there any time they want, rather than to spend money on a hotel and take everything with them each time they go. I suppose, ultimately, that the sales of apartments will suffer also, but that has yet to happen. Note that older "new" apartments are also subject to the older "new" hotels' problems.

What are the results for a potential investor?

I think that this is an indication of the short-term ups and downs of the vacation business. Bulgaria will continue - in general - to expand it's vacation resort business. Why? It is still one of the least expensive resort areas in the EU! Transportation to-and from Bulgaria is becoming more available and less expensive. The Lev is fixed to the Euro now (at the rate of the old German Mark), and eventually Bulgaria will join the Euro club. The apartment business - my estimate - still has at least 5-10 years before the expansion slows to a rate consistent with most of the rest of Europe - EU and non-EU. By then, the prices will have doubled or tripled from today's level. Also, mortgage money is becoming more available to Bulgarians and non-Bulgarians alike. In another article (it's not on the Good2004 website), there was a note that Bulgaria enjoyed economic deflation of 0.4% in June - a strong monetary position! Support for apartment sales also will come from the growing middle-class Bulgarian who will want to express his new-found buying power with a new (at least for him) vacation apartment.

Is it time to buy?

Looking medium- to long-term, I think yes, and now! Use the short-term dip (if it even exists) to leverage better prices from the builders (who are forced to look short-term), and use Euro-based mortgage money to leverage your capital.

Happy investing, and enjoy your vacation!


Ciao for now,

Craig

Real Estate News

Hi there!

I finally found some new news after traveling to Bulgaria. There are three new articles on the http://Good2004.biz/news.htm page. They are all relatively interesting for investors and prospective investors.
The first (“Real estates market gave rise to loans to foreigners” from 7 July) is a two-page article from the Focus News Agency that discussed financing for real estate purchases in Bulgaria. This should give a non-resident investor a good idea of what to expect in terms of financing possibilities. The two most interesting items mentioned are the maximum amount that an investor can expect to borrow (typically 60-80% of the purchase price as estimated by the lender), and the borrowing interest rate compared to typical British real estate loans (1 to 1½ percent premium). The article is well worth reading!
The second article (“Bulgaria: A green and pleasant land?” from 9 July) reports on a report published on the website of the Bulgarian branch of the WWF. There, it gave warnings and some reasonable information about the situation with respect to environmental “hazards” for investors.
The third article (“COASTAL MUNICIPALITY WANTS CONSTRUCTION ON BULGARIA’S SOUTHERN BLACK SEA COAST TO BE BANNED” from 11 July) is a short description of one of the local battles going on for new construction in potential environmental “hazard” areas (see paragraph above). The article gives the reader an idea of what can happen, if one does not exercise sufficient caution.
As I noted above, we are now in Bulgaria (in Sofia at this writing), and will be on site in Nessebar next week. You can expect a report on the Good2004.biz website shortly after that – I’ll give a note here as well.

Ciao for now…

Craig

P.S. “Ciao” is an Italian word that was picked up by the Bulgarians somewhere in the early 20th century, along with “merci”. The meanings in Bulgarian are the same as in the original languages, but “ciao” is usually only used for “goodbye” in Bulgarian. “Merci,” originally French, is still “thank you.”

News ... finally!

Hi there!

There are two new news clippings on http://Good2004.biz/news.htm. One is a comprehensive review of why Bulgarian real estate is still a good investment, but notes that a prospective buyer/investor should be picky. The other indicates that the Bulgarian market is overheated, but at the same time says it's still a good investment and prices are still increasing - something doesn't quite measure up here. In any case, I should have more personal observations soon.

Hope you're all enjoying the summer!

Ciao for now...

Craig

New clippings

Hi there!

There are two new clippings on http://Good2004.biz/news.htm, but both are general in nature. One should be required reading for people interested in Bulgaria and Bulgarian real estate. It is a snapshot report of the situation in Bulgaria, produced by an independen group of individuals for a major Swiss bank. The other clipping talks about new inexpensive air flights to Bulgaria.

I'm on my way to Bulgaria next week for about 2-1/2 weeks. There should be a good report some time afterwards, again on http://Good2004.biz/news.htm, plus additional information here. More later...

Ciao for now...

Craig

News?

Hi again!

Found some news, but it's all REIT's and shopping malls. One of the interesting parts is that one new REIT is being listed on the local exchange in Jersey (Channel Islands - UK, not "Nieeuu Jersee", USA), a small but relatively active tax haven for the Brits (and others). The only other interesting news in all this for me is that the organisations announcing new shopping malls are from Poland and Greece. International markets, right?

More later.

Ciao

Craig

Oops!

Hi again!

My laptop's hard disk destroyed itself during my trip, so the latest news is ... there is no latest news! The laptop (now exactly two years old) was protected by a 1-year warranty and a 2-year extention at the initial purchase (direct from the manufacturer). I have to say that the service has been relatively good. This is the second time I have had to use it.

The first time, the optical drive (DVD-RW) died. I had an additional problem after the manufacturer replaced the drive -- apparently a registry conflict between some proprietary bundled software and Nero. The result was that I was functioning without the CD/DVD. My work-around was to copy essential CD's onto a 1GB or 2GB USB memory stick. That worked reasonably well, but having the drive would have been easier. I know that the CD/DVD drive worked, because I was able to start the laptop with a boot disk. I just didn't have the time and patience to find out what the registry fix is. Maybe after this I will.

Here in central Italy the heat is on! Temperatures in the 30-35°C (high 80's-low 90'sF) range. The following nine days are dedicated to the town's festival, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, our patron saint. I'll be selling cold beer for the town's promotional committee "Associazione Pro Loco Marsciano", so the hot weather is a good thing for beer sales (see www.MeetingPointBeer.com for an idea about the beer store)! There is no web site for the festival.

More about the real estate market later on - my e-mails are accumulating...

Ciao for now

Craig

The latest news...

Hi there!

The recent news seems to be full of REIT's and shopping malls, not our core interest area of personal real estate investment.

I guess that just leaves me to talk about my van which is half full of fantastic Belgian beer at this point. It's there for the town party in Marsciano called la Festa di San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist). San G. is the town's patron saint, and the celebration takes place the last 9-10 days of June every year. The schedule is flexible enough that it always spans two weekends. It's a great party if last year is any measure (it was my first exposure). I think that there is a website, but since I'm still in Belgium, it will have to wait. I'll try to find it for anyone who might be interested.

That's about all for now...

Ciao!

Craig

Hello again!

There are two new electronic news clippings posted on www.Good2004.biz/news.htm. One of them (from an on-line newspaper called the Diplomat, from Roumania) has some good information for prospective buyers, regardless of where they want to buy. Most of the examples are from Bulgaria (next door to Roumania), but they could be anywhere. We will keep this post and one just a few days earlier as part of our basic investor information packet at the bottom of the page.

The interesting thing about these articles is that much of the information is "obvious to the casual observer", but at the same time, it tends to be overlooked when that same buyer/investor is in the heat of the acquisition. The lessons to be learned here are simple, and certainly not new:

• Take your time
• Talk to your friends and advisors, particularly the ones who know something about real estate
• Try to look at things through sober eyes = non-tinted glasses

Our objective at Good 2004 is to help you get what you want, at a fair price, with no surprises! Let us know how we can help you.

Ciao for now...

Craig

Hi again!

Well, I'm going to be on the road for the next week or so, so the blog entries may slow down somewhat.

"On the road?" you ask. Yes. I'm driving our delivery van from our B&B in Italy to the France/Geneva area for personal business, and then on to Belgium to buy beer for a local festival in Marsciano (Italy). Why go to Belgium to buy beer? Well, if you have to ask that, you've never tasted any of the fantastic beers that Belgium brews. I expect to bring back about 400-500 liters of beer, made up of about 8-10 different brands. The micro-brewery concept in the USA is based, more or less, on the variety of available beers in Belgium. I'm told that there are about 500 breweries in Belgium, ranging in size from major brands like Stella Artois to true micro-breweries that only produce 500-1000 liters (that's about 125-250 gallons) per year. The festival lasts about a week, so we'll see how much beer we can sell!

Interested in our website? You'll find it at www.MeetingPointBeer.com.

Ciao...

Craig

Hello again!

There is a new article on the Good 2004 website (www.Good2004.biz/news.htm) that reports the results of a seminar called by the Balkan Real Estate Conference, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia (Balrec) in Sofia in mid-May. The information does not seem to have many surprises, but for someone just starting to get their feet wet in Balkan real estate, it's a good synopsis. Unfortunately, it only covers the three member countries, but this is still interesting.

There are mini-analyses of the real estate markets in the three countries that show, not surprisingly, that the capitals are also the major markets ein each of the countries. They are also the largest cities in their respective countries, which makes the information a non-surprise.

With reference to an earlier posting about not owning the land that your house is built on, please note that in Serbia, this practice is supported by the state. In fact, the Serbian state and the Belgrade municipality are the lessors of 99-year leases for properties with building potential, depending on size (they do not compete with each other).

Ciao for now...

Craig

What's going on?

Hello again!

Well, I’m fresh out of new news about our area of interest in Bulgarian real estate.

I’ll tell you a little about what’s going on at home to give you an insight into how I works in other places…

This week is the week of the Strawberry Festival in the little village of San Biagio della Valle in Umbria (Italy), near Perugia. Why is it so interesting? Well, there are a couple of reasons. The most interesting thing (I think) is that just about every town and village in Italy has at least one Sagra per year, if not more. There was one that just finished down the road at another village last week – this one was cherries. There is one at another village for Nutella! Don’t know what Nutella is? It’s like peanut butter, except it’s made from hazel nuts and chocolate. Those are the unusual ones. The more common ones are things like wild pig, goat, cheese of one kind or another, sausage, etc.

What’s the purpose of these things? Beats me! I suppose that originally they were designed to push the best local products (but Nutella?), but that seems to have gotten lost over the years. I suppose that now it’s just another excuse to have a party! But why not?

Our Sagra della Fragola has been rained out the past two nights (it runs 11 nights, so two weekends included). A blessing in disguise? Well, it’s quieter. Sleep comes easier when the live band is not screaming in your ear until midnight every night. On the other hand, the lost sales cannot be recuperated, I expect.

If I remember, I’ll post a picture of the flyer and the web address as well (how’s your Italian? see the website at www.sagradellafragola.it ).

I guess that’s all for now,

Ciao…

Craig

Late spring dead season?

Hello again!

Well, there doesn't seem to be to much news about Bulgarian real estate these days, at least in our area of interest.

What is still active are the big players with things like large agricultural spreads, large (new) shopping centres, complete exclusive residential neighbourhoods, office buildings, and buying up excess government properties for the value of the land (like in downtown Plovdiv, etc.).

Also popular and apparently gaining in size and interest are the Bulgarian REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). This is a way to get into the real estate growth patterns without owning specific properties. It's similar to investment funds in the stock market, and many are traded on various exchanges (most of the Bulgarian ones in Sofia). It's also not a concept that is limited to Bulgaria.

If you have interest in any of these things, let me know, I'll try to round up some more information for you.

Ciao...

Craig

Bulgaria: What a Land of Opportunity!

Hello again...

Well, yes, I guess I'm plagerizing the title of the latest newspaper clipping on http://Good2004.biz/news.htm, but I happen to agree with what the writer has to say! Bulgaria has a tremendous potential for growth in the EU, and particularly in the area of real estate. The reasons are there to read: Bulgaria's recent entry into the EU is providing an increased sense of security for foreigners; the real estate market is still the least expensive in the EU; the growth in the real estate market has been nothing short of fantastic for the past 3 years (that is our own observation at Good 2004), and it doesn't appear that it will stop anytime soon.

When you read the article, don't forget to take the self-serving advertising included with the text with a grain of salt - caveat emptor as the saying goes - buyer beware! I'm not faulting the writer, in fact, I do it myself to a certain extent. As I said above, I like the article, and I agree with most of what it has to say. I just can't speak from the Maltese point of view.

Ciao for now...

Craig


P.S. "Ciao" and "merci" are two foreign words that have worked their way into the Bulgarian language. I'm told that the source of the French term "merci" ("thank you" in English) was a visitor from France in the 19th century who used the word consistently. The local people liked it and picked it up, and ultimatley made it a part of their own vocabulary. I'm sure the Italian greeting "ciao" in Bulgaria has the same sort of story - it's like "aloha" in Hawaiian, it means "hello" and "goodbye". In the past few years, of course a lot of English has made it's way into the language as well, particularly things like "OK" and technical and pseudo-technical terms like "4-by-4".

C.

The Finnish Point of View

Hello again!

There is an interesting mini-series in the Helsinki Hanomat newspaper (in print, and on-line in English, thank goodness) about some Finnish experiences in the real estate market in Bulgaria. I found them interesting, and you can read them on www.Good2004.biz/news.htm. If there are more, I will post those as well. I have the feeling that the experiences reported would also be reasonably accurate for other northern Europeans who are inclined to go according to their heads rather than their emotions.

The reason that I write about them here is exactly that: our credo at Good 2004 is "no surprises!" and these articles show some ways to avoid many.

All of this brings up a point that my wife made recently about visiting Bulgaria in general. My experiences in many countries on 6 continents tells me that Bulgaria is certainly no worse than the average of these countries. I also have found that the Bulgarians are -- for the most part -- nice folks and generally fun to be with. It is one of only a few European countries that I have found where the local culture is still alive and well. One indication of this is that nights out in a club that has dancing will have a mixture of western European/North American popular music (= MTV etc.), plus the local derivatives, plus modern Bulgarian and other Balkan and Greek folk music, plus traditional Bulgarian and other Balkan and Greek folk music. And the people dance to all of these! They also sometimes sing along with the music, particularly if there is a live band (yes, Virginia, there are still live bands in Bulgaria). Also, the food is often mixed in the same way, but this tends to be more western European ("Continental?") at more expensive places and more traditional Bulgarian in less expensive places. Also, you can eat and drink all night and not worry that you need to clear the table for the next seating.

Maybe this will give you an idea why I like Bulgaria as much as I do.

Ciao for now...

Craig

News from the World Tourist Organisation

Hello again!

I found some interesting news in the latest version of The Sofia Weekly, a weekly electronic newspaper eminating from Sofia. The article was about the potential for Bulgaria to become a hot golfing location, but the last sentence in the article was the real grabber for me: "By 2020 nearly every third visitor to Europe will choose a central or Eastern European destination, according to the World Tourism Organisation."

Wow!

If you are in, or want to get into the tourist business, guess where I would recommend you go! In the same direction, there was another article in the same Sofia Weekly edition about the 10'000 Romanian tourists who took a long (4-day) weekend last weekend at the beach. Where? In Bulgaria! Why? Firstly, apparently almost all of the Romanian hotels were closed, but also, the Romanians reported that a 4-star hotel on the beach in Bulgaria was less expensive than an equivalent Romanian hotel! Mmm...

Take a look at the complete articles at Good2004.biz/news.htm.

Ciao for now...

Craig

Bad Press in the UK

Hello again!

There was some bad press about Bulgarian real estate from one of the UK tabloids this past week. You may have heard about it - maybe not. In any case, it was complaining about the assumed horrid fate of some British investors in Bulgaria who (apparently) bought a house without the ownership of the land it stands on. A few questions ...

- Who is stupid or ignorant enough to buy a house without the land it stands on?

- What were the arrangements about land?

- What realtor would do this to somebody?

Well, I guess the answer to the first question is relatively clear - at least a "few dozen" Brits according to the tabloid report. (LOL) But think, how many Brits own houses in the UK without owning the land they stand on? Quite a few in the major cities, I think. They live in houses on land with a long-term lease (typically 100 years or more). Furthermore, at least according to a Bulgarian real estate lawyer, the house owners are fully protected under Bulgarian law - they have full control of the land for as long as the house stands unless the contract states otherwise.

As a matter of fact, probably a large majority of apartment owners find themselves in the same boat! Some own an indivisible portion of the land and the public areas of the building their apartment lies in, but that certainly does not give them "control" of the land, only a vote with their voting rights based on the percentage their apartment is of the total ownership. Hmm. Probably the building the newspaper is printed in is not owned by the newspaper. What about that, "Daily Express"?

I expect that this was a reaction to the Bulgarian legal situation where only Bulgarian citizens are allowed to own land. The realtor(s) involved in the cases above found a novel (and maybe less expensive) way around the problem - the house-owner does not own the land, ergo no problem! It also retains the appreciation of the land value for the land owner, who presumably can sell the land or retain it, but cannot control it. Depending on the agreement and local zoning regulations, he might also be able to build a second house on the land and sell that as well! The "standard" solution for non-Bulgarian citizens who want to own a house is to form a small Bulgarian company, and use this company to buy the land and maybe the house as well. On the technical side, I suppose their company then could sell the house to its owners if the people really wanted the house (maybe for a less expensive mortgage or for tax reasons?)

As for the third question, the answer has to be "almost any realtor in Bulgaria or the UK!" Standing practices are accepted pretty much everywhere. Certainly, my company would do this, assuming certain protection was provided for the buyer.

References: see the news clippings at http://good2004.biz/news.htm.

Ciao for now...

Craig

Hello Europe!

Hello everybody, my name is Craig and I would like to introduce my new blog to you. The reason for my blog is that I find that there are many things going on the the real estate arena of one of the two newest members of the European Union (1 January 2007), and I would like to discuss them with you.

I have no idea how popular the blog will be, but I'm willing to give it a shot! I regularly collect news items about the real estate business in Bulgaria, and I will comment on these as I see fit. My expectation is that I will contribute new items 2-3 times per week, but, as we all know, the road to Perdition is paved with good intentions...

A little about me...

I am the president of a young real estate firm in Bulgaria called Good 2004 Ltd. As you can expect from the name, the company was founded in 2004. The home for the company is Nessebar (pronounced "nes-SAY-burr") and our main field of interest is beach property on the Black Sea Coast. We also have some interest in apartments in Sofia. In addition to that, we have a close association with another firm which is starting a new project for first-class apartments in Nessebar, and I will undoubtedly tell you more about these as the opportunity arises.

and Elena...

Who is my partner and does the "dirty work" when I can't handle it all. She provides the local information as well as ideas for entertainment when we are on site. She also has many connections with local people and businesses that are a tremendous help!

Our company has a website that you can visit at http://good2004.biz.

Please let me hear what items might be to interest to you -- if I have additional information, I will be glad to pass it on!

Ciao for now...

Craig