With all the hype about buying property in Bulgaria have you ever thought about what the country offers to those looking to relocate. Well here I provide you with an insight into living in Bulgaria. According to the March issue of Quest Bulgaria, the country's English language magazine, instead of living like a pauper in the UK you could live like a prince in Bulgaria.
"The low cost of living is making Bulgaria more and more popular as savings, pensions and income go much further, providing a better quality of life," says Chris Goodall, managing director of Quest Bulgaria.
A survey by the Institute and Trade Union Studies of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria last year showed the cost of living for a family of four was just £460 a month. So for two people, an income of just £100 a week, will go much further than it could in the UK.
Locally grown food is just a third of the price of that in the UK. And even having a meal out in a 'tourist trap' costs just a fiver each. Wine is just £2 a bottle and beer only 50 pence - better than the £2.50 in the UK.
Sheryl and Del Trott, both 37, moved to Bulgaria from Hull with their three children, Karl, 18, Spencer, 3, and 18-months-old Ellesh.
They moved for a better life, concerned about school bullying and violence in England. They now live in a house in the Elhovo region in the south east of Bulgaria with a mortgage and at present are not working. Their income in the UK was just over £1,000 a month including child benefit.
Now they are settled Sheryl says they spend about £400 a month – not including land line telephone as they are not yet connected. But it does include their mobile phone and internet (around £28 and £12 respectively a month). Sheryl said: “We spend around £100 in the supermarket and then another £8 in other food shops for day-to-day bits and bobs.
“We manage to eat out often enough and spend about £30 a month on this. We are both smokers and spend between £23 and £30 a month on this.
“We’ve found that most things are a lot less than the UK, particularly food, clothes and petrol while electrical goods are about the same.
“We couldn’t live in the UK on the amount of money we spend here; our bills alone there were about £800 a month. I wouldn’t want to move back to England for all the money in the world,” she added.
Ivan Frost and his partner are both British, used to live in Crete, but moved to Bulgaria a couple of years ago to the Borovets region. Ivan, 47, is currently working as a property developer, building new houses to EU standards, which he sells on.
“It’s funny which things are cheaper and which are more expensive,” he said. “Certainly, taxes and council rates, television and internet costs, drinks and eating out are far less. However, we have found electricity is expensive along with mobile phones.”
Buying property in Bulgaria use our legal services here
Bulgarian Property Resources
- Official Bulgarian website London Bulgarian Embassy
- Official Bulgarian Tourism Destination Bulgaria
- Explore Bulgaria guides and links at Travel Bulgaria
- Lonely Planet guide to Bulgaria Lonely planet Bulgaria
- Sofia the city's history, culture, sightseeing, restaurants, transport, and map Sofia.Com
hello Sheryl and Del, After reading your article i found you an inspiration to myself and partner i would love to be able to speak to you and gain some advice from yourselves, I am from Grimsby and my partner is from Hull as like yourselves.
I am very keen on moving to bulgaria but finding it hard to find honest reliable advice. If you would gratefully get in touch via email or anyone else who feels they could offer us any help and or advice please email me on;
sophie_adele_laursen@hotmail.com
Many Thanks
Sophie Laursen and Scott Probert
Posted by: Sophie Laursen | April 11, 2007 at 02:06 PM
Hi Sophie,
Everyone's situation is different of course, but life is definately cheaper and more rewarding here, and the lifestye for us is wonderful. Having said that, every place has it's good and not as good. The best thing to do is experience the country for yourself. The thing I personally have the most difficulty with is the bureaucracy, and th language, other than that, I totally agree with Sheryl an Del, we would not go back for ANYTHING. Most of our clients are looking at ways to come live here permanently as well, and often call or come for a "quick fix".
If you decide to take the plunge, it's best to have some back up money and look at ways you can have a "UK" income (even if it's low) and live from that here. Once you come, you will see many opportunities, and you'll undoubtedly get inspired by other Brits living here.
Feel free to call if you have specific questions or just e-mail, we really enjoy sharing our experiences and love to help, the more of us here, the more we enjoy it!!
00359 44622048, mobile 00359 878202072 or as I said, just e-mail
kind regards
margie
Posted by: Margie Nieuwkerk | May 03, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Hi Sophie,
Everyone's situation is different of course, but life is definately cheaper and more rewarding here, and the lifestye for us is wonderful. Having said that, every place has it's good and not as good. The best thing to do is experience the country for yourself. The thing I personally have the most difficulty with is the bureaucracy, and th language, other than that, I totally agree with Sheryl an Del, we would not go back for ANYTHING. Most of our clients are looking at ways to come live here permanently as well, and often call or come for a "quick fix".
If you decide to take the plunge, it's best to have some back up money and look at ways you can have a "UK" income (even if it's low) and live from that here. Once you come, you will see many opportunities, and you'll undoubtedly get inspired by other Brits living here.
Feel free to call if you have specific questions or just e-mail, we really enjoy sharing our experiences and love to help, the more of us here, the more we enjoy it!!
00359 44622048, mobile 00359 878202072 or as I said, just e-mail
kind regards
margie
Posted by: Margie Nieuwkerk | May 03, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Hi Sophie,
Everyone's situation is different of course, but life is definately cheaper and more rewarding here, and the lifestye for us is wonderful. Having said that, every place has it's good and not as good. The best thing to do is experience the country for yourself. The thing I personally have the most difficulty with is the bureaucracy, and th language, other than that, I totally agree with Sheryl an Del, we would not go back for ANYTHING. Most of our clients are looking at ways to come live here permanently as well, and often call or come for a "quick fix".
If you decide to take the plunge, it's best to have some back up money and look at ways you can have a "UK" income (even if it's low) and live from that here. Once you come, you will see many opportunities, and you'll undoubtedly get inspired by other Brits living here.
Feel free to call if you have specific questions or just e-mail, we really enjoy sharing our experiences and love to help, the more of us here, the more we enjoy it!!
00359 44622048, mobile 00359 878202072 or as I said, just e-mail
kind regards
margie
Posted by: Margie Nieuwkerk | May 03, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Hi Sophie and Scott
Life is definately really nice here and much cheaper, less stress, beautiful nature, healthy food, better weather and hospitable people. As everywhere, it's not perfect, (the bureacracy and language get to me sometimes), but the good so far outweighs these inconveniences that it doesn't matter. We too, would not dream of going back to England (except for a visit).
We've been here since end of 2005 and started by selling property and have expanded from there. When you come, you'll see there are many, many opportunities. Each person can see some kind of a niche, or just plain retire.
Do your homework before you come, decide for yourself what kind of lifestyle you want (village? town?) will you need to earn inome here? Can you live off of UK income? do you want to be near coast or ski slopes? Want to be away from the tourists? How big of a home do you want? How much land? do you want to be near other Brits? Look at your budget and whats available, make a realistic decision on what you can spend for a home (if you buy an older property and have it done up, ensure you count that into the equation.) Who ever you buy from, ensure that your own registered Bulgarian company owns the land, as a foreigner you can't own the land the house is on, however your company can. Ensure the price you paid for the property is on the title deed, not some lower price.
The very nicest thing is just come and have a look for yourself, there are so many beautiful places, and you'll laugh everytime you go out to dinner or buy something, it's so cheap! Truly you can have a wonderful life here, especially if you plan it well. If you want to call or have other questions, I'd be really happy to help, and I always look forward to having more people come over, there's lots of room and it's great to meet new people with new viewpoints!
Kind regards
Margie
00359 878202072
margie@bigbg.co.uk
Posted by: Margie Nieuwkerk | May 03, 2007 at 04:14 PM