Buy & Sell Bulgaria Insight Newsletter

Only 2-storey houses in the new neighbourhoods

Local Bulgarian newspaper “Tema”, 13th June 2007

To the south and north of Varna, only houses up to 2-storeys will be allowed to be built. This is proposed for the new town-plan of Varna. The plans cover the areas of Saint Nikola, Zelenika, Rakitnika, the areas surrounding Konstantinovo and Zvezditsa, and other surrounding areas.

The question of low buildings in these areas and high protection of the green areas, was raised in May this year, at a meeting with the Chairman of the Municipal Council, Borislav Gutsanov, and the Team Leader of the town-planning group, Prof. Nikiforov. Due to the threat of over-construction work, the proposal made in February by the local Parliament’s chief, the Municipal Council decided to stop anyone from building in these areas, until the new town-plan has been completed and approved. The final version of the project will be discussed at a session of the Municipal Council in July.

Town-planning group and Chairman of the Municipal Council

2nd Bridge in Varna

Local Bulgarian newspaper “Narodno Delo”, 13th June 2007

The second bridge over the Varna lake is planned to be built next to the village of Kazashko. This was the decision taken by the Chairman of the Municipal Council, Borislav Gutsanov and the town-planning group, which is preparing the preliminary version of the new town plan of Varna. The bridge will allow a direct connection from the Cherno More highway to the airport, leading to the holiday resorts and the Romanian border at Durankulak. Thus the traffic passing through the heart of the city will be diverted to a by-pass.

The preliminary version of the town plan includes the construction of a third bridge, which will be parallel to the existing Asparuhov Bridge. Fortunately, the bridge will neither impede with the new port terminals, nor with the attractive part of the city and the future yacht harbour, which will appear at the freed Varna-East coast.

By Christopher Violaris, BSc, MSc, PhD ( Econ)
Chairman of Eurolink Investment Group

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES WITH EXCEPTIONAL RETURNS

There is no doubt that a huge amount of money has and is still being made in Bulgaria from the property market and property development. On the other hand a lot of money has been lost and a big number of people have been greatly disappointed. What shines, is not always gold and the same logic, not every purchase or investment in Bulgaria, will give you huge profits.

It is not widely known, but the estate agent’s profession is not regulated in Bulgaria and the easiest thing, is to hang a sign outside your door and call yourself an “estate agent”. In fact a recent survey showed that only 3% of the so-called “estate agents” had any qualification or professional knowledge relevant to the business. Choosing the company through which you are going to make your purchase or investment, is without doubt the most important thing in the whole chain. Your agent “can make you or brake you”! We strongly advise you to choose companies and agents with a long and proven presence in the market.

Very often you will come across to big and well known names in the industry and naturally you will have the tendency to entrust your business to them. Don’t unless you find out how long they are operating in Bulgaria and who is acting as their agent or representative. The rule in this case is to employ local staff that has no knowledge or experience and the chance of being mislead, not intentionally of course, is very big.

To be continued…

Bulgaria is the third most popular country for UK property buyers, with 7.7% of the market, just edging the US into 4th place on 7.5%, the Association of International Property Professionals (AIPP) has revealed. The position of the Eastern European country is “phenomenal”, the only market that has grown to such prominence so quickly.

“Seeing it sandwiched with Spain and France above and the US below highlights the level the Bulgarian market has reached,” AIPP explained. Paul Owen, AIPP’s chief executive said: “It’s gone from emerging to almost-established in three years, which is just unbelievable.

“It had a free run of being ‘the’ emerging market for three years, but it’s now got competition from many others coming in Poland, Latvia, and Montenegro and there are a lot of emerging nations with comparable property prices which are relatively unheard of.”

He also added that the extent of Bulgaria’s success would be revealed in the resale of homes in a few years’ time.

“There’s a lot of properties being built, there’s no doubt that prices have gone up in the last few years properties will be sold a second time around, the second wave of buyers will come in,” he added.

There are many birthday boys and girls in June. Our colleague Petio (member of Eurolink Build) and our good clients and friends Vasiliki Ioanou, Nick Cook, Katie Lowe, Mogens Aunsbjerg Hviid, Shirley Wallis and Alexandra Sweeny, have their special day this month. We would like to wish them all Many Happy Returns and the best of luck!

Real estate developers in Bulgaria have already woken up to the massive pulling power of top quality golf courses, experts say.

“Developers here have recognised that by setting a course in an excellent location and combining it with additional quality attractions such as spas, wellness centres, horse riding, tennis and so on, gives year-round appeal.

Golf is offering buyers the opportunity to buy top real estate not linked specifically to sea or ski.” With global golf tourism worth over GBP 10 B, Bulgaria has 12 new 18-hole courses in development or underway, with five due for completion by 2008. Of these five courses, 30% of the 2,300 residential units across them have already been sold.

Experts point out that Bulgaria is set to prosper from its all-new putting greens, given the success of Spanish and Portuguese golf developments and with low cost airlines further spurring golf development. By 2020 nearly every third visitor to Europe will choose a central or Eastern European destination, according to the World Tourism Organisation.

This month Alex Nikolov, Director of Eurolink Build, is selected as our employee of the month! Alex is respected in our company for being a hard dedicated worker with a smile. He never complains and is always willing to come in early, stay late, work weekends, and graciously helps out in other departments.

Alex you are an inspiring example for us all!

Staro Selo (Old Village) restaurant is situated in the immediate vicinity of the Sea Garden and the Naval Academy in Varna. It has over 100 seats and a rich assortment of salads, starters, main dishes and drinks. In a typical folk-style atmosphere you can enjoy specialties of Bulgarian national cuisine like kavarma, shishcheta, vreteno. The place is suitable for family celebrations, business meetings or simply enjoy a meal with friends. You will have the pleasure to hear the unique Bulgarian folk music, as well as Macedonian and old-time city songs. In Staro Selo you will not only enjoy taste, you will also enjoy what you see and hear.

Rating of 8/10

Ingredients: 500g minced veal, 300g minced pork, 1 bunch of spring onions, half a cupful rice, one cupful yogurt, parsley, mint, paprika, pepper, 30-40 vine or cabbage leaves, 100g butter or half a cupful of sunflower oil, salt.

Fry the finely chopped onions in part of the oil for 10 min. Add the paprika and some water, stir and take off the stove. Add the meat, rice, pepper, mint and finely chopped parsley. Pour over with warm salted water and simmer until the water has been absorbed by the rice. Scale the vine or cabbage leaves with salted hot water and put 1 tsp. of the prepared mixture on each leave. Roll together and arrange in a saucepan, pour over 3/2 cupful of warm water and 1 tsp. oil, close with a lid and simmer on a low heat. When ready, pour over the beaten yogurt and melted butter with paprika in it. Serve with vegetables. The same recipe may be used for stuffed peppers and eggplants.

24th May is a holiday, usually celebrated in countries which observe Eastern Orthodox tradition. It commemorates the creation of the Slavic Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets by the brothers Cyril and Methodius. The celebration also commemorates the introduction of literacy and the preaching of the gospels in the Slavonic language by the brothers.

According to old Bulgarian chronicles, the day of the holy brothers used to be celebrated ecclesiastically as early as XI Century. The first recorded secular celebration of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Day as the “Day of the Bulgarian script” was held in the Bulgarian town of Shumen on May 22, 1803.

Nowadays, the day is celebrated as a public holiday in Bulgaria and is known as the Bulgarian Education and Culture, and Slavonic Literature Day, a national holiday celebrating Bulgarian culture and literature as well as the alphabet. It is also known as Alphabet, Culture, and Education Day.

Reviewed by Vasil Djulgerov,
Mayor of the village of Konstantinovo

Eurolink Investment Group has offered help to the church Holy Trinity in the village of Konstantinovo, in the form of building repairs, currently being carried out.

The church was erected in 1893 by the local builder Djulger Nikola. The building was the most exemplary in the village. The people from Konstantinovo are very excited and looking forward to the church opening after the reconstruction finishes.

After some hard work put into advertising, finally our brand new billboard has been put up on the Festival and Congress Centre in Varna. It is one of the most prestigious cultural institutions not only in the city, but in the country and in the whole region as well. Located on the Black Sea shore just next to the Sea Garden in the very centre of the city, it is a multifunctional venue, purposebuilt for festivals, cinema and theatre performances, concerts, shows, exhibitions, congresses, conferences, symposia. Extended on an area of 4000 sq. m., its volume being 80000 m3, almost half of it situated underground, the building looks both imposing and elegant with the pure lines of its modern silhouette. Under one roof the Festival and Congress Centre offers 11 multifunctional halls with capacity from 50 to 1000 seats, 3 restaurants, 5 cafe-bars and 2 summer cafe-terraces.

It’s always nice to hear news like this… our friend and ex partner of Chris, Sebastian Kinsman is a daddy. His daughter Lara was born on 28th May, 3 kilos 200 grams, healthy and beautiful. Mummy Victoria is well and happy. Congratulations to both of you!

Reviewed by Christopher Violaris
Chairman of Eurolink Investment Group

Recently (14th of May) I had the opportunity to present our projects to a group of interested investors, which was organized by our clients Antonis Constantinides and John Antoniou, at Limassol - Cyprus! To my great astonishment, when I entered the conference hall, I came face to face with more than 60 potential investors, which genuinely came to the presentation determined to invest!

It doesn’t stop here though! Most of these clients already bought land from us and went back to Cyprus to tell their friends! As a result, I am returning back to Cyprus on the 15th of June, for another presentation, which will be attended by another 50-60 people, most of which have already booked flights to come over during the last weeks of June and beginning of July.

Just to let you know of our working hours and staff available during the Summer Holidays. Please note that Alan Coleman, Sales Director and Deputy MD of Buy & Sell Bulgaria, will be on Holidays during June, July and August.

Our Managing Director, Chris Violaris, will be off in August and beginning of September. The office will close for the period 15-31 August with a skeleton of staff of 2 people the minimum, available to answer urgent queries you may have.

George Michael’s show in Sofia unfolded at Lokomotiv stadium on a giant eighty-ton stage, fixed with equipment that was transported to the Bulgarian capital with a fleet of 36 TIR vehicles.

A mature and politically engaged George Michael took the stage in Sofia Monday evening, 28th May, in support of the plight of the five Bulgarian nurses jailed in Libya. Widely described as the most impatiently awaited gig of the year in Bulgaria, the concert was part of George Michael’s “25 Live” concert tour, his first in over fifteen years. The British pop star cancelled a concert in Germany to come to Bulgaria and embrace the campaign “You are not alone”, which aims to raise the international profile of the nurses, sentenced to death in Libya on bogus charges of intentionally infecting 426 children with AIDS.

“The very special reason for being here tonight is to support the “You are not alone” campaign and free the five nurses and a Palestinian doctor jailed in Libya! And do it now!,” George Michael said to an exalted audience of fifteen thousand fans packed at Lokomotiv stadium.

The huge scene and impressive visual effects of the show were something unseen in Bulgaria so far. Three big video walls - one if them tongue-shaped and slipping out into the audience - showed the star performing on stage and video clips in combination with impressive light effects and massive sound that offered the fans a once-in-a-lifetime experience and proved that high-quality remains George Michael trade mark. “Freedom”, one of his best written, produced and sung songs, put a logical end to the show with a plea for the release of the Bulgarian women. “This song is especially for the Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya. I dedicate this song to them - let’s cry out Freedom together, so that the whole world hears us. Freedom is what they need most! What a terrible injustice,” said the Megastar, without hiding his happiness that the proceeds of his mega concert will go to the association Freedom for the Nurses, founded by their relatives.

There is another celebrity just about to buy land in Bulgaria. Ross The Boss Minter, current welterweight champion of England and son of Alan Minter, 1980’s world middleweight champion, has been on the phone with Alan, discussing the possibilities of investing in the region of Varna and actually picking a spot near Marina Hills.

Apart from being our client, he is also our good friend and we would like to give him a hand in his carrier.Here is part of a recent letter Ross sent to Alan:

Hello to you all. ROSS THE BOSS MINTER needs your support.
NEXT FIGHT:     WBU - *WORLD TITLE*
DATE:                  SAT 14th JULY
VENUE:               02 ARENA (MILLENIUM DOME) LONDON
OPPONENT:       MICHAEL JENNINGS (BEAT TAKALOO FOR TITLE)
ALSO ON BILL:  AMIR KHAN (Commonwealth title), NICKY COOK (WBO World title), GRAHAM EARL and many more.
TICKET PRICE:  EUR 40, EUR 50, EUR 75, EUR 100, EUR 150, EUR 200 AND EUR 250 RING SIDE.

This is a massive opportunity for me and I would appreciate your support. Please forward this on to everybody you know. I want to get as many people as possible to cheer me on to victory. Good luck Ross and have in mind that we are looking forward to welcoming you here in Varna as the new world middleweight champ.

Lili, Alan and his wife Margie

As you already know, Alan and I had a birthday in May and more exactly on 16th May. We decided to take all colleagues with their partners to Toskana restaurant for a meal. As always, there was a lot of fun, ‘a few’ drinks, great food and dancing. The funniest part of the night was the 2 surprises I had organized for Alan. One of them was the bday cake, which was a photo cake with a funny collage of Alan sitting in his office (you can ask him for the details) and the candles, which simply wouldn’t go off…