Buy & Sell Bulgaria Insight Newsletter

By Christopher Violaris, BSc, MSc, PhD ( Econ)
Chairman and C.E.O of Eurolink Investment Group

You may ask, what is the best way and where should somebody invest. We are listing below some facts that will allow you to draw your own conclusions:

What is the future of your investment in Bulgaria?

Once again the answer to this question is complex and depends on a lot of factors! Generally, all investments will deliver profits and dividends, some more and some less, though there will be a good number of the so-called “investors” who will be totally disappointed, even lose their money! As you know not everything that shines is gold and not every “purchase in Bulgaria” will make you rich and we will explain what we mean:

1 - The loser: Those of you, that bought properties in remote areas, uninhabited villages, or villages with gipsy population, land and plots that have no access to electricity or water or where the network is not extensive enough to sustain additional construction, I am afraid that you are in for a very long “wait” in the best case or losing your money in the worst case.

2 - The “moderate” winner: Those of you, that bought apartments on the South Coast or on the Ski resorts, with the assurance and “guarantee” of a rental income, should have by now realized that you made a mistake and the “myth” of the rental income does not represent reality. In fact it will take years until the hotel rooms are filled by the tour operators in a way that your apartments can offer themselves as an alternative to hotels. It is important to underline here that 92% of the tourists coming to Bulgaria every year, come on a “package tour” that includes tickets and hotels. On the contrary, those of you who bought apartments in Sofia, Varna region and in other major towns, you stand a very good chance of receiving a decent rental income and have some returns from your investment. In a long term, the prices of apartments will go up and you should expect, depending on the location of your apartment, a moderate profit (7-10% per annum).

3 - The “money maker”: The real money maker is definitely Land and Plots! Those who were wise enough to put their money on land and plots, already know that they are in for a “kill”! If somebody goes back a few years and compare the prices of land then with those of today, he will realize that we have an average increase of 68% per annum, especially those who bought prime land at prime and popular locations can expect some impressive price increase and investment return in the near future! Demand for land is not only growing by an average of 32% per annum, but it is also widening in its form and it covers now the commercial as well as the agricultural sectors. We have for example parties interested in land for warehousing and distribution, for commercial and medical centers, scuba diving schools, summer language schools, etc. Our advice to you is very simple, if you want a SAFE, HIGHLY PROFITABLE without any headaches investment, INVEST ON LAND! Remember our words!

Megy and the ex-employee of the month, Nevin

There are many ways we show our employees how much we value them. One is through our employee of the month program, established to recognize those employees who really excel in their jobs. And the award for August goes to…Miglena Gencheva (Office Assistant & Translator). A valued employee for 2 years, here’s what Megi’s colleagues say about her:

- Megi is hard working, making all notary deed translations, helping clients with opening their bank accounts, as well as assisting them at the Notary, once they have made a purchase from us.
- She is always pleasant and accommodating and is an all-around great colleague.
- She is the first face you see, when you come to the office, always greeting you with a smile, and the voice you hear when you phone us.
- Megi’s coffee is fantastic, make sure you try it.
- She is professional and her first and last thought each day seems to be around assisting all departments.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/4 kg aubergines (about 4-5 large aubergines)
- 200 g white brined cheese or feta cheese
- 50 g breadcrumbs
- vegetable oil
- 100 g plain flour
- 6 eggs
- parsley
- a bunch of dill
- black pepper and salt

How to cook:
Wash and dry the aubergines, slice 1/2 cm thick, sprinkle with salt and put aside for 10-15 minutes. Drain any juices which are running from the aubergine slices. Put each slice in flour and fry for about 3-4 minutes on each side.
Make a filling by mixing 4 eggs, cheese, parsley and pepper. Place a tbs of the mixture onto one slice and cover with another slice, making it look at as a sandwich. Do the same with the other aubergine slices.
Then dip the “sandwiches” in the remaining 2 eggs (beaten), cover in breadcrumbs and fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side.
The same recipe can be made with peppers, but instead of slicing them, you simply fill them.

Provided by Richard Payne

Here are some useful tips:

(a) If the car is less than perhaps £1500, maybe it is best to sell it and buy another car in Varna, considering the cost of shipping and re-registering a UK car. Around Varna, there are a lot of new car shops and 2nd hand car supermarket zones (essentially no difference to UK prices). Furthermore, the car in UK is right handed while in Bulgaria they are left handed. It is a good idea to hire a bulgarian friend to do the negotiation for you, so you may get 20% lower price than yourself. If you’re not sure about the paperwork, your friend can help you.

(b) Shipping to Bulgaria, they consider quotation primary on shipping volume, not weight. Smaller volume (20m3 versa 10m3) reduce the cost and hence 20% VAT surcharge.

(c) Since the furnish items take a lot of volume (ie draw units), it may be a lot cheaper to dispose them (ie ebay, charity, etc) and buy new furniture. For example cheap MFI bedroom draw unit cost £50 to buy, but may cost £50-£150 to ship it, where you may sell it for £10 and buy new one. Take what you really need and be crucial about it. When you start living in Varna or the region, there is plenty of good furniture stores around there. There is Ikea in Romina not far from the Bulgarian border if you like Swedish style and you can hire a large transit.

(d) Do communicate with the shipping company, do not pre-assume there is complete understanding, the shipping company would be very concerned how to deliver the goods when they get to Varna…they may use a very big lorry, which cannot drive into small streets (which in fact is impossible). You may need to hire a transit or large SUV car to transport the goods between the main road and house/apartment on the small street, they may do that for you but at extra cost.

(e) Do try to pack way ahead of schedule, so you can work out the shipping volume, making sure it does not exceed the contract limits.

(f) Do consider insurance, so your stuff would be protected. The company may have a policy that they perfer to pack the stuff themsleves (at extra cost) and hence validate the insurance policy…..read the small print. They may use a good money making scheme.

(g) Each box must comply to weight specification provided by the shipping company, if it is too heavy, they may refuse to handle it due to H&S policy.

Above all…do communicate with the people at the shipping company, do not pre-assume, keep communication on records, any charge:- record it on writing, approved and signed!!. See you in Varna!

BM Restaurant Chain started its existence in 1997. Since then it has successfully developed and extended its brand. Each restaurant has its own charm and individuality. BM The Garden offers a list of selected recipes from the Bulgarian and European cuisine stressing on the sea specialties, always fresh and tempting. The restaurant is located among the fascinating greenery of the Varna Sea Garden, giving coolness and peace. Its style is elegant and trendy. The cozy atmosphere is created by slight music, quality service and individual approach to the client.

Rating of 9/10

The five Bulgarian nurses and the Palestinian doctor were freed to leave Libya in the dark hours of Tuesday, 24th Aug, and landed in Sofia around 10.30 am. Krisiyana Valcheva, Nasya Nenova, Valentina Siropulo, Valya Chervenyashka, Snezhana Dimitrova and Ashraf Al-Hadjudj got on the aircraft of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and took off from the Libya airport around 3 am local time. Their relatives, the Bulgarian media, state officials and Sofia citizens gathered at the Sofia Airport to meet the six.

EU’s External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and the French first lady who led the two-day tough talks with Libyan leader Muammar Quadaffi also arrived in Bulgaria.

The medics were allowed to spend their life imprisonment sentences in Bulgaria after Libya demanded Monday stability in its relations with all EU member states. The other demands of the North African country are connected to the guarantees the EU should give concerning the treatment of the HIV infected Libyan children. Besides that, Libya insists on developing some economic projects on its territory. Among them are the constructions of a modern highway, which is to connect the border with Tunis with the Egypt’s one as well as a railway between some Libyan ports and African cities.

The six medical staff, who have been imprisoned since 1999, have been convicted of deliberately infecting 460 children with HIV at the Benghazi hospital and were twice sentenced to death. Last week the Libyan authorities commuted the sentence to life imprisonment, a move many Europeans and Bulgarians believed is a prelude to transferring the medics to Bulgaria.

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Buy & Sell Bulgaria is proud to present our new Billboards, located in the heart of the beautiful Black Sea city of Varna - The “Nezavisimost” square, in immediate proximity to one of the most important administrative buildings, architectural and historic landmarks of the city - the most famous fountain, which is a common meeting place for the people living in the city and the tourists, The Varna Court, Valentina, one of the oldest and biggest shopping malls, The Drama Theatre, built about a century ago after the Viennese style, a Happy Restaurant and the 2nd biggest Cathedral in Bulgaria – The Assumption Cathedral. The location of our advertisement is of great tourist value, which allows a quick and easy access to the attractive restaurants and entertainment sites in the city of Varna, it is only 2 minutes from the Railway Station and will also lead you to our office with the help of our direction signs. In case you find it difficult to find our office, you can always ring us up and we will collect you with our London Taxi.

I am happy to introduce you to our new members of staff – Ivka Ivanova and Alexander Todorov. Ivka has joined the Legal Department of Buy & Sell Bulgaria and will be working closely with Mira and Nevin, while Alexander is our IT Assistant and will help Yaro with his workload. Welcome to the team guys and good luck with your new assignments!

Svetlana, Diana Georgieva, Chris, Ross, Lili, Megi and Diana Vladimirova

We had a VIP guest in mid July….you’ll never believe it…Ross Minter, the new welterweight boxing champion of England. Ross Minter, known as ‘ROSS THE BOSS’ is the eldest son of former undisputed world middleweight champion Alan ‘boom boom’ Minter. The Boss hopes that he can achieve half of what his father has, though he realizes that his dad has left very big shoes to fill. Find out more about Ross and his career at www.rossthebossminter.com

At Alan’s house: Krasi (Svetlana’s boyfriend), Svetlana, Margie (Alan’s wife), Lili, Alan and Ross

Not only had he a relaxing holiday in Bulgaria, stayed at Alan’s (Deputy Managing Director of Buy & Sell Bulgaria) house in the countryside, and a few days in Varna, but he also became our client, currently a landlord of a plot at Old Vines, being also Alan’s neighbour. Therefore, Ross is now sharing our dream and can rest assured that he has made a safe and highly profitable investment. Congratulations Ross and good luck on your way to the world championship!

What is common between Marseille, Genoa and Barcelona? The forest of masts in their yacht ports. According to the statistics, in the Mediterranean, there are 3500 yachts 30 meters high and above, not to mention the smaller ones. That means not only money for “parking” the vessels, but also increase in number of wealthy tourists.

At present, Bulgarian seaside towns and complexes are aiming at the yacht business as well. When the Dinevi brothers built a magnificent yacht port near the village of St Vlas (see to the right), the city of Varna decided to transform its active industrial harbour into a yacht port and entertainment area.

The idea is of the local chairman of the municipal council Borislav Gutsanov and has already been named “The Gutsanov project”. The Varna councilors, the branch chamber and the state gave him a green light and the first sod will be turned till the end of this year. The project comprises of two stages – the construction of a new, modern terminal for containers in the lake, below the current unattractive Romany neighbourhood, Maskuda. The port will cover an area of 220 decares near the railway. The depth is 16-18 meters, which will allow big vessels to flit and will make things easier for them as they cannot presently enter the harbour. “We will be able to actually compete with Constanta, where 1,25 million container carriers pass through per annum, which in comparison to the Varna harbour – barely 100 000”, said the chief of the port Capt. Danail Papazov.

In the place of the present freight piers at port Varna-East, an enormous entertainment area will be formed. Instead of docks men, there will be tourists and yachtsmen. The port itself, which covers an area of 347 decares, will be transformed into a yacht one, surrounded by an aquarium, hotel, park zones and many small places of public resort.

The work group – Borislav Gutsanov, the port’s chief Papazov and the chairman of the Bulgarian Maritime Chamber Capt. Veselin Genov have been introduced to the execution of such a project in Genoa and Barcelona.

Jovanni Novi, chief of the port in Genoa, told them: “With the present “Port Antico” (an old industrial harbour turned into a yacht port) we earn more than we used to do with the freight one”. “Pantoons girdle the piers, where hundreds of expensive yachts have flitted, the old stores are turned into luxurious hotels, aquariums, shops and places of public resort. The project there was worth around 500 million euro, for which negotiations with a Japanese bank have commenced. We receive rent amounting to 1000 euro per meter per boat per annum, and additional payment is made for prestigious positions”, is what they say in Genoa.

78% of the population in Varna support the new project.

The hotel
Classic House Hotel is a boutique place for relaxation of full value. There are 3 apartments and 4 rooms available, all of them well-arranged in different styles. The Glamour room allures with the brilliance of its’ glittering set, the Fresh room invigorates the look with active spring harmonies, the Red Point room creates geometrical projections to the red colour and the Pink room rejoices with tender sweetness. And while the SoHo room brings the cosmopolitan spirit of the present New York neighbourhood, the Ethno room emanates the warm vibrations of the earth shades and the Zen room follows the elusive balance of the east insight to the rooms area.

The restaurant
The Classic House dishes from the Mediterranean and French cuisine filled with fusion accents of an author give the opportunity for stylish gourmet experiences. The high-quality products, the contemporary ways of preparation and the spectacular serving are the obligatory elements of the Classic style. The selection of exquisite wines from Italy, France, Spain, Bulgaria and the New World supplements them.

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It is now summer, time for relaxation, chilling out and having some entertainment, a time of the year, which everyone eagerly expects. It is time for your Summer holidays, nice weather, trips and a lot of new experiences. Bulgaria has been more and more attractive for the tourist attractions and recreation activities it offers. These are some of the main factors which drive the property interest towards our country. Have a closer look into the various entertainment opportunities in the different parts of Varna - you may be surprised by the variety of locations and attractions. Without any doubt the main summer attractions are the sea and the sandy beaches. Apart from that Varna has a lot more to offer. City landmarks include the Varna Archaeological Museum, exhibiting the Gold of Varna, the Roman Baths, the Battle of Varna Park Museum, the Naval Museum in the Italianate Villa Assareto displaying the museum ship Drazki torpedo boat, the Museum of Ethnography in an Ottoman-period compound featuring the life of local urban dwellers, fisherfolk, and peasants in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Sea Garden is the oldest and perhaps largest park in town containing an open-air theatre (venue of the International Ballet Competition, opera performances and concerts), an aquarium (opened 1912), a dolphinarium (opened 1984), the Nicolaus Copernicus Observatory and Planetarium, the Museum of Natural History, a terrarium, a zoo, an alpineum, a small European-style Luna Park, a Children’s Corner, and other attractions. The National Revival Alley is decorated with bronze monuments of prominent Bulgarians, and the Cosmonauts’ Alley contains trees planted by Yuri Gagarin and other Soviet cosmonauts in the 1960s. The Garden is a national monument of landscape architecture.

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