New members of Bulgaria forum, introduce yourself here – 4th quarter of 2015

Having recently moved to Sofia, I'd be very interested in meeting other expatriates and locals socially. I come originally from Northern Ireland but have lived overseas for a good many years - most recently in Vienna, Austria.

I'm currently trying to learn Bulgarian, but unfortunately the more I learn the harder it seems to get!!

Hi im John have bought a house in svalenik near ruse which it seems a nice village and I have a stork for a nieghbour perfect They bring good luck dont They?anyway hope to get over soon cant wait really

Hi John, I believe they are meant to bring good luck not sure if it is based around fertility and new life, I'd personally look out for a goose that lay's gold eggs mate ha-ha, but I wish you well in your new venture, welcome to the forum and good luck and many adventures regards Bulgaria, it's a hoot (oop's another bird reference)
Best wishes Steve.

Hi, good to see there is a lot of movement in the Bulgaria section!
Me and my partner are living with the idea of making a move to Bulgaria, we are from the Netherlands. I am trying to get as much as information as possible, this place is a good start 
Next month we are making a trip to Bulgaria, so I can see it for myself. My girlfriend is born in Sofia, speaks the language, she have family living in Bulgaria, so for her it is nothing new. Hope to see some of the beautiful surroundings, have a taste of the Bulgarian culture and food and I want to look at the possibilities.

Hope I am still positive when we are back in the Netherlands 

Hi Wes,
Firstly welcome to the forum, ans secondly yes I hope you enjoy the planned visit to Sofia/Bulgaria.
You have an advantage regards visiting the city/country with your girlfriend being native to this country, no doubt she will be able to help you, is she looking forward to going home too, or has she left Bulgaria in her head and heart now, and found life in the Netherlands better suited?
I wish you both luck and happiness whatever the path turns out to be?
Regards Steve.

Hi Steve,
Thanks for your reply! 
Yes indeed, it is a advantage having someone who can speak the language. She is also looking forward to go to Bulgaria, since it has been a long time for her. We are both living with the idea of moving to Bulgaria, so she hasn't forgotten about Bulgaria.
We are planning to see some different area's; Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zogora and Veliko Tarnovo. While doing some deskresearch about Bulgaria I fell in love with the VT area. So now it is time to experience some different area's with our own eyes.
I have read somewhere in the topics you own a Bulgarian property, are you planning to make a move? Which area do you prefer?
We also wish you luck and happiness!
Regards,
Wesley

Hi again Wesley, glad to hear that you are both looking forward to going out to Bulgaria, regards myself yes I have a house not too far from Ruse, although I have not stayed there yet I will stay there from next year during holidays for now, I have to still work a little on it yet.
The area's I have liked have been Sofia, Bansko, Lovech,V.T and the Ruse area.
I prefer the countryside area's but saying that the villages are a little bit sleepy and lacking amenities, but coming from a city in the UK the countryside is a novelty to me.
I wish you well, and hope to hear from you in the future, where in the Netherlands are you from I have a cousin that lives in Holland, and I worked one time for a SA/Dutch guy hardworking bast#rd!! But at times a bit stressful to work with, but a decent guy and I learnt a strong working ethic from him.
Regards Steve.

Hi Steve,
The places you mention are so far if I have seen beautiful areas. Good to have a nice holliday house for yourself, with a litle work you can make it a second home!
I also like the rural/country area's, also for a future house but near a bigger place to have al the facilities nearby. Hope to see some of that area's when we are in Bulgaria. We have only a week, so maybe we have to do a second trip in the future, a week is a litle bit short.
We come from Utrecht, a bigger city in the middle of Holland.
Regards Wesley

Hi, just joined the forum and wanted to say hi to everyone.

In that case hello back at you welcome to this forum.
I hope you enjoy it?
Regards Steve.

Hi LivinginBg, I'm currently trying to learn English like you - Bulgarian. It would be great to have a chat sometimes over a coffee. Drop me I line if you are OK. I like sports, traveling, mountaineering

Dobro utro,

I am a new comer.

is there bulgarian comunity?

ma mail : *******************
zdravay

Solomon

Hello to all and welcome to the forum

I came to samui for long time.
born in Bulgaria.
where i can find bulgarians?
solomon

Hello all,
My name is Paula. 
I was born and grew up in the city of Coventry, lived and worked in The Forest of Dean, Glos. Currently i am living in Sunny Cornwall, UK. Im looking to move to Bulgaria as i cannot aford to buy here in uk. 

I will be visiting the country in the coming spring looking for a house with some land. Maybe buy some pigs, hens and a goat.  I was thinking of buying a donkey too (for transport).
I am a master scuba diver, musican, and like electronics, carpentry, light engineering, political psychology and slapstick comerdy.  (oh! and i love cats (but not like Mr Cameron loves pigs))

My partner is an ex-solder, sound engineer, pig farmer and master brewer of beer and wine.  Hobbies include: Land Rovers, hedge laying, making sausages, curing bacon, screen printing, fly fishing, playing guitar, welding, and historical research.

We are middle aged and looking to retire early and find a little bit of heaven to go quietly mad in our old age.
(as well as sell a few sausages)

HELLO BULGARIA FORUM!!

Welcome to the forum, sounds like you will fit quite nicely in Bulgaria

I'll second that a ex soldier who makes beer wine and sausages and yourself with your carpentry skills and "Good Life" living off the land attitude you'll fit just fine, and could be very popular!! 
Regards Steve.

Thanks Kris0x0 and Steve, it looks quiet busy here.

Hi Guys,

I read a lot of positive post and that didn't make me regret my move from Dubai to here , I would like to know where the ppl hangout here in Sofia specially as foreigner and meet other foreigners but with families:)

Regards,

do not worry, you're in Bulgaria - the best place to learn Bulgarian!

Hi Paula,
Nice to hear about you and your partner's adventures and hopes for the future. I am in Edinburgh but I know Cornwall as I have relatives on a farm there. Ten years ago we bought a mountain property in Bulgaria meaning to move there and start a new life. We changed our minds but the property is still there (we also bought land in a different part of Bulgaria). Presently trying to find some use for it, or to sell it. I thought you might be interested because it is unusual in being not part of a village. Another idea is that I and a number of friends go there in the Spring and see what it is actually like...I've no idea if we'll do this in the end but I'm just expressing that the future of the property is up for grabs and could go in any direction. Like you and your partner we are all middle aged and I don't know if I'm dreaming that I'm younger and whether I really want to do this. I am 54, my partner is older and we have a couple of cats. My mother has always been adventurous but is now 83. I'm mentioning all this because I have a strong attraction to community living, but with a friend staying with us at the moment I have become aware that I need space to myself, so I'm not sure if community living is for me after all unless a balance can be found. Also my mountain property is so small (see ads below), so I'm not sure how many people could live there comfortably. I remember seeing another abandoned property nearby, which might offer a way around that problem. Essentially what I'm saying is that if it's for you it's for you, and I'll let it go. If not I'll let it go. If the two of you want to be alone that is fine; but if you want to network and maybe join up with others thinking of going to Bulgaria in the Spring, I can help you there too. One of my friends who is thinking about Bulgaria in the Spring is living in Cornwall right now, and I am sure he would like to make contact with you. He is a composer, and musician. I don't know how you share contact details through this forum because any time anyone leaves theirs, the details are promptly removed as a security measure...! So even to share my 'problem solving' friend's details seems impossible. Perhaps he would have to pay to advertise... but since he is 'bargain basement' he may not have enough money for that...
Dominic

WorldWideGroup
buypropertyanywhere.com/
Mountain chalets I.D. 16541 buypropertyanywhere.com/bulgaria/smolyan/rudozem/P-16541.php 15,000 Euros
3 Plots of land I.D. 16580 buypropertyanywhere.com/bulgaria/haskovo/lake-ivailovgrad/P-16580.php 16,000 Euros

Balkan Dream Properties
bd-propeties.co.uk/
Mountain chalets I.D. 80034  bd-properties.com/details/80034.html 23,000 Euros (£20,000)
3 Plots of land I.D.

Sorry Dominic but i am a keen scuba diver so living at altitude it totally out of the question.  Plus fresh water lake diving a chore, it's just so barren.

Dominic Bere wrote:

..... but if you want to network and maybe join up with others thinking of going to Bulgaria in the Spring, I can help you there too. One of my friends who is thinking about Bulgaria in the Spring is living in Cornwall right now, and I am sure he would like to make contact with you. He is a composer, and musician. I don't know how you share contact details through this forum because any time anyone leaves theirs, the details are promptly removed as a security measure...! So even to share my 'problem solving' friend's details seems impossible. Perhaps he would have to pay to advertise... but since he is 'bargain basement' he may not have enough money for that...

Get him to join the forum Dominic.

Hi Polly, yes, I can see you'd have a problem, it's 40 miles to the sea and you'd have to cross into Greece. It's all very well if people join the forum but sooner or later they are going to have to exchange contact details and I'm a bit puzzled as to how one is supposed to do that...

Dominic Bere wrote:

It's all very well if people join the forum but sooner or later they are going to have to exchange contact details and I'm a bit puzzled as to how one is supposed to do that...

I'll second that 
Anyone help here?
Moderator?
Admin?

Tumbleweed

You can use the personal message function, top, right, little envelope clicky

Thank you for the directions to the Private messaging function Kris

Hi we are thinking of early retirement without a pension income to Bulgaria
We will buy the house outright and have some money in the bank.
I see from various websites that we will need to show we have enough money in the bank to survive without an income.
Does anyone know what the minimum amount needed would be to gain residency please?

Hi I am Paul we are thinking of buying a house in BG and retiring early without an income
Any advice you can give would be welcome especially on residency conditions etc.
Thanks in advance

I am not sure of the requirements for EU individuals, for non-eu, you have to show that you have the minimum wage for the amount of months you are applying for. I believe the min. wage is around 420 bgn right now, so for a 6 month permit you would have to show 2520 bgn in your Bulgarian account, and for a year you would have to show 5040 bgn.

Hi Paul, you can buy a house without proof of income. (You only need proof that you have over 2200 BGN in the bank each to register with the police for a car if you bring one from the UK, and each of you should have your EHIC medical cards and the temporary registration will last as long as the cards do, and you can renew once you have a new EHIC card) You will need to survive in the long term, but if you have savings and can do the math, you will see that whatever funds you have you can convert to BGN and if there are 2 of you, choose your monthly lifestyle level and divide your saving by that amount. If for instance you have savings of 20k GBP convert that tp BGN and if you were going to live on 600 BGN per month approx 600 into 55.000 BGN and could live for 7.1/2 years. It all depends on how thrifty you are. Just be careful to buy the right house with the right neighbors and move in and sit back and relax. Don't show or talk money to anyone and you will be fine. We were given some good advice a few years ago, and it is that when you move into a new place, don't explode onto the scene, just chill and calmly greet people and gradually become a local. Learn the language especially the main words and greetings, and you will be fine! Beware the Rakia lol. Hope this helps...

Thank you guys for your advice. We are flying out later this month to look at houses and hopefully find the right one.
We are planning just to chill and sit back. We will hopefully learn the language as best we can as I think that's important and respectful but having practiced a bit that may be a long process lol
With your permission I will keep you up to date on our houses each as I think your feedback would be invaluable.
Thanks again 👍🏻👍🏻

Hi Paulb28, we are in the same boat as you and wish to buy a house with enough land to try and be as self surfactant as pos. We are from a farming background.  Next move for us is to visit and do some house hunting in the spring.  So... welcome!

Thanks Polly for the welcome we are going to have a look at a few houses at the end of this month and hope to move in January.
We will keep you updated on our progress and any pitfalls we may find.
Daunted but excited is the best way to describe our feelings at the moment. Lol

Hi Paul,,,,,,,Best of luck on your new venture in BG,,i like yourself took early retirement & moved to BG March this year,,best move ive ever made,,,you have had some good advice on forum,,,,if your looking for rural property..i have house for sale in housing section,,,,,,,,,,Best Regards Eddie

Glad to help any way I can...

Greetings
I am doing as much research as possible before moving to Bulgaria.
It will be myself my wife and our 6 year old son.
My chief concern of course is financial, I am 47 retired from the US military, my spouse has a bachelors degree in health sciences and has taught medical assisting at a trade school in Louisiana, USA.
After 22 years in the military I am content to stay at home however my spouse would like to work at least part time. We found that the only english speaking school is in Sofia so we have chosen to plan to make a move there.
My questions are:
Is it possible to live on my pension alone with school tuition ? (my take home is right at 5400 US dollars)
What are the chances my wife will be able to find a job speaking only english ? (She has a college degree and teaching experience just not in teaching english)
What quarter is best suited for family life, and close to the British School of Sofia ?
I would appreciate any insights that you can share 😀

Hi All
We are Phil and Les
We plan to retire to the VT area Feb 2016. Any information for us newbies would be great.
We could really do with some advice as to good and not so good villages.
I have a million questions, so will be posting a lot soon
Thank you all in advance and look forward to talking to some of you

Regards
Phil and Les

Hi.  I'm Jim and have been living in Sofia for getting on for 10 years now.  Recently retired and wondering how I ever managed to find the time to work, since there just aren't enough hours in the day for all my ongoing projects!