Date: August 29th 2011

Hi!

Wow! The end of August already, the summer has just flown by.

We have been fairly busy. We have had lovely metal security grills fitted on our windows to make the house more secure. I am pleased to say we used a Bulgarian metal worker and builder and apart from a few small marks on the windows, which couldn't really be helped when they were fitting them, they did an excellent job. And we've been doing small DIY jobs around the houses, as well as trying to keep on top of the grass and weeds.

The couple who bought one of my old houses came to stay with us and view the house. It was lovely to meet them at last after months of email and facebook correspondence. We spent a fun if busy couple of days showing them their new house and Stara Zagora and discussing various ideas they have for their place.

If anyone has property here and their electric bill is in their company name, then new monthly charges have been introduced for commercial premises (and if your house is owned by your company it is considered a small commercial exercise). These differ according to the area, actual village and strength of electric available. It does not matter if you do not have the electric turned on. For my houses this new charge ranges from 0.09 BGN to 3.38 BGN per month per house. After asking the main EVN office and the local offices here, there is basically nothing you can do about this if you use EVN as your provider. Other providers allow you to rent the house to yourself as a person, not a company and thus avoid the charge - EVN do not (although said they would allow, then wouldn't, then would, but then not.....).

We now have just 2 villas to sell. We have taken all the furniture out of the renovated villa in Rakinitica, close to Stara Zagora and reduced the price to offers around 22,000 Euros. I am open to offers and payment options (monthly instalments, lump sums over a period of time etc) as ideally would like to agree a sale before we leave Bulgaria for the winter. It is more important to me that the villa is sold to someone who will love the place as I did and be really happy there. Whilst it is very good value for a renovated and ready to move into villa so close to the city, I do not really want to sell it to someone just looking for a speculative buy and an investment. I would like someone to buy it who will spend time there and keep the garden nice etc. If you are looking for somewhere in Bulgaria you can just move straight into (needs furniture) and you can enjoy for a few weeks a year to permanent living, get in touch so we can discuss finance options. We would also definite
ly consider an exchange for an apartment in Sunny Beach or Sveti Vlas.

I also have another villa in the same village where we live which is habitable but needs some modernisation and whilst it has 3 bedrooms, as it stands it works better as a one bed apartment with two additional storage rooms upstairs. Offers of 13,500 Euros for the villa or 15,000 E for the villa with an additional plot opposite. Would make an ideal campsite or could maybe plant an orchard, lavender, vines etc.....

We are back off to the coast this week to view some more apartments. If you have anything for sale in the Sunny Beach or Sveti Vlas area do let me know.

Rachel