In less than 50 years Bulgaria has come from being one of the poorest nations in Eastern Europe to one of the more prosperous and tourism has played a large part in this transformation. Figures suggest that over 5 million tourists a year visit Bulgaria from all over Europe including from Greece, Romania and Poland. Most of the visiting tourists spend their vacations on the coast while others visit the mountains. The infrastructure for conventional types of tourism like beach holidays and skiing is already in place, the hotels and ski resorts having already been built and the growth in this sector is not expected to increase very much over the next few years. A smaller percentage of tourists visit the other, inland areas and it is this last area which has the greatest potential for growth and with this growth will come the inevitable property sales.

With property prices still very attractive, if they are to join the EU in 2007, buying in Bulgaria will be no more difficult than buying in Spain or any other western European country. As the law currently stands there are restrictions on foreigners owning land in Bulgaria unless they are registered as the Director of a Limited Company. It is quite possible to buy an apartment without too much of a problem because with an apartment you don’t usually own the land it sits on. This legislation will have to change with EU membership, thereby opening up the property market even more.

Having found your ideal property a 10% deposit is normally paid to your solicitor once a contract has been drawn up by him. The lawyer will then do all the checks to see if the paperwork and the title are correct. Once this has been done and everything is found to be legally in order the balance of the purchase price has to be paid. Land tax and Notary fees also have to be paid and these normally account for a further 5% of the purchase price. After this you will be the proud and legal owner of a property in Bulgaria.