ollya

eeeeeerm....I live in Northmoor, less than a mile from Standlake, quite amusing to see it on the list, amusing and utterly confusing why he'd pick there (unless he lives there and needs to sell soon?). We're talking a fairly bumpy and lengthy bus journey to Oxford station, not to mention frequency. Oh well....big up Standlake, door to door Canary Wharf 2 hours 30 if you survive the Jubilee line, sorry I meant 55 minutes

That sounds great, bit over bedroomed for me but I like the area down there a lot, if only I could drop my close to London criteria then I could start making silly offers all over the place 80sqm garage....mmmmmmmmmmmm......lathes...mills....motorbikes

Hey I can join in, I've thought about this waaaaaay too much. Downstairs Kitchen diner, bright, sizeable, probably leading onto a conservatory, plenty of worktop space. Small utility room Downstairs WC (possibly with a shower) Plenty of space for shoes and coats in the hall Good size lounge to seat 5 in comfort. Upstairs 2 large doubles with plenty of storage - one ensuite. Bathroom, not that fussed about separate shower cubicle but it would be a nice to have Study / guest bedroom big enough to open out a sofa bed. Outside South facing non-overlooked garden Large double garage with pitched roof secluded from road so the chavs can't see the motorbikes and tools in there. Parking for 3 cars. Location 30 mins from Waterloo other Central London station by train Max 30 mins walk to pubs Budget - up to £350K

How does that happen? Surely someone would pay 1p for them?

It's actually in a pretty good spot. Chatalga on the sea side of the big road to Venitsa. Sava Radulov 2 beds, 76 sq m new build about 6 years I tend to think, that within reason, price and saleability are the same thing. By that I mean even in a less desirable spot, at the right price almost anything will sell. I'm more than happy to sell at a bit of a loss compared with 18 months / 2 yrs ago...well actually I have no choice It's whether I want to expend the grey hairs on getting it registered, decorated, marketed, tax paid on proceeds and consider capital gains in UK. I realise I have to at some time...but the place still leaves a sour taste in my mouth whenever I think about it.

Doom and gloom re Bulgarian economy Hmm...looks like it's either this summer for a sale then or much further in the future, I'll need to get the block to register it again and then find agent/s arrrrrgh hassle. By devaluation do you mean removing the pegging to the Euro, that would kill me as the strong Euro against the pound is about the only positive thing in this situation. "Why not put your "fixer upper" efforts into the Bulgarian place?" a) It would add no value and the jobs required are largely optional e.g. insulation on a North facing wall. I'd also gain no benefit from enjoying the finished product. I don't live there and have no desire to c) It's let out long term Why did you buy it in the first place? Did you convince yourself, you could "flip the profit" into a UK property? That was one of the reasons, the other is I thought I'd perhaps even live there myself for a bit but jobs (with good salaries) are sparse. If so, you really need to examine your motivation carefully in wanting to buy into the UK. I thought I explained my motivation quite clearly, I want somewhere I can call home and I find that very hard in a rented place. I can see there is a good chance for prices to fall in the UK....once again, I'm in no rush but there's only so long I can wait. "Why not make a new hobby: ... Analyzing Property markets ?" Because I find it rather tedious! Yes, of course it's nice to make money by being in the right place at the right time but I'm not motivated sufficiently to do so. I might consider further property in the UK when the time comes but the grey hairs caused by an overseas place aren't worth it in my opinion. P.S. Lamenting not selling at the top in BG is my main regret. It's not as if I couldn't see the writing on the wall. I was simply I was pissed off dealing with the place it was much easier to just put it out of my mind. If things get really bad out there I'll regret that attitude even more. I don't actually NEED the BG money to buy in the UK, I could just leave it be for another 3 or 4 years. The place should hold up that long without too much investment.

rental yields are weird in Bulgaria, there's oversupply and the rent would have been about the same when it could have sold at 90K. I think what I'll do is look on the net and such and see what similar places are asking then go in a good 20% below. That way I won't be giving it away, but anyone who is actually looking (probably russian or bulgarian) will view mine over the others.

There comes a stage where home is a necessity. I can't feel at home in a house I don't own and my main hobby is DIY and fixing up motorbikes so I want a property I can work on / in. If I were renting I'd no doubt look for a place that's the bare minimum but buying I can have grander ideas....there's no rush...but for my sanity I'd say it needs to be within the next 12 months or so. A house IS NOT A SOLELY A "CONSIDERED" SPECULATION for me, it's a home which of course I'd like to buy at a competitive price but there's a limit to how long I can wait. Re: The Bulgarian pad, IF and it's a big IF I'd sold at the peak I'd have been looking at 150% return so that investment was far from ill considered. The mistake I made was been too lazy / apathetic to sell at the top. Let's not forget the rental income during the last 4 or 5 years. The Bulgarian place gives me grey hairs, there's always some niggling drain on my patience and income. Now it's broken air-conditioners because of erratic power supply and having to re-register with land authorities....next week who knows but it's fair to say I'm not cut out for buy-to-let in a foreign land, especially one like BG. I don't NEED the cash but I do need to stop worrying about it. If it's going to take 5 years for prices to recover then I that's too long. If they bounce back quickly then great...but again, I think sale of the place needs to come sooner rather than later. I'm glad your world is black and white, I'm very happy for you.

Tell me something that isn't obvious. The question was should I sell I now or hang on.

Please can we have an option to block signatures as they take up a heck of a lot of space. Might be a good idea to block avatars too...but so far I've not seen any NSFW Ta

Well I would lose out compared to other investments. Actually I'm hoping to at least get 50% more than I paid but nothing like that 150% I could have could. Not sure I agree with a correction as big as 50% in Varna centre but let's see...I'll let you know the figures when the deed is done. Bit hard though as I'm not sure what the total cost of purchase plus fitting out actually totalled in the end. My "guess" is 40 to 45K, Hopefully at the lower end of those two numbers. Shell purchase cost without any taxes and blah blah was about 35K Euro (at an average of about 1.25 to GBP)

I realise that buyers are scarce but at the end of the day, a property WILL sell if the price is low enough. He's asking too much or it's not being advertised sufficiently (or both). If I stick mine on the market then it won't be at a pie in the sky price. It will be there to get interest and get the property sold. Still need to rally the block to get re-registered at land office. They're dragging their heels though. Will have to see if I can chivvy them along. Yes, no rush to buy in UK, But for more sanity I do need my own home within 18 months max, 12 months would be better.

I'd like to buy in the UK, no rush but let's say ideally within the next 12 months. I have a Bulgarian 2 bed apartment in Varna that I bought about 5 or 6 years ago. I think at its peak price, 18 months to 2 years ago, with the right buyer on a sunny day might have been as much as 95,000 Euro, but definitely 90K. Now I really don't know and getting a valuation isn't easy....I'm bracing myself to be told 60K or possibly less. Anyway, with the Euro being strong and the possibility of it getting stronger against GBP should I be pushing to sell it and wait for the right moment to make the currency transfer? It's currently rented at 300Euro p/m but there have been a lot of bills recently so I average about 250 from that, less probably. What does the panel think? Sell it this summer at whatever price it takes to shift have money ready to absolutely guarantee I can get a 65% LTV offset from First Direct after which any surplus will sit ready for improvements, rainy day, spur of moment luxuries. P.S. On an aside, the garage, which is too small for a large car, is let for close to 50 Euro a month and cost 4000 Euro! I might just buy garages in Bulgaria