Bulgaria is offering a low cost option for people worried about the cost of living in the UK or managing on a pension.
Not only are property prices low, but so is the cost of living. And according to the March issue of Quest Bulgaria, the country's English language magazine, instead of living like a pauper in the UK you could live like a prince in Bulgaria.
"The low cost of living is making Bulgaria more and more popular as savings, pensions and income go much further, providing a better quality of life," says Chris Goodall, managing director of Quest Bulgaria.
A survey by the Institute and Trade Union Studies of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria last year showed the cost of living for a family of four was just £460 a month. So for two people, an income of just £100 a week, will go much further than it could in the UK.
Locally grown food is just a third of the price of that in the UK. And even having a meal out in a 'tourist trap' costs just a fiver each. Wine is just £2 a bottle and beer only 50 pence - better than the £2.50 in the UK.
Sheryl and Del Trott, both 37, moved to Bulgaria from Hull with their three children, Karl, 18, Spencer, 3, and 18-months-old Ellesh.
They moved for a better life, concerned about school bullying and violence in England. They now live in a house in the Elhovo region in the south east of Bulgaria with a mortgage and at present are not working. Their income in the UK was just over £1,000 a month including child benefit.
Now they are settled Sheryl says they spend about £400 a month – not including land line telephone as they are not yet connected. But it does include their mobile phone and internet (around £28 and £12 respectively a month). Sheryl said: “We spend around £100 in the supermarket and then another £8 in other food shops for day-to-day bits and bobs.
“We manage to eat out often enough and spend about £30 a month on this. We are both smokers and spend between £23 and £30 a month on this.
“We’ve found that most things are a lot less than the UK, particularly food, clothes and petrol while electrical goods are about the same.
“We couldn’t live in the UK on the amount of money we spend here; our bills alone there were about £800 a month. I wouldn’t want to move back to England for all the money in the world,” she added.
Ivan Frost and his partner are both British, used to live in Crete, but moved to Bulgaria a couple of years ago to the Borovets region. Ivan, 47, is currently working as a property developer, building new houses to EU standards, which he sells on.
“It’s funny which things are cheaper and which are more expensive,” he said. “Certainly, taxes and council rates, television and internet costs, drinks and eating out are far less. However, we have found electricity is expensive along with mobile phones.”
Buying property in Bulgaria use our legal services here
Bulgarian Property Resources
- Official Bulgarian website London Bulgarian Embassy
- Official Bulgarian Tourism Destination Bulgaria
- Explore Bulgaria guides and links at Travel Bulgaria
- Lonely Planet guide to Bulgaria Lonely planet Bulgaria
- Sofia the city's history, culture, sightseeing, restaurants, transport, and map Sofia.Com
Are you looking to buy property in Bulgaria ? Sunny Beach , Sveti Vlas , Sunny Beach Resort , Varna , Ravda
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Author
Carol McDonald