Prime Realty Investment - Investment company in Bulgaria

Specific Steps to Buying a Property in Bulgaria

Overview

At the present time, the Bulgarian national constitution actually prohibits foreign nationals from directly owning land in Bulgaria. With that said, the governmental leaders in Bulgaria are in the process of changing the country's constitution to allow for the direct ownership of land in Bulgaria by foreign individuals. The proposed constitutional changes likely will not be in effect until 2014 or 2015.

Understanding that a foreign national cannot directly own land in that country at the present time, this does not mean that a foreigner cannot own property in Bulgaria "indirectly." In other words, if a person is interested in owning land in Bulgaria, there is an additional step that he or she will need to take in advance of making such a purchase and of assuming such ownership of real property.

Keep in mind that if a foreign national is interested only in purchasing an apartment -- to which no land will be involved, to which any land outside of the apartment unit will be conveyed to the foreign national -- direct ownership is, in fact, permissible.

If a person is interested in buying or investing in land in Bulgaria, and if that person is not a Bulgarian citizen, he or she will need to establish what is known as a Bulgarian Limited Company through which land in Bulgaria can be purchased and legally owned. In order to set up or establish a Bulgarian Limited Company, a person will need to plan on spending just under one thousand Euros. Prime Realty Investment Ltd. can help you with this  easy and make it simple.

Once this Bulgarian Limited Company has been established, the hunt for land/property to purchase can begin in earnest. At the time that a piece of property has been identified that a person is interested in buying, an oral offer to purchase is made to the seller. If the seller orally accepts a buyer's offer, the next step in the purchasing process is the preparation and signing of what is known as a preliminary contract.

Customarily, in Bulgaria, at the time the preliminary contract is executed, a 10% deposit is placed or made by the buyer. Generally speaking, the deposit is non-refundable unless the seller withdraws from the contract or cannot, in the end, provide a clear conveyance of the property in question to the buyer. In other words, if the buyer pulls out of the deal, he or she will lose his or her deposit money.

It is imperative that a title search be undertaken.

Once the title to the real estate is deemed clear, and once all other inspections and evaluations have been completed, the time will arrive for the signing of the final contract. This must take place in the office of a notary public. When the final contract is signed, all state and municipal taxes will need to be paid as well as the remaining balance due and owing on the real estate. After the final payment is made, the deed will be transferred into the buyer's name, which in the case of a foreign national will be the Bulgarian Limited Company.  

IMPORTANT INFORMATION, YOU SHOULD KNOW BUYING PROPERTIES IN BULGARIA

• The whole property purchase procedure takes approximately one month - from the reservation deposit to the obtaining of the Notary Deed.
• In Bulgaria, there are such terms as "tax estimation price" and "purchase price". The "tax estimation price" is for the purposes of real estate taxation and is much lower than the actual selling (market) price. Most of the Bulgarian property owners (vendors) prefer in the title deed to be written the "tax estimation price", not the selling price that the buyer has paid. So because of this practice there might be discrepancies between the price You pay and the price written in the title deed. But if property buyer insists on writing the purchasing price in the property title deed, he should inform us in advance in order to negotiate on this with the vendor of the property.