Fun Fun Fun

So, once you have a piece of land in Bulgaria - what next?? Basically - paperwork paperwork paperwork...
And, the location of our land is apparently very close to one of the proposed sites for the new gondola in Dobrinishte, which is great news. But (there is always a 'but') this means that until all the plans for the gondola are finalised no one else is going to get any planning permission.
So, building is on hold and all we can do is stare longingly at our architects lovely drawings for our new chalet! (by the way, architects seem to be very pricey in Bulgaria - this is the only thing that we had a surprise over, they are more expensive than UK architects although there are rumours about that laws are going to be brought in regulating their prices - we'll believe that when we see it though).
So, in the meantime, we decided to rent a place out. There are a definitely a few pros and cons to this: in the short term it's cheaper and it means we can get the business going but how do we find something that is just right??

time for a rest?

Finally, the season is over.. no it wasnt bad, just hectic. we're shattered and after eating 4 course evening meals all season we need to get to the gym!

so, where was I - its been ages since I have written anything.

OK so we tried to buy 2 peices of land at the edge of the village but one of the owners decided to put the price up at the last minute so it was just too expensive... so we extended our trip and stayed for another couple of weeks, determined to find something, somewhere..

Eventually, driving past a dirt track our (very bored of us) estate agent remembered a field that we hadn't yet seen - we'd seen a lot. We went to have a look and found a good sized field near to the base of the mountain and the national forest border (fingers crossed that the town hall doesn't decide to build on that), its also on a road so access isnt too much of a probelm although we did have to cross a ford to get to it - all part of the experience!

It looked promising although it is hard to imagine a load of buildings surrounding the area, which is bound to happen, but we decided that the plot was big enough for us to create a nice 'haven' so that as the area gets built up we won't feel dwarfed by anything.

So we went for it - all the papers had to be checked - if an owner of some property in bulgaria cannot be found it is not worth the hassle of trying to buy, but luckily everything was in order and we soon became the owners of our own corn field. I say 'soon' but I am classing that in Bulgarian terms, we had to set up a business as foreigners cannot own land in Bulgaria yet - we can only buy it through a business, and because the Bulgarians love their paperwork and stamps that tkaes sometime in itself. Also our 1st solicitor turned out to be a bit useless so I would suggest always getting advice from other expats/buyers in bulgaria to help you to find a decent solicitor/accountant.

work work work

lots of work - been too busy for blogging, tsk tsk
It's not all bad, i'd rather work for me than anyone else - the only problem is that when i make a mistake there is no one else to blame - cripes! I dont even have a cat to kick, although the boyfriend makes a good alternative and it usually is his fault....

www.christopherchalets.co.uk

what?

So we had to decide what to buy.
This was pretty tough - originally we were interested in an old traditional house that we could renovate - my dad's got all the building experience and I'm a great lackey!
Some of the old houses here look fantastic and would be great projects to do up, but....
finding exactly what you want can be tough. I wanted to offer luxury at affordable prices which means en-suite bathrooms, lots of space, room for a hot tub and a massage room - you get the idea. The problem with buying something that has already been built is that you are stuck with certain dimensions and room sizes that are quite what you want.
The other problem is that the old buildings are not always well built and we didnt want to end up spending a small fortune trying to fix damp and draughty spots or lose all the heat because of bad insulation.
So we decided that for us, the best thing to do would be to find something that we could extend and change easily or that we could build ourselves from scratch.
We did put an offer in on a great little chalet that we wanted to extend and cou;d have got pretty close to what we wanted, but the owner would not lower the price at all and it worked out just too much.
Then we found an amazing piece of land just off one of the pistes that will be developed in the next few years. An expensive hotel has bought the land next to it, but all around is national forest that cannot be built on. Tranquil, ski-in ski-out, beautiful.
But, it was a massive piece of land - I just could not afford to build anything if we bought it. I would have a lovely piece of land in the forest with posh neighbours but I didn't think a tent was going to cut it!
We considered getting investors in, but it would have been a huge project-we would have become developers and that is not what we wanted so back to the search.
Next - halfway up the mountain, some of the best views we have seen. But at the moment in the middle of nowhere. Now if it had been a holiday home jus for myself I would have snapped this piece up. It's gorgeous and the new pistes in Dobrinishte will be somewhere nearby. It;s close to the quirky fish farm where you can fish for yor dinner but.. its a 15 minute drive into town. down a very bumpy road. it's a steep hill - you coul;d never walk it in ski boots. In a few years i can envisage this becoming a fab little enclove for a few ski chalets but we needed something that we can get going a little bit quicker...
So, a little bit further down the mountain - on the edge of the town in fact. 2 plots next to each other, looking up at the mountin. Already in regulation so building permission is easy to get - pretty nice views, nothing allowed to be built in front of it (at the moment). This one looked promising.
Buying property or land is just not simple and easy, but where is it like that? I'm getting a headache just thinking about it all again!

Powder in Bansko

POwder in Bansko on the 19th November 2007!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vATBzVx_egw

One more thing you'll need...

Another thing that is vital for setting up your ski chalet, or any business I imagine, is support.
My friends and family have been great - they have encouraged me so much, ok I have seen a few raised eyebrows and there have been worries expressed about my personal welfare but my wonderful friends and family know that this is what I want to do and they are behind me.
Which is what I need, because there are so many people who you will meet who will tell you that you are making a terrible mistake, too much competition, global warming, bulgarian mafia, isn't it better just to get a nice easy job? - I have heard them all.
The most annoying thing is that I have already though about and considered most of the negatives that anyone else can come up with - after all this is my future and not something that I have started on a whim, as some people seem to think! Yes it will be hard work but I'm doing it for me, because it is something I really want to do and I am passionate about it. Still, some people just won't be convinced.
You have to develop a thick skin - don't take it personally, just accept that there are a lot of cynics and pesimists out there - and keep in mind that you'll be able to proove them wrong one day.

Snyag (Snow snow snow)

Ooooooh, so much snow in Bansko. I only wish we had got the ski bus serviced last week instead of putting it off.... oops!
Rule number one for would be chalet owners: Be Prepared!
I'm realising that this is so much more important in the mountains because of the unpredictable weather - it comes in so fast and I just spend 3 hours charging round town trying to find the right size snow chains. We weren't expecting quite this much snow in Bansko in November!

Anyway, after working out how much this will cost you should add another half on - that's what I've done and so far it seems to be working (depressingly), there are so many little things that don't get mentioned when you start working out your costings.

For example, I just found out that there is another little tax of some sort that I have to pay after our chalet is built - that no-one mentioned to me despite me asking hundreds of times about this sort of thing - grrrr!

But hey, it's snowing in Bansko so I'm happy! http://www.banskoski.com/cam2_en.html
(and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon!)