Part 2 – THE SEARCH
We have the intention, we have the initial capital. So let’s find that flat 🙂 !
“Leicht gesagt”
are saying the germans, but in Bulgaria, especially in Sofia the thing are not so easy. The most common internet portal is imot.bg (only Bulgarian version, do not even try to find english one 🙁 ) with its thousands of offers you may end up pretty lost after a couple of hours spent on.
Assuming that you know Bulgarian or translate the offers somehow, or found some other internet portal, which have also an English version, you have to make some kind of main preferences to start with:
The Location
The prices and the living conditions can vary a lot from place to place.
Cheapest ones are
There are a couple of business offices areas in Sofia around which the prices are really high (between 1300 and 1600 Euros/km2). Main ones are: All “Mladost” districts, “Business Park”, the area around “The Mall” and the area around the “Inter Expo Center” metro station. Even more expensive are the flats near the city center (from 1500 up to 3000 Euros/km2): “Lozenets” district, “Izgrev” and “Iztok” districts.
The city center is divided in three main parts (but everywhere in the real estate internet sites you will find it as a hole). Very cheap is the area around boulevard “Maria Luisa” and the market “Szenski Pazar”. Interestingly enough you can find relatively cheap apartments in walking distance from the center too – area around “Sofia Mall”, district “B-5”. The most expensive and old (bad meaning) real estate is in the third part of the city center.
The Building
Old or new, bad garden or bad exterior, bad neighbors or bad “hausmeister” and lot more to be careful with, underlaying stones that can destroy our mood for years…
The Actual Apartment
A lot to look here also for.