With somewhat mixed feelings, Julie and I have bought a second house in the village. Mixed, because while we’re delighted that we’ve been able to buy a lovely little bungalow for friends, family and volunteers to stay in, and they’re very happy that finally they can do things like get an eye operation for grandfather, move to the nearby town of Popovo to be closer to the hospital, employment, and shops, fix the car etc etc, it seems wrong that they should have to sell the house they’ve lived in for 20 years to do these things. However, the family are lovely people, and seem genuinely delighted that they’ve finally sold their house, so we move onwards!
I guess we’ve seen the effects of gentrification too much in the UK, and we feel slightly guilty that we’re contributing to this process, but without expats from all countries buying properties in villages, local people would not be able to afford the things they need. It’s difficult. Our friend Stefan says that without expats moving in, this village would be dead.
The house is paid for, but the family will remain living in the house for a further week while they move their belongings to their apartment in Popovo, so we’ll post some photos and another update when we collect the keys next Saturday.
Many thanks to Mel at Dream Bulgarian Properties for finding the house and for helping to make this happen.
Well done to you both. It’s great that the house has now been sold.
How exciting! I guess you will not be doing too much to the property yet, given the amount you are tackling on your own home, so we will reserve judgement on whether we will want to stay in it when we visit in October, until there are more details. A decent bed and a means of heating a room & water is all I ask.