Bulgaria Nightmare!

sammyh82

Hi
A few years ago i brought an apartment in Bulgaria with my then partner, we've had endless problems with getting it completed.
My main problem is that I'm paying a Bulgarian mortgage and getting no return & now my ex partner has stopped paying his half of the mortgage and I'm over £1000 in arrears. I would ideally like to continue with the mortgage as hopefully I will be able to rent the apartment out when its finally finished but what I really need to do is transfer the mortgage as the bank wants £400 a month on a mortgage of £37k which i just cannot afford to pay.
I am struggling to find anyone that deals with Bulgarian mortgages. Can anyone advise me what to do??? The bank are threatening to sell my apartment if I don't catch up with the arrears.

maninthestreet

So you bought an apartment off-plan 'a few years ago', you are paying the mortgage, and it's still not completed??

Conrad

Sammy if you don't mind my saying, your'e being incredibly neave. Do you not follow the news? If you do you will know there was a credit crunch and that Eastern European Banks are in danger of failing as many people like you get into arrears. You have absolutely zero chance in such an enviroment.

You may have to walk away Im afraid.

I warned people about Bulgaria so many times but noone listened to me in 2005 on here. Number one - who the heck will give you year round rent -that was the first question you should have asked.

We all make mistakes, but learn from them and you;ll be better in future.

sammyh82

Yes I brought it off plan with my ex a few years ago, i put £17k in all & all & got 70% mortgage, it wasn't about renting out all year round it was a long term investment, we wanted it as a holiday home, originally we were only paying back £300 a month but now its almost £400 I probably could scrape by & pay the increased amount & catch up with the arrears but I'm not sure there's much point? I don't really want to lose the £17k I've put into it as I loaned it from a family member, if i could transfer the mortgage to a better rate I could keep it & wait for it to finally be finished & then get some rental return on it or I could attempt to sell it. I don't really want to walk away & lose everything.

maninthestreet

Why is this apartment still a 'work in progress' after a 'few years'??? How many years exactly is a 'few years'?? How many more years will it take to complete?
How much would the property be worth on the open market if it was complete? How much is it currently worth in its incomplete state?
Why has the mortage payment increased given that interest rates across Europe are at an historical low?

sammyh82

We brought in pahse 3 after phase 1 & 1 were 'almost' complete, unfortunately not long after we paid our deposit & agreed our mortgage the builders went off site, the director of the company had basically done a runner with our money (it was all on watchdog) we now have an owners group & are trying to get phase 3 complete asap (probably next year) I belive Phase 1 & 2 have just been granted Act 16, once we have Act 16 we can start to rent out the apartments etc

I paid approx 62k euros for it, the reason I am paying more than I was a few years ago is because my mortgage is in euros & I have to pay 450 euros a month, which once was £281 a month split between 2 of us, it is now £409 to be paid soley on my own as my ex has bailed

Trollfever

A search on eBay.co.uk reveals 885 properties in Bulgaria.

Cut your losses.

maninthestreet

'...probably next year' - I wonder how many years you have been telling yourself that??
Do as trollfever says - don't throw good money after bad. You made a bad investment choice, learn the lessons and move on. Harsh though this may sound, it's the best long term option.

C_Mababejive

I know someone who lost big time in a similar situation only this time in spain. A "mate" told him he could make some money by buying a villa off plan. The idea was that during build progress,it would appreciate in value (naturally!) and at a certain point during the build he could sell out to someone else (who ?) and rake a profit.
so he remortgages his family home to put down fat deposit.

Build progresses...

Time to sell..

Advertises..

Guess what..No buyers..

Time for next stage payment arrives..

Dodgy Spanish developer presses for payment..

Eventually niave UK buyer has to cut and run losing his rather large deposit and still has to pay the remortgage on his family home...

Result..massive debt

End of month..wages in>wages out..not much left.

Sometimes its better to make the most of what you already have.

sammyh82

So what do you guys think I should do? stop paying the mortgage full stop & let the bank seize the property & just lose the £17k I've put in? I'm still currently paying my half of the mortgage each month in fact I think my half has been transfered automatically today........maybe my ex made the right choice to walk away from it all a year ago

grogdog

you still havent answered How you were able to get a mortgage on a property not yet built?