Hi

I am concerned, I have been reading a few posts and see people are having trouble getting a mortgage. I too like some people were not told that VAT would be seperate from the banks mortgage they would give me. If this is the case I would not be able to afford to buy the house and it now looks I will lose my deposit. I have contacted my lawywer which now says that I cannot get out of the deal.

surely there must be soemthing I can do and others in my position to try and get soem of the money back.

Any help you could give would be appreciated.

Hello

Bulgaria is difficult at best - why dont you give Steve Keys a call at Key Mortgages

He should be able to help - Let me know how he goes as i do know other people that may be able to help

Regards

__________________


Damian George

Buy Euros - Best Euro Rates

Can you send me a private message with contact details and who was the agent that you bought from and also the solicitors. There is a definate pattern beginning to emerge here.

Me too.

Re-couping some of the deposit looks unlikely unless we can group together (provided we are dealing with the same people), and advisor from Bulgarian Home Loans didn't seem to think there would be a problem pulling out of the mortgage though. I'm not so sure...

The mortgage situation in Bulgaria has changed significantly this year. Whilst last year, the majority of banks were willing to lend 75% ltv and were not so stringent on credit checks, there has been a marked turnround in 2008.

The banks have been (as all banks would) concerned by the amount of new and continuing construction in some large tourist resorts (Sunny Beach, Bansko..). They know that if they had to repossess the property they would potentially find it difficult to sell quickly - particularly in relation to covering the debt owed to them. Therefore they have drawn in their lending criteria.

This has led to decreasing valuations and even refusing to lend in some specific resorts. In effect they have become more and more risk-averse.

I spoke with Chris Downham of Bulgarian Home Loans, specialist in Bulgarian mortgages to get the most up-to-date information as he met with the Bulgarian banks only 10 days ago.

Those looking for a Bulgarian mortgage at the moment will find they can expect a maximum loan of between 350 to 500 euros a sq.m in some tourist areas. Clearly this may be massively short of the amount that many people require and does not represent a true valuation of the majority of developments in those areas.

We are confident about the future for tourism and associated property in Bulgaria. However, right now the banks are positioning themselves defensively in the short term. This is not at all unique to Bulgaria, this is something being witnessed in the UK and across the world.

Quite probably the short term "gold rush" mentality of UK buyers and Real Estate Agents, plus the developers, contributed to this altering attitude of the banks.

Unfortunately, those who applied for a mortgage last year and have been waiting for the results of their application are now caught between a rock and a hard place as the banks' lending criteria have substantially changed.

We would advise everyone in this situation to contact their lawyers to investigate their preliminary contracts (was there a clause inserted, saying the purchase was subject to a mortgage?) and also to contact a specialist in overseas or Bulgarian mortgages to explore other ways in which finance may be raised.

Best wishes

__________________
Jain Goodall, Director, Quest Bulgaria Magazine

Independent advice and information for owning and buying property in Bulgaria
http://www.questbulgaria.com

hi has anyone bought in vitosha palace sofia