February 26, 2008

And then the housing gambler Brits tried to get out of their Bulgarian investment properties as fast as they got in

RUSH FOR THE EXITS!!!

I hope to get to Bulgaria this summer to see the madness up close, and rent one of these "investment properties".

It was a Ponzi Scheme folks, pure and simple. The Brits drove the whole thing, it went worldwide, and now it's all falling apart.

Prices skyrocket when everyone wants in (sight unseen) at the same time. Well, what happens when everyone wants out? Should be fun!


The Financial Times ran a good piece on the Brits getting out of Dodge, here's all you need to know:

Bulgaria loses its allure for UK buyers

British home buyers have disappeared from Bansko, a leading Bulgarian ski resort and until recently a “hot-spot” for people seeking moderately priced holiday properties.

Mihail Chobanov, chief executive of Bulgarian Properties, one of the country’s biggest estate agencies, believes that about 50 per cent of UK investors who took a punt on the Bulgarian market four years ago are now trying to sell their properties. “Speculative buyers want to cash out and move on,” he said.

Rapid development at Bansko and Sunny Beach resulted in an over-supply of lower-priced apartments, putting a severe strain on local infrastructure. An estimated 85 per cent of UK investors bought properties off-plan without having visited Bulgaria.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

85% bought without even VISITING? That's insane!

Anonymous said...

The house pictured would be on the market here in the SF BAy area for about $1.2 Million.

Remember,

ITS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute! The leftards have been telling us that only Americans andgreedy and stupid. Now you're telling me that the EuroTrash have been speculating too? America isn't at the root of the world's problems?

Anonymous said...

Despite having the word World in my title, The Greatest Real Estate Agent in the World had nothing to do with this.

Anonymous said...

An estimated 85 per cent of UK investors bought properties off-plan without having visited Bulgaria.


INSANITY!

Unknown said...

Keefer I am in Bulgaria now and literally thousands and thousands of Brits bought apartments off plan without ever visiting, sight unseen!

Anonymous said...

That's a sweet looking house!

Anonymous said...

.



Bulgarian investments?????

That's a Henny Youngman punchline!



.

Anonymous said...

You point out something that most merkins may not realize.

The bubble started earlier in the UK (even in bloody jockland), went on for much longer, and home prices "appreciated" far more, than did so in the US.

As I understand it, UK finance didn't convert mortgages into CDO's etc. as we did, which served to supercharged the market in the US

So then what allowed the speculative bubble to grow in the UK?

In fact, judging by all of the show on the telly (A Place in the Sun, Location x3, Property Ladder, Grand Design, A Dream Home Abroad, Nigel's Place in France, etc.) this bubble condition was accepted to be natural, and the herd was being tended to accept the evidence of rapid price appreciation as the way forward.

Spain, France, and Italy were also driven upwards and even if these places were/are still relatively affordable compared to UK housing (and IMHO a much better place in which to live - you have to appreciate the irony), those particular markets, esp. Spain, who were most affected have tipped the other way and are starting to reel.

Bargain hunters went into Bulgaria, Czech, Romania, Kosovo and Serbia. Since they didn't uderstand the language, didn't understand the law was different there, and were easy prey for scammers, you might have expected these natural barriers to curb the mania, but no.

Well, until now.

Anonymous said...

Singling out the Brits is unfair.

All of the little brained people, (AKA Europeans)
have been running around and pretending for the past several years to be ‘American like’ (AKA Trail blazers).
•Creating something that acts like the Dollar, Ha ha ha.. the Euro even appears stronger ‘for now’
•Creating an EU, woo hoo… now they too can be flag waivers. It wont survive the housing crash
•Creating an ‘American like’ Housing bubble.. even tough no one outside of Europe would actually want to have a permanent residents there.
Even our very own Keefer, who has been looking for greener pastures across the pond, is only temping.

Europe’s great internal contradiction is, on the one hand obsessively nationalistic,
and on the other pretending to be open minded.

They are soo screwed..

I really think that while all of man kind is evolving in this post WWII era, Europeans are the only ones going backward into the dark ages.
Again.

Here is how its most likely going to play out:
Things remain relatively the same till after the China Olympics.
Then the so called ‘global economy’ begins to shift back to a more normal pace, and a new secondary financial center begins to emerge, (second to the USA) possibly India, or even China, most of the US financial institutions move away from London and into the new hot market places.
The big European downturn begins.
Downward momentum begins picking up speed as Europeans blame each other for their failures.
The rest of the world stands by and avoids getting involved, not to get dragged into another European bloody mess.

shtove said...

There's quite a scandal going on in Ireland about a solicitor wanted for questioning over €70 million in dodgy mortgages.

Here's an offshoot of that, with two of his clients on the end of a €2 million judgment involving apartments in Bulgaria:

http://tinyurl.com/yvrjbe

Clients of solicitor Lynn must now pay bank €2m

By Tim Healy and Dearbhail McDonald
Thursday January 24 2008

A MARRIED couple who were clients of fugitive solicitor Michael Lynn were yesterday ordered to pay €2m to Bank of Ireland after the missing lawyer handled multiple mortgages for them in relation to a number of properties.

In the first such legal action against Lynn's clients, Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank secured judgments against Air Corps officer John Mulkearns and his wife Lorna Farrell, Iona Road, Glasnevin, Dublin, in the Commercial Court yesterday.

Bank of Ireland was told the loans advanced to the couple were to clear several existing mortgages with other banks, to repay Lynn €200,000 and to buy five properties in Bulgaria from Lynn's company, Kendar Holdings Ltd.

But after following Law Society proceedings against Lynn, Bank of Ireland moved to have its loans repaid as it feared the couple would not be able to meet their repayments.

Anonymous said...

Will the EuroTards go back to hundreds of years of wars? They were in a nearly constant state of war from the Crusades until WWII. The best and brightest of Europe were slaughtered while the inbred royals and those too retarded to be conscripted were left alone to seed the new generations.

Anonymous said...

Is that a picture of Baby Bush's secret hideout in Paraguay?

Kenduffelsniffenspotzen

Anonymous said...

The Briticano is an Andrew Hac Snapper Turtle sizzling and popping with dripping gristle and fat slathered Chipolte sauce, sizzlin' with skewer over a rack of hot charcoal, flamebroiled imbecility.

Or something like that...

tater said...

I saw a house exactly like that one in the picture, while I was driving home today. I was trying to remember exactly where it was at, until I pulled into my yard, and realized it was my house.

Anonymous said...

Money Laundering galore!

Anonymous said...

America isn't at the root of the world's problems?

No, just American hicks like yourself. Why don't you all die?

Anonymous said...

Like all the crook realtwhores would say, "this house has great light and potential".