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Victoria Mindova

Dimitris Tourikis is the regional manager of the company Bulgarian Properties, and Helen Vavritos is the marketing director, responsible for drawing up marketing strategies to attract foreign investors in the Bulgarian real estate market. They are young, smart and energetic investment advisors, who talk to Victoria Mindova for their activities and impressions of Bulgaria as a whole. 
  

Tell us how did you decide to enter the Bulgarian real estate market? 

Dimitris: We have not been on the market for long. We started our cooperation with Bulgarian Properties in the summer of 2009. We chose Bulgaria after two years of studying the investment opportunities in countries of the Balkan Peninsula. The analysis showed that there is a high ROI (return on investment) in Bulgarian real estate, which gives great profit opportunities. 

What did you do before you open a branch of Bulgarian Properties in Athens? 

Dimitris: We are expert investment consultants. Before we developed this business I was a broker for Merrill Lynch in the U.S. and I was dealing with capital markets. The outbreak of the international economic crisis forced us to seek new opportunities for profitable markets of another type. After conducting the necessary researches, the results showed that Bulgaria has the most favorable investment climate of the countries in Europe. In addition to the stable currency and EU membership, another factor that makes the Bulgarian market attractive is the low prices, according to pan-European standards of real estate. I must admit that sales until have significantly exceeded our initial expectations. We perform big transactions, and interest in property acquisition is big. 

Helen: My background is marketing and before we started our cooperation with Bulgarian Properties I was living in Australia and I had a family business there, part of which included property management. My main role in our company is marketing Bulgaria as a destination to the Greek market and advising our customers on what makes a property a good investment

Can you please describe in detail the main advantages of the Bulgarian real estate market and what makes it so attractive for Greek investors? 

Dimitris: Bulgarian membership in the EU since 2007 and locking the BGN to the Euro are the two main factors that provide zero risk for foreign investors in Bulgarian real estate market. This facilitates buyers from other European countries and provides them with easy access to new opportunities for profit. Also, due to the economic crisis, we can see a decline in property prices across Europe. In Bulgaria this decline marks at around 40% compared with the average price level in 2008. This creates greater opportunity for future profits for people who will invest now. Currently the market has reached its lowest level and from now on property prices will increase. Studies of the Bulgarian office of Bulgarian Properties show that in mid-January, prices have already started to rise. Demand for apartments and offices is increasing, which will inevitably lead to a new boom in prices. 

About three years ago, shortly before the outbreak of the global economic crisis, market analysts have argued that real estate prices in Bulgaria have been artificially inflated. How has the situation changed now? 

Helen: I can definitely say that at that point we witnessed a boom in the property market. With the beginning of the crisis prices fell because demand fell sharply. Indeed, the crisis helped in regulating the market and brought property prices to more normal and realistic values. With the strengthening of the market and local economy prices naturally began to rise. This is the natural progression of market development, especially in a country like Bulgaria, which can still expand its economy. Real estate marketing is just one of the sectors in Bulgaria that loads the country with new investments. 

Dimitris: For young economy as the Bulgarian one, it is not unusual to observe a similar development (high price rises and sharp falls). I believe that the boom in prices and demand until the summer of 2008 is a natural reaction to the market, which is now entering the game. The difference after the crisis is that we are witnessing a second wave of healthy price increase of real estate. The reason for this is that banks learned a lesson from the experienced crisis and now they grant loans or finance certain operations more accountable. There are no longer "random players” on the market and whoever invests, knows what he/she is doing.

Who are your main clients? 

Helen: The truth is that many of our clients invest money that they already have. Rather than playing with them on the stock market, they prefer to invest them in real estate as a secure way to increase their money.