After we started living together, we realised we needed much more space for the family and started looking for flats in Sofia. Unfortunately, this turned out a difficult task because of our requirement for space.

The real estate market in Sofia is currently in its lowest. There is more properties on the market than there is demand for. Unfortunately the modern and new buildings that were complete (because there are plenty incomplete and unaproved for inhabitation) were designed for the average Bulgarian’s low budget and low living space requirement ( i.e. lower costs).

We went through a (hell of a) lot of viewings, only to discover that whatever we do it will be a compromise. The search was also limited by our requirement to look in areas reasonably near to where we currently reside.

At that time we didn’t event know what we want – or rather we didn’t realise…

That happened a little later, when Philip noticed an ad for apartments in Simeonovo, suggesting that they had some very reasonably priced flats. Reading the at the ad again together, we were very excited, it looked beautiful, spacious, well-maintained and planned.

We arranged a meeting with an estate agent from Colliers; a very nice young lady who met us one day in a cold Sunday in late November 2010 in a development called Sofia Sky - a closed-type ‘gated’ complex, consisting of apartment blocks, row houses and a few detached houses.

This viewing opened our eyes as to how things could be – and opened our minds to dream and imagine. Of course that was all shattered when we got to the point with the price discussion and the reality hit us.

The row houses were priced 290k – 320k euro range. The flats in the 140k – 230k euro range. To be fair the offer about that flat Philip had seen in the add and we found acceptable was still there, but like with everything that sounds too good to be true, it turned out to be exactly that.

We were shown some bigger 3 bed properties, but these were the outrageous (in Sofia and given the current state of the market) price of € 1 000 per square metre, so the flat itself was approximately € 140k. The total area was 142 square meters, on which they calculated the price, but the actual living space was only 112 with 14 square meters common parts.

To make a 3 bedroom flat out of 112 square metres would lead to a pretty cramped space, given the prices that were being asked.

One of the biggest issues (in my view) in Bulgaria (and one which we Bulgarians are aware of and keep in mind), is that sellers and agents always advertise a property quoting its full area.

The common parts are usually included in any advertisement’s calculations and they usually quote you this higher number, unless you specifically ask for the actual living space area. In our case, we thought we are looking at 142 square meters which were actually 112.

We received polite, professional treatment from Colliers and received everything we asked from them, including some dodgy scheme for delayed payment the developer have suggested. Yet no matter how hard we thought about it, couldn’t make it work financially and ultimately we agreed we should let it go.

After this episode we spent ages sitting on the couch, scheming and planning and figuring out how we could realise our dream. We promised ourselves that we would get there, no matter what happens – even if we have to compromise in the earlier stages.

And so we progressed to the next stage – the ‘acceptable compromise’ solution.