Buying Bulgarian Property on eBay – Be VERY careful
Having been involved in Bulgarian property for close to 5 years and having been contacted by several people who bought on eBay and who then faced various issues with their purchase, please be very careful before bidding on any property on eBay.
A quick search on eBay for property for sale gives you hundreds, if not thousands of Bulgarian properties for sale. At the time of writing of this report (15th November 2009), there is over 58,000 residential overseas listings and at least 2000 of those are situated in Bulgaria. The majority of these are classified listings, where you can simply contact the seller to express an interest in the property, but there are a number of auction listings starting for as a little as a couple of hundred pounds for a house with land.
And while many of these listings appear to be an absolute bargain, the old adage of ‘if its too good to be true, it probably is’ should come to mind. Please read the descriptions very carefully, often there are massive discrepancies in the facts, often the properties are situated in very poor areas, with little infrastructure, more often that not they will be complete wrecks. Check out the feedback of the seller, contact former winning bidders who purchased property, search on forums relating to Bulgarian and property in Bulgaria (such as MyBulgaria and ExpatFocus) for topics on buying off eBay, sellers to avoid, what to watch out for etc.
There is one eBay seller well known by the British community with in the area he sells property in (Chirpan/Stara Zagora and selling on eBay as cheap-bulgarian-properties) who pops up from time to time on eBay and his advert reads like a complete work of fiction, which for most part it is. He claims to be a British owned Family run business with 14 Ltd Companies, having branches all over the world and several offices, claims to have won awards that simply do not exist, put large, well established firms out of business in the area, have over 4000 happy clients been given the thumbs up by eBay and the London fraud squad.
I know of several former clients of this guy and they are less than happy. His properties are all over priced, with him buying them directly from the locals at very low prices and then selling them on for many times more to unwitting British buyers. He often entices buyers over with promises of work if they relocate (renovation work, office work etc). In fact I know of two families that both purchased through him, were promised jobs (men in building jobs, women in the office), they happened to meet in a service station in Hungary on the drive over, got chatting, discovered they had both been duped by the same guy (although he used different names) and of course arrived to discover jobs were non existent or short lived.
I have personally been contacted by an eBay bidder who put down a deposit on a house from this guy, went to see it, against advice decided to go ahead with the purchase, sent 10,000 pounds to the guy’s wife’s bank account in the UK and then could get no answer from the eBay seller for months. Lawyers became involved and my involvement ceased but I think he did eventually get the title deeds to his house.
So please, please, please be very careful when buying a property off eBay. Do not bid on a property in a country you have never visited. Do not pay out any money before viewing the property unless you are happy to accept you may be buying a complete wreck in a less than desirable area.
And most importantly please do your research first on both the eBay seller, the country you are looking to buy in and the general property market there.
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Comments (30)
Not that being British owned means a great deal anyway, but worth noting that Cheap Bulgarian properties is owned by a Maltese guy called Kevin John *****, though ebay adverts refer to a boss named Steve Brown. Their other company is called Bulgaria rural properties and that is owned by a Polish woman. You can check the company data and management on the Bulgaria companies register at http://www.brra.bg for confirmation. When contacted about purchasing a property that had been 'won' on ebay the sellers ignored repeated requests for copies of the sales/purchase contract and property details when they discovered that I would form my own company to complete the purchase (they offer a 'free' company formation 'service') Be warned, unless you have commercial experience in Eastern europe and have knowledge of the Bulgarian or Russian language you are taking a significant risk if you do not use the services of an INDEPENDENT lawyer or agent when buying a property and setting up a company. By law these independents have to have a licence, demand to see a copy of it and be rest assured that you will have legal protection throughout the whole purchasing process. Ebay? Caveat Emptor – Let the buyer beware.
Good luck, Bulgaria is a great place to buy a property and spend time, you will love it.
Was not aware that Mr Brown was Maltese, although that would explain his very poor English on his response on MyBulgaria but know he has gone by the names Stephen and Kevin and John Brown in the past. And his business partner is Polish.
According to the Bulgarian commercial register the owner of CBP 'EOOD' is a Mr Kevin John C1a4d0n, born in a tiny village called Rabat on the Island of Malta in 1961. His home address in the UK is a council house in Bury St Edmunds. He drives a 1996 Lexus that he purchased on Ebay a few months ago.
Now, read one of their Ebay adverts and you will have the image of some international businessman and impressario conjured up in your mind (I used the word impressario because this is one of his commercial activities lodged on the business register!)who mixes with the elite and is always extremely busy with all the companies he owns and operates.
All of this information is in the public domain and easily accessible (but regretably only in the Bulgarian cyrillic language) http://www.brra.bg is the company registrar in Bulgaria.
The other company is called Bulgarian Property Rural or BPR Limited. This company is owned by a Polish woman called Marzena 'O' born in Ostroleka 1974. A small town north of Warsaw, and a favourite truckers stop for frieght travelling to and from Belarus!
These people are not exactly in the same league as Frank Knight or Savills, though to listen to them some may well be hard pressed to tell
Some aspects of the adverts that ought ring alarm bells;
1)No specifics about the property, only generalities.
2)Loads of irrelevant information.
3)Highly questionable facts, such as 4200 customers in 8 years. Question, were these property clients because 8 years trading is 416 solid weeks, so they sold approx 10+ houses a week every week from the day of incorporation?
4)The advert asks you to pay money into a UK bank, why? It is, a) outside ebay rules, and as they repeatedly refer to them seems odd and b)Buying a Bulgarian property is a Bulgarian legal transaction? Why would you even consider paying money into a UK bank account held by someone that is presumably either Polish or Maltese?
I could go on, but the rest of the information I accumulated after having 'won' one of their auctions was through correspondence with them – so unfortunately I cannot put the 'magnum opus' that comprised the emails sent(both mine and theirs!!) onto a blog, but suffice to say these people are probably amongst the rudest, deluded, and outright moronic, that I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. The title of this blog was a warning, you would do well to heed it.
Thanks for leaving your comments. Completely agree with what you have said about the ebay advert. Maybe you could contact me privately thought this blog or my main website.
And on a final note about CBP, here's an extract from their latest ebay advert…
On 15-Dec-09 at 19:16:43 GMT, seller added the following information:
Unfortunately due to for the first time ever receiving a negative feedback from eBay username: sheks869 who had 1 positive feedback and bid/won
"Wishing Well Cottage"
But never even turned up to view/meet us stating that he wanted to see document first (which where sent to his email address). Think about this, do you ask to see documents of a house before seeing the house? Do you ask to see the V5 registration documents of a car before you see the car? I think not.
Unfortunately due to this person, he has messed it up for all you good people out there.
We have now had to put in to place a Blocking System with anyone with Positive Feedback LESS than 6.
You WILL be blocked.
Now, maybe I am overly cautious type but I would say yes, I want to see documents of ownership and legal title before I spend time and money going through a purchasing procedure – Nothing strange about that is there?
Truly confirmation if needed that CBP are a seriously odd outfit. One final, final note – he alledges sending copy of a preliminary agreement the day I arrived in Bulgaria, despite being item number 3 on the list of things he promises to provide post-sale – it took a week to send this document and only after I had arrived in country, I smell soft-touch/hard-sell in the way these people go about their business. But make your own mind up.
Continued from the last post due to low number of characters allowed
Racheal G we have only meet ONCE very briefly when we collected one of our clients from the airport, You had a client waiting at the airport but never turned up, we ended up bringing the Irish Girl in our Brand New Citroen Picasso Executive 7 seater, oh by the way we have 25 vehicles including 5 Mercedes and 6 4×4 Non of them a Lada Niva like yours. To you, you could not even collect from the Vereya Hotel where our client was staying. So we ended up bringing her to you as you was in a restaurant eating. Remember.
Next: Reference to people with jobs, we gave the client you are on about Mr Barry B a job bringing over caravans for us here but ended up paying £8000 to bring over 3 caravans (we collected 2 in Croatia ourselves) we sent £3000 to Barry’s bank account in the UK to buy a Ford Transit to tow the caravans, guess what he registered the Transit in his name and we never got the van back. After doing a CRB on him we found out that he had been in Prison for Burglary and GBH. So you want me to give him a job. Bet he did not tell you this. Next he meet up with a man in Stoke on Trent in a pub and told him a pack of lies as he has told you. This man happened to be purchasing a property from us here Lemon Tree Cottage it was called. At the time of this transaction Steve was abroad on business but when he got back the property was transferred. NO SOLICITORS WHERE EVER INVOLVED only our Company Solicitor reference to the transaction which went through smoothly. The fact is Rachael you have believed others instead of coming to us directly here, you know where we operate and have our telephone numbers. You ended up believing others very silly.
So on to the next bit, YES WE HAVE MANY NEW BRANCHES OPENNING, LOOK AT OUR NEW WEBSITE AND YOU WILL SEE. Go to the mall in Stara Zagora, the one in the centre of town and ask to speak with Peter the mall manager, go also to the top floor and office/shop number 7and you will see signs to prove. In fact 22 New branches opening here in Bulgaria in 2010, Just Need more Genuine Staff. And yes we have branches in Cyprus with 8 other ones opening world wide as you will see. Rachael one last thing, Please contact Nedyalko Mladenov, one of our Solicitors (we have 4) who is in Stara Zagora (made it easier for you) on 00359 888 701 349 as he wishes to get details from you to serve legal proceedings’ on you.
Want to talk to us here then you have our contact number above.
We challange you.
Regards Anna
(Company Secretary)
And Yes we are British Christian Company just sorry to say we are British. The Bulgarians here put Brits to shame don’t they Simon ?
What a complete load of b*****ks. I do not pick clients up from the airport. Never have done. I can arrange for transfers or most often they are happy to get the coach to keep costs down. This girl was happy to make her own way to Stara Zagora however that happened to be. She met your client on the plane I believe and ended up getting a lift.
You did not meet me and bring my client to the restaurant were I was at. This client stayed with me at my house. I picked her up and took her home.
What exactly is your lawyer wishing to sue me for? And why would I want to visit his office to see him?
Dear Rachael Gawith,
Clearly you cannot remember us bringing your client to the Venice restaurant, we remember you very clearly along with a HUGE file that we have compiled on you. All very interesting reading.
As for swearing we don’t do that either, just professional as you will see. That is why we have legal action being taken against you.
I hope all the people who have told you things are willing to back this up, as you will see they will not, as lies is there game and did not tell you the whole story.
As for my Solicitor, Mr Nedyalko Mladenov please get in contact with him he is waiting for your call and details on 0888 701 349.
His office is 6000 Stara Zagora , 73 Zahari Knyajeski Str.
Seriously you have made a grave mistake on what you say about us here all filed and noted. This is Libel, Deformation of Character and very Damaging to my Ltd Companies with loss of earning being calculated.
Mr Barry Birks, Mrs Deborah Birks, Julie Chadwick (sister of Debbie) and Mr Jason Batley will not support your claims as you will see.
Regards Mr Steven Brown. (also know as THE BOSS) you can reach me on 0899306465 i dont hide behind a PO BOX NUMBER
Anna and 'Steve', information posted on this blog and other forums that relate to the owners and directors of a company is information that is in the public domain – this means that it can be referenced and published – lawfully. Now on the other hand, information about private individuals, such as where they live, who they are married to, the names of brothers and sisters, parents etc.. is not information that is in the public domain – therefore it is unlawful to publish it.
You sound like bullies, and it's clear that nobody has ever stood up to you – what's with all the ranting and threats? Guess what,I got news for you, nobody takes you seriously, and nobody ever will if this is how you conduct your business affairs and handle client concerns and complaints.
You should be learning from this experience, the comments made about your Ebay advertising are valid – any impartial observer would agree, why don't you spend your energy putting things right? Instead of… well.. doing what your doing.
Here's some wisdom, 'If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got'.
Oh and mellow out….
So Mr Anonymous , then why do you hide behind this, we have nothing to hide do we Simon S.
Hence our phone numbers website address and the offices and people we have dealt with along with our Solicitors.
No Anonymous here and No PO Box number, bogus telephone numbers here hey Racheal.
Oneday you will realise who tells the truth and who lies, until then keep responding.
Regards Steve B (The Boss)
I do not intend to carry on with this. You have had the chance Mr Brown on here and on the MyBG forum to put your side across.
If it turns out in the future that you are whiter than whiter and the people that have come to me are all liars as you say, then I will happily hold my hands up and say sorry but…….
If you are doing as well as you say you are with all the new offices, thousands of sales, fancy cars (rather liked my Lada Niva) then best of luck to you, you have clearly prospered well in a difficult economic climate.
this man steven, kevin john what ever he wants to call himself is odversly a lier and not profesional in his job.this is putting me off buying a property in bulgaria.hes named clients and there details that as got to be seriously wrong.How can anyone know hes telling the truth about this couple and the womens sister and someother poor man.you only have to read this to click in what this man is after Your money.ive read his website where some bits are telling us to get off our lazy arses and buy a property off him thats profesional isnt it.This man and polish women are in the wrong.what would he write about you if you brought a property off him and he didnt follow through what he said he would and you left bad feedback.i hate to know this is awful invasion into peoples private lives. I KNOW if i do buy in bulgaria i will make sure its nothing to do with this man. make you own mind up of him but ive made mine.be safe dont be sorry.
again the polish women names a man his date of birth passport number.how proffesional can you get ay ????? would you like your buisness,name,passport number, where you live etc….etc…. splashed across the web.this is awful what type of company are these people running.i really cant believe how bad this is.thats 5 clients of theres they fully name say where they live etc…. such a bad company feel really sorry for anyone who chooses to deal with these idot buisness people.God dont know if i dare to purchase a property in bulgaria now incase i deal with these people not knowing.educations and experience is nothing if your a con artist.awful cant believe these people
Nice to see you have moved this poor mans detail that the polish women put on.
[post edited to remove passport details]
Hi Everybody, Let me first introduce myself. My name is Marzena and I am the owner of BPR, which is a sister company of CBP. My nationality is Polish. I have a master degree in marketing and management. I am graduated from a very well known and prestigious university based in Moscow. I have been working for over 6 year for big corporative clients around both Eastern and Westen Europe. I speak 6 languages (including Russian and Bulgarian) and I have over 6 years experience in Real Estate Business in Bulgaria. I am very proud of both my education, background as well as the level of professionalism, which I am able to offer to the clients coming to see us. As I can see there is a lot of personal information about myself on your forum so let me introduce Mr. Anonymous (surely he would not mind) based on his passport he has sent us for creating his company (Surly I would not have this information, if he has not accepted that we were going to open it for him): So we are dealing here with Simon Paul Shekyls, born in Hackney, in 1969, claims that he lives in Lipetsk (Russia). Now the question is: WHAT IS HIS PROBLEM? According to our advert on ebay one of the bonuses our clients get is free company formation. It is NOT SOMETHING WE OFFERED TO HIM, because we were scared (what a stupid thought !!!), that he wanted to form his own company. Good luck to him. It would have saved me time and money if he has opened his company himself. Instead I have prepared for him all documents with translation virtually over a night as he gave us a very short notice reference to coming and viewing the property. Then we have not heard from him at all. No contact, not phone call that he is not coming, no apologise, nothing. After that we have received a negative feedback from him. If this is his business approach I am really sorry to everybody who has ever had, or is planning to have, any dealings with that person. I am coping below a letter from Mr. Shekyls to show how rude he is. Read this and make your own mind as to who we are dealing with here: 'You are clearly all very odd people. Your threats will not go unanswered, here in Russia we find creative ways of settling disputes – Rozumite Tovarish! Tell Kevin to take an English course at the West Suffolk College of FE, they have a wide range of adult education classes for immigrants from British Overseas Colonies. Miss or is it Mrs Stevo? Ognevska, wish her a happy birthday for the 8th of December, if I find the time I will send flowers to her family in Poland '.
That is the letter we are getting from this person. Keep in mind I have never had any direct contact with him. I have only briefly spoken with his solicitor in Varna on the phone. (By the way my parents have never received any flowers for my birthday. He must have the same approach to birthdays as to turning up for meetings. By the way if he is so keen on celebrating I have many friends from Dagestan based in Russia. They would gladly visit Lipetsk for New Year candle party with matches and a lot of candles). Next interesting question is WHY DOES ANYBODY WELCOMES COMMENTS FROM THIS KIND OF PEOPLE? He never turned up when he said he would. He had never paid any money (which means that he has never bought anything). Being in property business in Bulgaria for number of years I can say it is a very complicated business. It is time consuming, and it takes a lot of time, knowledge and patience before ANY deal is completed. During the time I am here I have managed to close possible and impossible deals. I had no reason not to complete another one for above mentioned Simon Paul Shekyls. The fact that nothing came out of it is his fault and nobody else. Unfortunately there are many idiots out there, who think that they are somebody, but when you look closely there is only their big mouth and nothing else. I think you have just come across one of them.
I had to delete Marzena's original post as was not meant to include passport details but have copied it above exactly as I received it less passport number and exact date of birth.
But Louise please do not be put off buying in Bulgaria by all this. There are good and bad everywhere. Just take your time and go on personal recommendations.
It is QUITE CLEAR here who is telling the TRUTH and who is lying after all WHO is stating their name and address contact details along with Phone number and SOLICITORS DETAILS. Make up your own minds on this, as it does not take a lot of working out.
It is also CLEAR as to who is working with who to discredit a Ltd Company THAT FROM WHAT I CAN SEE is trying to clean up Bulgaria by the way have set themselves up and 8 years of being in the property business in Bulgaria.
Does anyone else OWN the properties they sell?
Sorry but I am not a Fool and can see what is going on with the OWNER of this site who also I believe sells property in the same area cannot compete against CBP hence chooses to discredit this company with the added benefit of allowing what she wants on her website along with being a Moderator for MYBULGARIA and doing the same thing.
Please note that I have no connection with CBP but I do note that on Mybulgaria website. There is NOT ONE POST FROM ANYONE CONNECTED WITH THIS COMPANY and any postings have come from Rachael I believe using her position as a Moderator.
If I am not mistaken are or is the conversation between Rachael and CBP, hence that is why CBP sent it to her? NOT to be posted onto mybulgaria by the moderator Rachael.
Please have a look for yourself; it does not take a lot to work out does it?
By the way my name is Karen
Actually completely wrong Karen. For one I am no longer involved in property sales in Bulgaria and have not been for a year or two. I have a handful of my own properties for sale and that is it. I do not own property or operate in the Chirpan area where CBP are in any case. I am not a moderator of MyBulgaria and have no idea why you would think I was! I have no control of the MyBulgaria website and as you can see from this blog, I have published comments from all sides, yours included. I have no wish to discredit any company, but I if I come across misleading adverts and untrue information I will point it out as a warning to others.
Anything I posted on MyBulgaria was from this blog and so already posted by CBP on a public website. I have not published any private conversations. CBP had every opportunity to put their side across on MyBulgaria but chose not to.
You are of course welcome to your opinions but I suggest you get your facts straight first.
To Anonymous, Why anonymous? anyone can work out you are Simon the sheks869 guy that never tuned up.
You state: One final, final note – he alledges sending copy of a preliminary agreement the day I arrived in Bulgaria, despite being item number 3 on the list of things he promises to provide post-sale – it took a week to send this document and only after I had arrived in country.
So you did RECIEVE the details that you requested. ONLY AFTER YOU HAD ARRIVED in the country even though it took a week.
So why did you not GO and SEE the property ? or did you?
Point 3 in CBP advert states:
3) We scan and send you via email details of our Preliminary Agreement Contract for you to read which has our terms and conditions. The contract has been drawn up by our solicitor and written in plain English without the legal jargon that you will find elsewhere. You will read this and if your happy fill in your personnel details on the contract where stated and sign at the bottom where it's marked "ASSIGNOR". You will then re scan it and send back to us via email.
THERE IS NO TIME SCALE MENTIONED. So surely CBP forfilled its obligations by sending it to you as you have stated?
You also state:
it took a week to send this document and only after I had arrived in country,
Reading CBP advert it states:
Payment Terms
Once you place the winning bid we will e-mail you the next stage, we will then ask for a 30% deposit to be paid within 7 days after the auction (not 3 days like others). This secures your property for a further 23 days. You do not have to pay in full straight away like some other companies ask. (DO NOT EVER DO THAT PLEASE) They are asking for full payment up front because believe me you may not like what they are trying to sell you and they know this, BUT they want your money! We have had clients falling into this trap. Sorry but the Truth has to be told to you otherwise how would you know?
So you arrived into Bulgaria over 7 days ago, never turned up to view, recieved the documents as requested BUT NEVER PAID THE 30% DEPOSIT EITHER WITHIN THE 7 DAYS AS REQUESTED IN THE ADVERT?
I am sorry but I know who to believe and trust, How much was the property £3984 !
Sorry but ALL of you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Karen
Rachael, I have posted my facts as everyone who reads them can see,
Karen
So why are you not posting all these other messages i am sending ?
Or have i go it right?
Karen
My profession is:
Litigation Lawyer
Karen I am posting your comments on here as soon as they are coming through. If you have bothered to check the MyBulgaria topic you will see it has been locked by the moderator (nothing to do with me). I cannot post anything else there even if I wanted to.
i thought karen had nothing to do with CBP.sound alot like she does lol.what a joke she seems to know a hell of alot about them and this simon person and the price he was ment to pay for a house over there.Nothing adds up with this company.they are such a profesional company that they name and slate there customers wether they have brought off them,were going to buy off them or are possible buyers.it is so odverse who the liers are.buy off CBP if you have the money to play with and dont moan when you get told we told you so when down the line they let you down.but be warned your personal details maybe splashed across the internet. Rachel i think you have done a brilliant thing by showing the world what this company are capable of.thank you for standing up for everyone involved it takes a brave person to do that. i know you have stopped a few including myself from buying from this cowboy company. can you recommend a company to buy from in bulgaria.thank you. Louise
It seems Steve The Boss has changed his ebay account name, anyone know why?
http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/location.location.location.bulgaria
STEVE/KAREN/THE BOSS/KEVIN/ NAME CHANGES ALL THE TIME BUT ITS OBVIOUS ITS YOU KEVIN ALL ALONG – DOES BET FAIR MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU???
ANSWERS IN A STAMPED ADDRESS ENVELOPE ADDRESSED TO ALL THOSE THAT YOU SCAMMED!!!
On Steve The Boss’s website he is stating that the Bulgarian police are looking for Matthew Cox and Kristy Connolly does anyone know who they are?
This is a warning from someone who has been ripped off by these people in the past – DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM!! And most importantly do not give them any money – you will never see it again.
Mr Kevin C*****n/Steve the Boss and Ms Marzena ‘O’ are wanted by the British police in connection with a betting scam by which they defrauded a large number of people of over £1 million. These same people are now scamming property investors in Bulgaria. Not only are they crooks but from their postings above they are clearly in need of psychiatric help.
Yes they worked for him as his IT people as far as I understand, but things turned sour and they left. Very much doubt Bulgarian police are looking for them.
Hi Karen (travelbug) – can we contact you via email at all to ask for advice?
Also I am wondering if anyone has reported issues with ‘Steve’ to the UK Police and / or Serious Fraud Office.
Thanks very much
Should point out that Karen and TheTravelBug are separate people/entities.