Rachel began searching for property in Bulgaria in early 2004. She had initially wanted to invest in a property in a ski resort and had looked at various options from Austria, to Canada to Slovenia but eventually settled on Bulgaria and Bansko in particular as it seemed to offer a decent standard of skiing, had a new lift system and a proper town, not just a purpose built resort. Her research began as most people's does - browsing the internet and trailing through hundreds of websites viewing property details. In August 2004 she opted to reserve an apartment in Bansko. After months of battling with the developer and agent Rachel pulled out of the deal and fought the agency through court to get her money back and won.
Rachel wrote an EBook about her experiences above which you can purchase at [ http://www.thetravelbug.org/nightmare.html

However, despite this initial set back she still loved Bulgaria and wanted to invest in property there but had decided that buying cheaper old rural property was a much better bet. She visited the country a number of times and travelled more or less all over Bulgaria to see the sights and get to know different regions, as well as look at various property offers.
On one trip over to Bulgaria in May 2005 she ended up buying a small old house close to Stara Zagora and ended up working in partnership with the agency that sold her the house. Rachel started taking clients out to the Stara Zagora area and also arranging to travel around Bulgaria with them. On each visit she would end up buying another one or two houses around Stara Zagora until she had a portfolio of 12 houses and plots.

In 2006 Rachel moved permanently to Bulgaria, initially living in a partly renovated villa and then moving into her new house a year later. She faced many problems with builders with her house build and other renovations but has finally got a lovely, 3 bed property and several renovated houses close by.

In winter 2009 Rachel headed for the French Alps to pursue her dream of working and living in a ski resort. She returned to Bulgaria in summer 2009 and spent several months getting the gardens under control and completing renovations on two further properties.
Rachel now splits her time between Bulgaria and France. She runs [ http://www.thetravelbug.org and writes regularly on her blog at [ http://www.thetravelbug.org/blog about her adventures in both Bulgaria and France and generally about property investment.

Rachel is currently selling 5 of her properties. Three are un-renovated old houses, all for under 7,000 Euros each and the other two are villas for 21,000 E and 35,000 E. She also has 3 properties available for long term rent (two are shown here) close to Kazanlak and Stara Zagora. For more details please visit [ http://www.thetravelbug.org and [ http://www.therentalbug.com