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       WHY BULGARIA?

- Membership of EU in 2007 
- Full member of NATO         
-Established tourist industry

- Bulgaria offers Sea cost,     
  Ski slops, Golf, City breaks
- Rapid economic growth       
- Price rises over 20% p.a.   
- Regular direct flights           

 
 
 
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Golf Properties

 

Golf Club Ibar 18 km from Borovets                        BlackSeaRama Balchik area (Black Sea)

                                    

There are a couple of factors, which would make the investments in golf profitable.

First, the construction of the golf course should be done by professionals. Contrasted with the wild and rapid construction of hotels along the Black Seaside, the construction in golf does not aim gaining fast and easy profit. The projects, indeed, have the ambitions to compete with worldwide golf projects. For golf designers are hired famous golf players, like Gary Player, Ian Woosnam and Jack Nicklaus. The hiring of those specialists costs between 500 000 and 1 million EUR. Besides projecting the courses, they also promote Bulgaria as a hot golf destination. “So this is an investment, not an expense. Later on, the good design will sell properties and thus the cost price of the maintenance will be lower in future.” Nedev says.

The second factor, which influences a satisfactory return from one golf course, is the infrastructure of the area. It is more than obvious that the investor in Bulgaria earns not from golf, but from the sales of properties and additional service charges. It should not be forgotten of course, that the sells of hotel rooms and apartments are fact due to the course itself (good location + preserved nature). The prices here vary from 1400-1600 EUR per square metre. At the same time, some golf courses in Spain do not offer any properties for sale, but are still profitable enough. They have been constructed exclusively for golf players. This is possible, because there are enough golfers, who make the investment returns easier. “The construction of a golf course, though, at a place with no golf culture and no golf climate is not a good idea at all” Manuel Ferry Sanches says. In cooperation with Air Sofia, Manuel Sanches participates in the construction of the golf complex in Kuttina Village, near Sofia.

Golf villas usually cost about 500 000 EUR. The record price for Bulgaria is held by Black Sea Rama and counts to 1.4 million BGN. The complex at Black Sea Rama consists of 500 villas. Some of the luxurious holiday homes have pools and most of them are being sold in packages. The first package, launched on the market consists of 78 residential buildings - 36 of them are sold and 21 are deposited. The interest comes from Bulgarians, Russians, Jewish and Arabs. “We report a 30 % increase in the rates, compared with the first 9 month figures since we first started selling. We are also surprised by the buyers’ profiles, as we expected 80 % of them to be foreigners (in particular British), while it actually came out that half of them are Bulgarians.” Violeta Budeva, marketing director of Black Sea Rama says.

If we make simple arithmetic – 78 houses multiplied by 500 000 EUR equals to 39 million EUR receipts. If we have a project at average value of 103 million EUR, it comes out that almost half of the investment is paid-off only with the first package, while in the same time 422 more properties are left for sale. The prices of the next villas for sale are expected to rise even more. In this context Krassimir Gergov says he hopes the rates will reach 3000 EUR per square metre. Having all this in mind we should not forget that besides from golf property buyers, the golf complex earns from golfers, who play golf and rent villas or apartments. There are also people, who buy the villas in order to give them for rent afterwards and gain profit from that.

The residential part of Golf Club Ibar consists of 450 houses. So far 50 % of them are sold away. The targets are mainly British and Irish residents. “The investments in golf are much different from the seaside investments, where the investors directly get their profits. Golf is reinvestment itself. It is like a shop, located on “Vitosha” Boulevard in Sofia, where you do not gain immediate material profit, but have stability and solidity of your incomes”., Iliya Lazarov, the other owner of Golf Club Ibar says. “Imagine one golf course with clubhouse, restaurant, training field with 6 short holes and a pro-shop – an investment, estimated at 10 million EUR. Their managing will bring from 1.3 million to 4 million EUR to the owner, depending on the management effectiveness”.

The third important factor, influencing the profitableness of golf investments is the good quality marketing. At the inspection of Black Sea Rama golf course Gary Player stated that after the golf courses are finalized, the country should sponsor a tournament at a European level so that golfers see with their own eyes the constructed golf complexes. Thus the flow of solvent clients will start more than naturally. According to Krassimir Gergov the marketing expenses come to 300-400 000 EUR anually. Usually the game is advertised in specialized foreign Medias. For example, at the last visit of Gary Player in Balchik, foreign journalists were invited.

St. Sofia Golf & Spa has another method of clients’ approach. According to the words of Doryana Dimitrova, the club sends e-mails to specific circle of clients, which includes foreigners, as well as keen Bulgarian golf players. “We try to engage the golfers with tournaments almost every weekend” she says. It is also a recent trend many corporations to organize their team-buildings at Ravno Pole golf course. Some of these companies include Oracle, Chivas, Dunhill, and Danone. Here is another curious fact brought to our attention by Kamen Kirilov, press-attaché of the Bulgaria Golf Association. At the first golf tournament “Bulgaria Open”, which was held last year there were 4 foreign golfers, who hadn’t been targeted. They had just seen the ad in the Internet, applied online and came to Bulgaria for the tournament.

Neal Turley thinks the golfers are always looking for a new terrain. “The quality high-grade projects with expensive facilities and good golf courses in Bulgaria are definitely attracting the players. Besides that, players spend much more for the same quality and experience in England.

How Much Does a Golf Complex Cost?
To construct a new golf course, one company should have at least 5 – 12 million EUR for the course construction only (not including investments in construction of buildings, hotel complexes, residential parts, infrastructure and facilities). The projection takes up to 10 % of the money recourses of the whole project. The water irrigating system costs between 650 000 and 1.2 million EUR. The complete equipment costs about 250 000 – 450 000 EUR. On average, one golf project in Bulgaria amounts to a total of 100 million EUR.
With the start of operation of the golf course, the incomes will mainly come from the sells of real estates, while later on the incomes will be generated from member fees and rental of facilities.
The golf courses can be financed in different ways. The first scheme is called “play and pay” (applicable at Ravno Pole golf course). In Golf Club Ibar the investment returns are based on the “members only” private club scheme, where everybody who has their own property becomes member and pays an annual fee of 1600 EUR, for example. Part of that money goes for infrastructure and common improvements; the other is for golf itself. Separately, more funds are generated, when members play.
Nature is essential for successful golf projects. “We want to show that there are alternatives to the over-construction. For example Black Sea Rama offers only one-floor and two-floor luxurious villas. The clients already felt that we are offering something different and valued it by giving money for calmness and beauty amongst nature.” Kancho Stoychev says. Mr. Lazarov supports his words: “In our project the building factor is 0.2 %. If we don’t consider the course itself, the factor is 0.02 %. This means that a house cannot cover more than 200 square metres per decare and cannot be set on more than two floors. We have even talked with the mayor not to allow other type of constructions in the region.

BEST of the BEST
Gary Player is designer of Black Sea Rama project in Balchik and Thracian Cliffs golf course in Kavarna. "I am sure that Black Sea Rama is going to be amongst the best courses in Europe and the world as well" he says. Gary Player has won 163 tournaments worldwide. Five time winner of World Match Play Championship (most ever) and only winner of Grand Slam on Regular Tour and Champions Tour. Gary Player is also famous with projecting more than 200 golf courses. Unique Gary Player designs are the courses in Yangon, Myanmar and Sun City, Republic of South Africa.

Jack Nicklaus is now designing Golf Club Ibar near Dolna Banya. The Bulgarian contractors say he has iron will and discipline in working. Before opening Nicklaus Design Project Company, Jack was announced the best golf player for the 20th Century. Now during the 21st Century Jack Nicklaus has entirely devoted to golf design. He has 35 projects out of 240, which are in Top 100 of World’s best golf courses.

Ian Woosnam is now engaged with the projection of two golf complexes – Pirin Golf & Country Club in Bansko and Lighthouse Golf Resort, near Balchik. In 1994 Ian Woosnam opens the designed-by-him Dale Hill Golf Club in England and thus wins world public recognition.