Trying to buy the School (part 2)

Looking down at the School from the top of the land

Where was I? Oh yes, I had decided that taking the pressure off my travelling plans, and simplify the auction process, I would give Georgi power of attorney to open a bank account, and carry through the purchase process to completion.

Rather than fly over to Bulgaria to get a power of attorney done there I chose to see a notary in the UK and send it to them. This was not as simple as it should have been, though it wasn't too bad in the end. First of all I had to find a notary to do the work for me and the first one I spoke to seemed almost offended that I had rung up and disturbed his nice peaceful day. Fortunately the next guy was super helpful and I made the appointment very quickly after that.

Georgi had sent across the amended contract and a power of attorney, each of which had an English version and a Bulgarian translation. This was signed in the presence of my notary, stamped and then sent off to get an Apostile (basically an official stamp that proves the notary has the right to witness and approve the document) which was applied at the embassy in London. It was not cheap for what was basically 30 minutes in an office and then a courier to and from London.

After a week the documents arrived back and, with a quick scan to provide myself with a copy, they were handed to a courier within 30 mins for their fast delivery back to Georgi. Because of the time taken discussing which method to use we were starting to run out of time as he would need to open an account and could not do this without the power of attorney.

My documents, flying

As is my wont I was keeping on top of the progress and chasing the agent regarding the auction date; I needed to ensure that I could make it over as I would be very disappointed to miss such an important event. The date was delayed, however, as the Mayor had gone on holiday and no date could be set until her got back.

Finally the Obshtina set a date, after several false starts caused by various people going on holiday, elections taking place, national holidays and just basic "bulgarian time" administration processes.

The date of my auction would be 22nd May 2012.

My travelling was typically constrained; I booked flights out on Monday 21st and to return on Thursday 23rd (and, touching on other parts of my life, I had a ferry to Islay booked on Friday 24th early morning to get over there for the Whisky festival; which would either be a celebration or a commiseration based on the outcome of the auction).

Unfortunately, again due to slow processes in Bulgaria, we had run out of time to open an account and Georgi asked me to send the initial 20% deposit into his own account. This caused me some soul searching but after much thought, and talking to several people for advice, I decided to go ahead and do this. Fortunately I was able to trust him however this could all have been avoided by me having opened a Bulgarian account earlier in the process and having money sitting there ready and waiting and only requiring an internal transfer within Bulgaria, not the delay of an international money transfer.

Money with wings. Oh yes

I won't go into the pain which Santander made my transfer (as they had the wrong telephone number on one of their systems and they almost refused to do the transfer) but the money arrived fine and the deposit was paid.

All that was left now was for the actual auction to take place...

Would I win!