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Brits living mortgage free after leaving the UK and buying new home for just £7k

A British family is living mortgage free in their dream home – after buying the property for just £7,000. Laura Phoenix, and her husband, Anthony, migrated to Bulgaria amid spiralling housing costs in the UK.

They shelled out on an abandoned three-bedroom home and set about renovating the property immediately, saying it is now their dream home.




Laura, 33, and Anthony, 32, have daughters aged two and four and wanted to buy a rural home back in Britain but couldn’t afford it due to soaring housing costs.

Laura Phoenix with her daughters Cecelia and Nova in a Bulgarian winter.

So they decided to make the bold decision of moving to Bulgaria – 1,941 miles away. In September 2023 they took the plunge after selling their two-bed property in County Durham.

They pocketed £85,000 in the sale and settled in the northeastern town of Strazhitsa and, Manchester Evening News reports, since moving, Laura says her family feel “free”.

The mum-of-two, who works as an online English teacher and writer, said: “We bought a home on a whim, but it’s our dream home. We don’t have any mortgage. I feel we were pushed out of the UK. I feel like we had no choice.

“We don’t want to both work hours for 40 hours a week just to exist. In England it is so unattainable.” Anthony added: “Even if you own a property in the UK the cost of living is so much higher.