Job Discussion Forums

tomwaits · Joined: 27 Nov 2011 Posts: 13

Hi,
Does anyone have any experience of buying property in Turkey, good or bad, whilst working in TEFL?

I'm probably looking outside Istanbul to a coastal town and not looking for a mortgage.

Thanks

PC Parrot · Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:29 am Post subject:

I've done it .. and have seen the people at the tapu office with their Carrefour bags of cash ..

It can be done in a day and is a damn sight quicker than the Britisih system, which I've also been through ...

Ours was bought through my (Turkish) wife, so we didn't have to go through the special hoops required of foreigners .. if you don't have a Turkish partner it can hold things up as you can need military clearance if you're buying in an area within x km of any military land ..

tomwaits · Joined: 27 Nov 2011 Posts: 13

Thanks - do you mind me asking where? I've looked on rightmove overseas and it seems that compared to the UK the market is generally much lower on prices. Having said that, some of the ads seem a little suspicious. I was thinking of looking in Antalya or Fethiye.
Thanks again.

PC Parrot · Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:21 am Post subject:

We bought in Istanbul .. a lovely wooden house along the Bosphorous requiring renovation .. that was 7 years ago mind you when prices were much much lower ..

.. We bought through a local 'estate agent' .. saw an opportunity and phoned the number .. there are larger chains of estate agents, however, such as Re-max - who have offices in Istanbul and, I should imagine, throughout Turkey ..

Have you tried www.sahibinden.com .. though if you went that route, you'd need either to speak Turkish and know he proces of house buying or to have someone with you that did ...

billy orr · Joined: 15 Jul 2009 Posts: 229

PC Parrot · Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:33 am Post subject:

We used to .. after we did it up, we rented it out for a couple of years and then sold it for a very handsome profit ...

I learnt a lot about the architecture of those yali's while doing it, as we had to have the facades & windows completely replaced .. along with the electric, water, and sewerage ... and the interior wals ... and some parts of the floor .. and anything else you can think of ..

It really was a beautiful building .. so much so that it featured in an HSBC advert .. we had a whole film crew of 40 in the street .. one of the soap operas also wanted to rent it for over a year at a premium rent, but we rather foolishly honoured the contract of the tenant who was living there - they later went on to shaft us ..

barabbas · Joined: 22 Aug 2009 Posts: 58

We bought a property in Antalya a couple of years ago. It was very cheap compared to England and easy to do.

The problem we did encounter was with Estate Agents, who charge a huge commission and some of whom were devious beyond their reputation in other countries. So we decided to buy direct from an owner. We simply walked round the streets where we wanted to buy and made phone calls. It ended up cheaper like that.

tomwaits · Joined: 27 Nov 2011 Posts: 13

thanks barabbas - can you give me a general idea of what an ok 2/3 bed would cost in Antalya now, nothing flash just not too crummy? Also, have you managed to find teaching work in Antalya itself?

PC Parrot · Posted: Sun Jan 29, 2012 4:47 am Post subject:

Otterman Ollie · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:53 pm Post subject:

Buying property in Turkey can be cheaper than other countries, but its a minefield and I would recommend you always take good legal advice.