Job Discussion Forums

[jasmine2345]

I need to scout up a flat in Istanbul on the internet. Are there any emlak sites in English and Turkish ? if no English sites, can anyone recommend a good emlak ?

[31]

Can`t the boyfriend do it?

[molly farquharson]

try sahibinden.com, though it is in Turkish. Also try mymerhaba and look for postings

[corall]

if you know the area that you want to live in that's the best way to find an emlak as well - my friend was also looking in the turkish papers a lot...

oh and isn't there some website or something that advertises people looking for flatmates as well?

[dmb]

Google 'emlak istanbul' and you'll get loads of sites.

[31]

Why do ''emlaks'' always have a dirty impoverished dogsbody who has to begrudgingly show you around the flat? Why can`t they at least get a clean, customer oriented one?

Justine will no doubt have a great time looking for a flat.

[preston]

And how on earth do they justify charging 10% of the yearly rent as a commision? Last year I paid 700million to some dodgy bloke for a couple of hours' work

[molly farquharson]

i've done the wandering the streets loooking for signs thing, and i have never found a place that way. if someone is selling a place onthe 5th floor, why bother putting up a sign? Actually, I did see a sign on a place in galata once, but i couldn't read the numbers because it was high up. i went in search of the place and found it, waaaay up on it felt like the 100th floor (really like the 7th). didn't pursue it.

The emlakcis are paid for knowing the information. I have paid the komisyon only once in all the time I've been here though, since I seem to have lucked out in housing. I use a great emlakci, who got me into my apt (and i paid the commission) and then they helped my buy a place. They have been incredibly helpful to me, so they are not all dodgy.

another place to look for places if you are in ist is the Tuketici, but most of the ads are actually placed by emlakci.

[31]

[dmb]

Is there another country in the world that has such a screwed up way of renting a flat. Basically, you walk into an emlak. You tell them you want an flat for xxx$ and x number of rooms and you want it in area x. They say tamam, and send you of with, as 31 pointed out, the dogsbody and if you decide to take the flat they take 12.5% commission on the years rent. Guys we are in the wrong jobs. let's become emlaks and sit about all day(closed most of the time) drinking tea

[31]

It reminds me of a Turkish teacher I used to work with who always used to talk about how great it would be to open a little shop. His shop would consist of a table and a photocopier which he would sit behind all day. He reckoned you could make a good living because of the amount of students copying their notes and homework and the amount of people copying id cards and other documents. One day as he was going on about his dream one of the other teachers reminded him that when they worked together at school x ten years ago he was saying the exact same thing then.

[calsimsek]

Come on dmb you pay commision fees all over the world. In the U.K the owner pays the fee. In Aust you pay a finders fee as you do in the states.

The turks still don't have a law regarding who can become an agent, so it is wild west ride. The best thing to do is talk to the local bakal or kapa�i they know whats for rent and will help you out for far less then the agents will charge you.

Also You don't have to pay the agent the full price. You can get them to cut it by half, if you put up a fight.

Good luck.

[whynotme]

in 1993 whynotme was a student at the university and he needed a flat to live in ...uppps sorrry (have to move to my own style) and we went to an emlakcı...the woman showed us the flat and the rent was 2.500.000TL and the commision was 20 million( i was a single handsome and a charming man those days and thought that the woman made a discount for the commission) we moved in the flat and prepared coffee...and the bell rang...a man with a big question mark on his face was on the door and he was shocked ..he was the landlord and didnt know that emlakcı had a key and had promised to give the flat to someone else..... i hate emlakcıs.....


p.s. finally we got the flat without the comission