Bryn..have you seen the post about turgutreis...and can you explain the legality of buying through the notars office..which has been done a lot over here. it confusssssses me.

Shirley which post?? youll have to stick a link on

first one in the expats forum..about military permit etc.

The area of turgutries İ dont know that well but İ am looking at maps to try and find the restrictions for that area. As for the bit about people buying through Noters contracts well İ assume you mean where they make a contract through the noter so that the developer/agent can get a sale now as opposed to waiting for the new law and then applying for the Tapu when the new law comes in. A lot of people are going to end up with thier behinds exposed here if
a) the new law takes longer than expected
b) there is anything in the new law that is unexpected.
And then they will all be on the forums asking for advice or saying they have been ripped off.

Time will tell whats going to happen??

Brynn
It would be great if you find out about Turgetries military zones to post reply on my thread. Thank you very much.

take legal advice before handing over money i live in turkey and i hear of to many brits getting riped of be careful

Hi

My Hubby and I are looking to buy an apartment or possibly a villa as an holiday home/investment in Turkey.

We have been going to different parts of Turkey for the past 8 years and love it!

Can anyone give us some pointers and perhaps some links to look available property?

We really are open to advice and your suggestions!!

Many Many Thanks

Joolz

Joolz

In the interest of honesty and integrity and because I dont want to break forum rules I will tell you first of that I am an estate agent:

That said first thing to do and you have taken the first step here is do lots of research. Think about the areas you like, because if you like them chances are others will, same to be said about the type of property you want. Ask lots of questions and although you will get a wide variation of answers you should end up with a concensus of opinion.

Set your top price at 10% below what you can actually afford, this will alow you some movement in price and also allow you to furnish it and pay taxes etc without going over budget, such that you can actually afford to come and enjoy the place after you have bought it, you will be surprised at the number of people who dont plan for this. Find a few good agents and make appointments with them, telling them what you are looking for,As certainly from my point of view its much easier if I can elliminate properties you dont want to see before you get here.

Dont let the agent pressure you in to a decision. "this is the last villa or apartment available " is the oldest line in the book. Ask lots of questions of the agents and when you find your place get a lawyer to control the contract and make sure everything you have discussed with agent or developer is in the contract.

Good luck with your search and if you need more PM me.

Hi Joolz. Bryn has given you some good advice. We bought last year and found it quite a roller coaster ride. We love our holiday home so it was all worth it. Do tons of home work http://www.turkisheconomy.org.uk is a good place to start, there is a section that explains the whole process and the costs involved. print it out and take it with you. As anywhere there are good, bad and indifferent agents. Not all explain the process very well and I have heard of some buyers who suddenly have a nasty shock when they realise that they have taxes to pay and a 3% bill to the agent. Ask lots of questions and keep asking until the whole thing is clear. Unless you are fluent in Turkish there is also the language problem. A good english speaking agent is the key so ask around and find one others have recommended. The same goes for the lawyer, some are really hiking up their charges be careful. Have you decided on an area yet? You need to consider whether its a holiday home or year round living, if you want a tranquil place or somewhere up beat, are you looking on this as an investment, do you want to let it , are you hoping for good capital growth. Different areas will meet different needs so you need to try to be clear about what you want before you start.
I hope you find your perfect holiday home

Thanks to both of you.

This is just the start of our investigations - so I thought I should ask people who have been through the processes first.

We have money we want to invest and hopefully get a return on in the years to come but at the same time be able to enjoy our investment rather than put it into stocks and shares.

Ideally we would like to let it our during the times we are not using it - and realise this may not be easy but we do have some friends, colleagues and family who would be interested in using it if we decide to go ahead.

The places we would prefer would have to be within an hour driving distance from the airport, appeal to families and have a family friendly beach (not pebbles) and places of interest - we dont really want anything too far from the beach and main shopping/dining out area as this would mean additional transport costs that people would have to consider.

Does this place excist I wonder!!?

We have been to many parts - Olu Deniz, Belek, Kemer, Sarigerme - to name just a few.

I know in some regions the weather is not so good in the winter months and would prefer to avoid these if possible.

Have been on a few web sites - but how do you know which companies have good reputations etc?? This is where hopefully you good people help us out.

Thanks again

Joolz

hi joolz
we have bought a property in mamaris,
after haveing many holidays there and makeing lots of friends in the resort it made perfect sense to buy there.
its not just finding the resort you like, you will find how different the many areas of that resort are, as in your home town there are good and bad areas.this you will only discover when you got to turkey and start looking around with an agent.
before you go make a list of everything that you want from your purchase and keep it with you all the time, ticking the boxes as you go, also take lots of pictures of the propertys to refer back to as you will forget alot of details as you serch different propertys.
one good tip our turkish friend pointed out to us was if you buy a property right in the centre you will get the noise of the transfer coaches comeing and going all hours of the day and night.
sorry to waffle on i could go on for ever
hope this helps
best of luck

Hi Joolz

I was very interested to read your post as I am looking for the same property as you, but where does it exist! I am trying to get an idea of prices in Turkey and whether you are better buying an existing property or off-plan. We looked at a few properties last year when we were in Kusadasi but felt that renting would be too troublesome and were told we would not find it that easy to rent and we would not get that much for it. We felt that when you paid someone to look after the property over then, clean it, furnish it out for rental etc, it would be more bother that it was worth.

I would like to know what sort of yearly charges I would expect to pay on a house that may only be used for a few weeks in a year. Water, electricity etc. are there taxes like rates etc. What I really would like to know if buying a propety and not renting it out is a good investment and is there a certain price range of properties or features that make the best investment. Is it all location, location, location.

Thanks for any help.

Hi Mike,

You waffle on as much as you like the more info the better!!

We had thought about traffic as some of our family have young children and I wouldnt want them not to enjoy a good nights sleep when they need one!!

How did you find a good agent? Builder? as we do want to buy a new property.

I know here we have tradesmen with good qualifications etc and wondered what qualification show the mark of a good agent/developer?

Seabreeze - if you find our complex/development first let me know!!

Joolz

hi again Joolz. I'm sure the place you want exists and it's good that you have been to a few places. Play around on a search engine for a while typing in names of places and look on a few holiday villa rental sites as they give info about areas. Don't be dependant on renting the place, in some areas there are an awful lot of villas for rent. Also after buying ours we couldn't bear to do it apart from family and friends. It might be a good idea to look a bit further afield than 1 hour from an airport. We bought 2 hours away and the journey is no big deal, the prices were cheaper, we got an off plan duplex with a pool and sea view within 3 minutes walk from a beach and 15 mins from town. We couldn't find much for this spec. at a price we could afford in most areas nearer the airport. I did 8 months of constant research using the web, magazines, word of mouth etc. and 3 visits out there before we actually bought (in addition to 14 years of holidays). Yes prices did rise while I was looking but we did get what we really wanted in the end. I can give you web sites that I used if you PM me but they are easy enough to find with a search engine just try typing in emlak and an area name or property turkey etc etc. I'm sure Bryn will have a web site too. I can tell you who the agent was that that I used and also another that friends used but it won't be much use if it's not the right area! I don't want to break any forum rules by posting them here. Good luck you are doing this at a good time because the property law has now been sorted. One last little tip. It's a good idea to look in low season, there are several reasons but my main one is that it is so much easier to treck round loads of properties when it is cooler.

Hi JMK!

Well you have given me much to think about - I had read about all the issues with the tapu whilst the law was being brought in.

If you could PM me with any links I would be grateful! After a while the sites all look the same and I seem to be going around in circles

Im now trying to narrow down my locations - its terrible when everywhere looks so beautiful!

Joolz

Just to clarify:

Members are free to posts links to sites that are available by anybody doing a Google (or other search engine) search. The same applies to telephone numbers and email addresses.

What we prevent doing is members posting their personal email addresses and telephone numbers, or such details that are not available in the public domain. We also like members to declare if websites that have been linked to are owned by themselves. Such links should also have relevance to the topic being discussed.

Hope this clarifies matters.

Mark

Thanks Mark i didn't want to post anything to upset anybody!!
So, here are 4 websites that I found helpful. 1 only has property around Cesme and the others feature property in several areas. I have looked at property with the first three of them and have had e mail contact with the other. They all seemed fine and up front but of course that is only my opinion. I didn't buy from any of them but my emlak only does one area and does not have a web site. I know people who have bought through 1.
At the very least they are interesting sites and you can guage prices from them.
turyap.com
villasinturkey.net (think mark accidently deleted this so i've put it back in)
http://www.myvillaturkey.net/
http://www.turkeytwinkles.com/
obviously there are loads more if you search and i'm sorry to those of you I've left out!!

** Edited by MarkJ to activate links **

** Removed by MarkJ **

As explained in my earlier post, please indicate if you are linking to your own site

Mark