Hendo there will be lots of pitfalls- I live In Antalya and have done for a couple of years and before I started the business I have, I looked seriously at bars and cafes, including in Marmaris and a "starbucks' style thing here in town. A few things I learnt
1. you have to do a proper viabillity study.
2. everybody will try to stiff you on the rents.
3. everybody will tell you you will be full every night or day.
4. when you ask why there selling its never because they are not making money, which is the case in most places for sale.
5. if you do get a place make sure you have a ceiling on rent rises because if it works the landlord will want to double the rent every year till he's bled you dry( then he'll find someone else to do the same).
6. every one will tell you the seasons 7 months long its not-more like 4 in real terms

So as an example the "starbucks" style place I looked at the rent per year would have been 60,000 dollar the wages 60,000 dolars annually and the start up cost around 80,000 doollars. allowing for refurbishment in 7 years and taxes and all the other little bits a peices I costed the break even point on this at selling 225 cups of coffee a day thats for working 360 days a year min 14 hours. And further as a Brit you will never be on a level playing feild your local Turkish rivals will not be paying much tax and at the same time reporting you to the Maliye/zabita the same thing goes for health inspections et al.

However If you considder your self a hard negotiator and not gullible and you can find the right place at the right rent yes there is a good income to be made out there and in fact enough for you not to work in the winter if you are good at it.

All I can say is research,research, research and best of luck with it and please come back to the forum later and let everyone know how things go.

Bryn has given a very good answer.
Just like to point out that if you don't make enough in the summer to carry through for the rest of the year you are going to be stumped trying to find work.
You will be competing against every Turk who works in the tourist/leisure industry cos they are in the same boat.

Mibut and Bryn are quite right. it is horrendous getting a work permit here. Every step of the way the local tax office or belediye will try to fleece you. jealousy runs deep in business here and the competition will have a "Turkish" edge.
One thing is for certain.... be very,very,very wary of going into business with a Turk. the disasters i have witnessed are unbelievable.
I don't wish to slag off the locals but their attitude changes when money is involved.
best way to appreciate living here is have a seperate income eg pension, investments etc and not to depend on working for a living.

thanks for all the info you have all given me, when we get over there we would like to set up om the internet, is it easy to get on the net and how much does it cost?

any answers would be appreciated.

thanks

hendo

If you go broadband (ADSL) its 49 YTl a month and isnt hard to set up providing you have the broadband in your area, here in Antalya I applied and it took two days to get it done, they (turk telecom) where helpful with the forms and efficient - a big and welcome surprise for me you need the phone connected first obviously which may take a week but it used to be months 15 years ago so things arent so bad now. You will need passport/residency permit when you go to get the connections.

The privatisation of TT should help get the service even better. The paperwork and queues can be time consuming...reminds me of old BT !! It does seem that the world and his wife have or are moving to Altinkum. Soon it will be a city like Izmir.

Hi
Bryn, Chelsea Boy and Mibut

You guys are obviously living out there in Turkey, so I also have a question for you.
Just how difficult is it to get a resident permit, and work permit???

My wife and I are also thinking of moving to Turkey in a couple of years. I had a thought about Real Estate, and I had a reply on one of the posts about it. It seems fraught with "loopholes"
However we do love Turkey and we have found that as much research on this site as possible seems to work!!!

Any constructive critisism would be appreciated

Thanks

Geoff and Olya

Geoff and Oyla Notwithstanding what I have posted above -and please bear that in mind: The residence permit is not hard to get as you own a property out here, it has got quite expensive lately though it used to work out at 70GBP per year but now has gone to 200 GBP per year. The Brit embassy has complained but I dont know how much good that will do. The best way of getting a work permit is to open and register a business here again its not difficult but you will need some one to do this for you find an accountant -again ask around to find a good one and he/she will do all the paperwork and it shouldnt cost more than 700GBP. If you are not coming out for a while start learning Turkish now spend at least an hour a day on it -it will be time well spent. Also visit the Turkish Govt webs and where anything about laws etc are in English read them and learn them again it will be time well spent. You will get tons of offers from Turks who want to be your business partners be warned 99.9% have no money very little education in business and little in the way of integrity. Like you said on your post and I always say RESEARCH.

Best of luck to you both and keep everybody posted on here in the future to help those who follow you.

Geoff and Olya,
As this is somthing that you are doing in a couple of years, do not worry to much about what is needed now.
The laws will probably change to make things a lot easier for foreigners to move and set up businesses.

Hi Guys
Thanks for that.
Reference the Turkish language: Yes, this is something that I am now doing, I have quite a good "Learn Basic Turkish" language course on cassette and the book that goes with it is also quite good.
It is giving me the basics, and hopefully I will progress from there.

slowly, slowly catchee the monkey!!!!

Geoff and Olya