Deciding what to look for.
It sounds obvious, but deciding what you want or more importantly what you need is an often over-looked step at the early stages of the buying a Turkish property. A common mistake is applying the same rules of buying property at home to buying property in Turkey, with over 300 days of sunshine per year your likely to use any property very differently and expect different things from it. Consider;
1. Will it be purely for your own use or for rent/investment?
2. Will the property be for short holidays or extended stays?
3. When will the property be used, just in season or all-year round?
4. How will you get about when staying at the property?
5. Do you want to be near other foreign people or local people?
6. How close to the airport do you want/need to be?
7. What is your realistic budget?
1. Will it be purely for your own use or for rent/investment?
Deciding early whether you are buying a property for yourself or effectively someone else is an important first step. Looking for a house that suits you and your needs may reduce its appeal to others if you are just buying a house as an investment or as a rental property. If you are buying as an investment consider what would appeal to a wider range of people, such as;
- View. A stunning seaview or panoramic mountain views will always be appealing.
- Distance to local amenities. How far is it to the nearest market, can it be walked, how extensive is their product range?
- Access to beach or swimming pool. With temperatures often hitting the high 40’s during summer, even the hardest sun-worshipper needs to cool off every now and then. Private pools are considered highly desirable, despite the involvement and cost of maintenance.
- Transport links. The ability to get about is very important, very few people want to be stuck in their property. The local bus service (known as Dolmu, pronounced ‘Doll-moosh’) is very good and runs almost everywhere, but how far is it to the route of the nearest bus, where does it go and how often?
2. Will the property be for short holidays or extended stays?
This will be a good guide for determining the size of the property and the general location. If you are only planning to use the property yourself for a couple of weeks per year then a property larger than you need will become a maintenance nightmare, perfect for the avid DIY’er but not for spending your hard earned holiday relaxing. For short stays on holiday the property is likely only to be used as a base with the majority of the time spent elsewhere, either at the beach, shopping or exploring. If you are planning extended stays or relocation then you will need something that is big enough to give everyone their own personal space and seemingly less important features like nearby car-parking or ease of access suddenly come to the top of the list.
Importance of access to local amenities will also change depending how long you will be using the property. If you are going to be at the property for only a week then a small nearby store will probably stock everything you need, where as if you are going use the property for extended stays you’re more likely to want to bulk shop from a supermarket.
3. When will the property be used, just in season or all-year round?
Knowing when the property will most likely be used, will also help you decide what to look for. If the property will only be used during the summer months, more time is likely to be spent outdoors. Thus the main decisions to be made are whether there is enough outdoor space and enough airconditioning indoors. However if you intend to use the property out of season or all-year round, much more needs to be considered. The majority of properties built around touristic areas are built as summer homes, where the property was not intended to be used during the winter. Older resale properties are rarely insulated against water and heat and even fewer have dedicated heating systems. This is now changing as new developments are focused more towards European buyers but it remains a consideration for older properties.
4. How will you get about when staying at the property?
Deciding how you will be able to get around or how much you intend to get around will help you to decide where to look for the location of your property to be. Relying on public transport and deciding how far you are prepared to walk to access that transportation will eliminate some properties. Where as deciding to use/own private transport will expand your possible search. See our guide to Travel & Transportation for more information.
5. Do you want to be near other foreign people or local people?
Depending on how strongly you feel about this issue will ultimately decide for you where your property will be located. If you need to be surrounded by other foreigners or certain nationalities, your choices for suitable locations will be restricted. Likewise if you want to emerse yourself in the local culture and don’t want to be able to see or hear another foreigner you will be looking for very specific locations.
6. How far from the airport do you want to be?
Primarily this will only be a concern if the property will only used for short stays, when every hour is precious. It is also an important factor though, if you are buying a property as an investment, since the property will appeal to a wider potential market the shorter the travelling time from the airport. Improvements are constantly being made on the transportation system in general in Turkey and the current grip that the tour operators have over the cheap flight sector is gradually weakening. More carriers are flying to more locations at cheaper prices for longer periods and it is expected that budget carriers should start flying to key touristic aiports soon, further broadening the access and way in which people will use property in Turkey.
7. What is your realistic budget?
Having gone through all the above pointers and deciding that a 7 bedroom detached property with a private pool and panoramic seaviews is the right property for you, it is a wasted effort if you only have a £30,000 budget. Whilst Turkey is still considerably cheaper than its ‘hot-spot’ alternatives (namely Spain, Portugal etc) interest in property by the foreign market has boosted prices to record highs over the past 3-4 years. As more and more people discover what Turkey has to offer over its rivals this increase is set to continue.
It is important to remember that the cost of buying property in Turkey doesn’t stop at the cost of the property itself. With the fees generated in purchasing property, a further 9-10%* should be put aside to cover all the costs involved. As well as the cost of buying the property and the fees involved, consideration needs to be taken on the set-up of a property. Occasionally with resale properties the seller will leave some or all of the furniture or may negotiate it into the price fo the property and with new builds, some developers will include ‘gifts’ of white goods or some furniture. But as a general rule a property will need to be started from scratch, which can be an expensive effort depending on your taste and style, though an average 2-bedroom apartment can be fully furnished with white goods of a reasonable quality for approximately £2,500-3,000.
* Example; For a £50,000 property, assuming the following:
- Deeds tax, for exchanging property @3%, in some cases the seller will pay half of this cost. £1,500
- Broker commission @ 3%, the Turkish standard fee from the buyer for the property broker. £1,500
- Solicitor’s fee of £2,000 which is an all inclusive fee for all incurred legal expenses. At Simple Property Solutions – TR we use a reputable local solicitor that handles every aspect of the legal process for complete peace of mind (see legal process below).
- Total fees: £1,500 + £1,500 + £2,000= £5,000
