Quest Turkey Property and Lifestyle Magazine

When you make the decision to buy in Turkey, you may be torn between buying a quaint old cottage or a brand new modern apartment. There is plenty of choice particularly in the way of new build apartments and renovation costs if you choose an old property are far cheaper than in most European countries. The thing to consider is how each option best suits your needs in terms of amenities and location and which will generate the best resale returns in the long run. We take a look at some of the pros and cons of buying both new and old…

 

The Character and Charm of an Old Property

Some renovations are not too difficult to take on needing only new windows and doors and some cosmetic reparations to the kitchen and bathroom, however there are many old properties on the market, which are better described as derelict ruins and no amount of skill and good intention is going to bring them back to life. With a renovation project you need to have money set aside to cope with all manner of eventualities and if your pot runs dry you could be left with a home that is only half finished. If you buy an old apartment then they are unlikely to have many of the modern facilities offered in the new complexes, but it will be much cheaper to buy and if you buy in a resort area you will not have to pay any fees for annual property maintenance. The advantages of buying old are that no amount of skilled architectural design can ever add the character that an old property brings to the fore and if you buy one of the old wooden or stone Ottoman houses in an historic area, they resale potential is excellent once the property has been restored to its former glory.

The Luxury and Convenience of a New Build

The Turks love the new builds, which are springing up in every nook and cranny of the country and they are not the only ones to fall in love with new builds. Many international investors prefer the ease and security of buying a building, which conforms to EU building standards and has certificates to prove it complies with the county’s strict laws on earthquakes. The satisfaction of moving into a home, which has not been lived in is obvious, but even this does not come without some minor hitches. New builds often have snags attached that need to be rectified like blemishes to the plaster, windows that neither open r shut properly and if a development is still under construction, you may find yourself living on a building site for several months to come. Another point to consider is that if you buy in an area where there is a mass of new development, your home will not stand out and may be more difficult to sell as more and more new properties go up. In times of recession, developers will sell new properties at low prices with more and more add ons like furniture packages and easy payment schemes, this is great if you are buying, but think how this will work against you if you were a seller.

Profiting from Off Plan Property

When you buy a property ‘off plan’ you are buying a house or apartment, which has not yet been completed. It may even be in the planning stages with no more than an architect’s plan and permission to build or it may be in the early stages of construction. There are several benefits to buying off plan in that all developers offer stage payment schemes, whereby you pay a sum of money each time the developer reaches the next level in the project. You can also make money by getting in early because many builders offer some of the property at exceptionally low rates to ‘hook’ people into buying and by the time the project is complete these bargain buys have increased in value. Off Plan builds are always adding more and more luxurious facilities to compete with the rest of the new builds in the area so in terms of amenities thy often provide excellent value. The downside of off plan developments is that they are often not completed in time and the home you thought you would be enjoying six months down the line is still a year away from completion. The other point to be aware of is that if your builder does not have an insurance policy in place, which covers him against bankruptcy or failure to complete and you have failed to check this out, then you could be left high and dry with no more than a pile of concrete columns and a breeze block shell.

Resales, a Happy Medium

One are of the Turkish property market, which doesn’t seem to get much coverage is the resale market. Turkey’s property boom started in the 1980’s, which means that many ‘new developments’ built at the start of this era are now over twenty years old. Many are in the best locations because they were the first holiday homes to be built and they still have plenty of upgraded facilities. The great think about resale property in today’s economic climate is that it is cheap! You may be able to pick up an apartment for the same cost as a new development except that the resale has a superior location and is not still under development. The thing to check with resales is that they have all of the necessary building certificates, if they were built prior to 1999, they may not be secure against earthquakes and if they are more than five years old they may not comply with today’s rigorous building standards.