Buying Guide
A comprehensive guidebook on property purchasing in Turkey. Find out how to buy a property step-by-step and get ready to explore the world of real estate in Turkey.
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1. Choose an Established Real Estate Agency
As real estate companies have mostly low reputation in Turkey, it is common to hear different stories including fraud, telling a lie, purchase expenses, additional costs, losing money, etc. There are thousands of real estate agencies in Turkey offering properties in many different languages. Buyers should consider if the company they're working with is one of the established corporations and has well prepared for foreign sales. Most of the fraud companies' websites are outdated, property listings are not updated, and have wrong prices.
2. Choose Professionals
Every taxi driver, receptionist, waiter, or tourism agency worker is or knows a so-called real estate agent in Turkey. They claim to have a brother or a friend or an uncle who is building/selling apartments. Fraudulent methods by property selling have reached almost maximum potential. People with advanced expression techniques may warm strangers' hearts by being friendly and sweet-talking but buyers should be selective about who are they going to invest their money to.
3. No Problem, No Problem, No Problem!
If someone in Turkey is telling a stranger from another city or country 3 times, "No Problem," it means there is a big problem. It is mostly used by people who want to skip the exploring phase of property purchasing and get to the point of taking the money from the buyer. This means in Turkish; "buy this apartment, it is not going to be my problem anymore". Buyers should be careful with the people they give their trust to.
4. Turkish Buyers Buy Faster than a Foreigner
When a Turkish person decides to buy property, payment and tapu delivery are done in 2-3 days time. It does not work with foreigners the same way. Because foreigners come here with limited money (Bringing cash money to the country from overseas is limited with 10.000 Euro), they can not pay directly if they like a house.
The fastest foreigner may receive Title Deed in 5 working days;
- Viewing tour and sales contract 2 days,
- Money transfer and Title Deed application 3 days,
(Buyers should consider that after signing the sales contract, the next day they need to apply for Title Deed (Tapu) procedure which also takes about 3 days time. Therefore when the buyer waits for their money by bank transfer, the tapu process would get ready.)
5. Commission Rates for Foreign Property Buyers and Turkish Buyers
It is very common in Turkey that house prices include 4% commission if a construction company is selling to foreigners. Many international real estate agencies do not ask additional 4% commission from foreigners. Real Estate agencies and construction companies publish commission included prices on their websites.
On the other hand, the traditional Turkish market does not work like this. According to the Chamber of Commerce; Real Estate Agencies may demand 2% from the seller and 2% from the buyer.
6. Foreigners needs After Sales Service
It is a very easy process to sell a property to a Turkish citizen. Money on one side, tapu is on the other side. Real Estate agencies do not effort anything after tapu delivery for Turkish citizens. Foreigners need quality after-sales service. Foreigners are abroad, don't know; how it works, where they may find it, price policy, residence permit, abonnements, etc., and mostly need a consultant in the process.
The Process of Buying Property in Turkey
If you decide to purchase a property in Turkey, Trabzon Homes is the correct real estate agency for you. Firstly we advise you to contact us before coming to Turkey. We prepare you the best property options (lowest price at best possible quality) according to your expectation for a viewing tour. You only need to bring your passport and 5.000 USD (or Euro) cash down payment with you. Passport and cash are the only things you need for buying a property in Turkey.
When you like to purchase a property on a viewing tour, we prepare a sales contract. The sales contract contains all promised conditions of the sales between the seller and buyer like; home details, payment plan, tapu, and key delivery conditions, compensation, force majors, etc.
After the translation of your passport at Notary, we receive a tax number on the same day. You may give power of attorney to a lawyer or to a representation to proceed on behalf of you at Notary Public.
We help you to open a bank account if you need to transfer your money into Turkey. We prepare your documents and seller's documents for Land Registry and Cadastre Directorate. We manage the Tapu process with our special staff, just working on this process. During your money come to Turkey, the tapu application is done. So, property purchase, payment and title deed delivery (Tapu in Turkish) take 2 to 3 working days. However, this process may be longer depending on the velocity of your payment and the situation of the construction.
