Living and working in Turkey

[Karyn UK]

Hi Kim

I sent an email to maybe your address! There should be a link on my profile to my homepage but maybe it doesn't show yet as I am new on here, if you search google for Kirazli Village it normally finds my site, its just a site about the village with stories about life here under the Being Koy section.

I'm glad to hear you say that living somewhere is different to loads of holidays somewhere familiar. So many people don't realise this. They think it will be constant days of sunshine and never a care in the world - until they try and get a phone connected (though to be fair mine and my ADSL was done in an hour), try to run a car, try to paint their house etc etc. Here a lot of the estate agents take care of everything in the initial stages and this means people never learn how to do the things they really need to learn. They get babysat for a time - furniture arranged, tax number arranged, satellite arranged. When they move here permanently then it becomes harder and they wish they had been more independent in their initial home owning phase.

You need a certain set of coping mechanisms to be an ex-pat successfully because where ever you go there will be the attempt made to fleece you and you learn to manage that although sometimes it gets wearing. You develop a strategy, you get a little cynical, you have the occassional (ok, once a week) rant at your sympathetic friends and partner but you still, every day, thank god you got the opportunity to live this slightly less ordinary life. My husband and I often wish we had done it decades ago, and we are excited to see our children moving out into the world and considering doing what we do. Despite the crap its still fun or we wouldnt do it.

Feel free to email me if you get my email!

Karyn

[synthia]

Kim and Karyn - Welcome to the site! And thank you, Karyn for the information and the good advice.

[th4s]

Karyn UK,
OMG,We have met a few years ago,was not aware you had actually moved over here,have you bought another place in karizla then,'!

You need a certain set of coping mechanisms to be an ex-pat successfully because where ever you go there will be the attempt made to fleece you and you learn

Glad you have learned, and your first encounter in Turkiye did not put you off,despite all the crap you had,what a horrible experience that was for you,
At least thats all behind you,

I still have pictures of the first place you bought, before you renovated it,
and the camera you most kindly brought us over from the uk,

How long you been here now then.. its my eleventh year, ..

[th4s]

Originally Posted by kimig

th4s - yes, some very helpful info on your site(s).
But what I need to hear are people's stories of relocating - . Kim

Kim,
Did you actually read, mavi's story.. it was several pages long. and was from her own experince of relocating with her family,

İn Turkiye a lot of estate agents take care of everything.find a good estate agent, you have a friend for life, they will do anything for you,
some are not just after your money,

To be an ex-pat successfully, you have to learn from day one .. who are you friends,

İn eleven years i have lived in Turkiye.. I have seen a lot of expats come and go, and some have made a lot of mistakes,

The key is to come here and spend some time exploring and talking to the right people,before some one trys to fleece you as Karyn UK says,

Feel free to contact me,!

Yes, I did read Mavi's blog - v interesting, and i hope i will have a similarly good experience. However, she does have a built-in advantage with a nice Turkish husband.....maybe I'll swap my old English one for a newer, turkish model....!
Thanks
Kim

[th4s]

kimig
İn the eleven years i have lived in Turkiye.. I have seen a lot of expats come and go,....and seen a few women do just the same,

[Karyn UK]

Originally Posted by th4s

Kim,
İn Turkiye a lot of estate agents take care of everything.find a good estate agent, you have a friend for life, they will do anything for you,
some are not just after your money,

To be an ex-pat successfully, you have to learn from day one .. who are you friends,

I don't think it is possible to know from day one who your friends are, after all you have only just met them! I think you have to take a measured approach and always bear in mind that not everyone is either a nice or intelligent person and whilst someone may be okay to have a quick drink with you don't want them trying to run your life.

You need to move slowly, try and verify all information you receive at more than one source (preferably an official source being one of them), this is especially important in Turkey as land laws/planning laws/building regulations change rapidly as Turkey moves to bring its systems in line with Europe.

Treat professionals as they should be treated and expect professionalism in return and be prepared to be very firm when they fail to meet your standards - its very hard to take to task someone who has become your friend so a polite distance may be more useful than close friendship. After all, you are being charged 3% of the sale value from buying from this person - not exactly mates rates!

Be as firmly independent as humanly possible. This is your life, your adventure, your learning curve and you need to get on it and learn. You don't learn by hanging on to the coat tails of an emlak who may or may not have ulterior motives. Even if your wildly enthusiastic emlak is a genuinely nice person the healthiest way forward is independently.

I was very privaledged when I came to Turkey to have already been an ex-pat in Mexico and so I kind of knew the score although I had a whole new legal system to learn (I'm a geek I like that kind of thing). You have the same advantage coming from time spent in North Cyprus, you aren't exactly green as grass here and your instincts are probably well honed by now, trust them :-)

Karyn

[th4s]

I don't think it is possible to know from day one who your friends are,

Karyn,
Did you forget,!
You called some one in the early hours for help on your first visit to Turkiye, a few years ago,we came to help you,!

Did you forget,!
You and your husband had a close encounter with not so nice or intelligent person,!who you had drink and a meal with,and he wanted to control/ run your life.!!and your money,!

You may have been a ex-pat in Mexico, but you was not expecting the evening he gave you,!
He certainly was no gentleman that night, was he,!what a nasty person, he turned out to be, after you both bought him a bottle of jack daniels,

Did you forget,!
After your meeting/ evening went wrong with him,!

You called us and asked for help,!! we had never met before,!we was only members together on a certian forum,
But we still came to help you both,what time did you call us, about 1.30 am, if i remember correctly,

We even brought you both to our home,we sat and talked till the late hours of the morning,you both told us what the nerd (nasty) person had said and done in that restraunt,the night earlier,you was even thinking about reporting him to the police,!
You should have done,!

When you returned to the uk, you so kindly offered to bring us a digital camera over from the uk, we still have the same one jenoptic,and the receipt,and the photo's you and phil took of me and my wife on that cold day in Kirazli Village,


By the way Granada tv tried to acess the very same forum we was members of, the nasty person blocked them, well he would would'nt he was after all a moderator and a trusted member of there,once up on a time,!

İ did try and warn people to keep a polite distance from him, no body listened,

ps ..
phil still owes me 5 ytl,!He never had any change,

[Karyn UK]

I think you must be a little confused and perhaps don't understand my post - I was trying to give Kimig some general advice on buying in Turkey and some of the pitfalls as I see them and as I have noted from other people's experiences.

I do firmly believe that the whole friendship/estate agent thing is a big issue. People are so impressed when they come here to be treated to meals and nights out by their emlak (and it is very common) that they quickly build up a feeling of trust that may be misplaced - the boundaries between a professional relationship and friendship are blurred. This leads them to make decisions they may later regret.

We have all heard the horror stories (God knows I hear enough of them) and I think it is good advice to keep your relationship with your estate agent on a "friendly" but professional basis.

Karyn

[th4s]

I think YOU,both forgot me and my wife helped you both out, in the early hours of that morning,

I to am trying to give Kimig some general advice so they can avoid some of the pitfalls,as I have seen and witnessed myself from "other people's" bad experiences,

You both got into bother with a "so called" estate agent,who you only met for a few hours,he then made a attempt made to fleece and what was the word you used "threatend" you,! and YOU was both very confused that morning,

You then called some one to help, ME,!

I wonder how many other "friendly" professional agents would have come out THAT TİME OF THE MORNİNG! to help you both and invite you to there home,not many i am sure,


Yes we have all heard (God knows how many) Horror stories about that "nasty so called" estate agent you met that evening,
İts fine trying to give general advice and warn people of some of the pitfalls, but why did you not warn people then,!
I still say you should have reported the "nasty so called" estate agent to the police,Then maybe he would not have had the chance to do it to others,!

Yes i must agree,the boundaries between a professional relationship and "friendship" are very blurred indeed.