Renting apartments in Turkey

[Recluse]

Hi, I just discovered this forum. I'm of Turkish descent, but was born and raised here in the Netherlands. I'm a 32 year old male, and my dream is to save as much money as I can here, and eventually "retire" in Turkey in 10-15 years.

I hope to buy several apartments along Turkey's Mediterranean coast and live off of the rent, since the cost of living there is much lower. I'm single and don't intend to marry or have kids. I don't spend much money and I just want a simple life.

I would like to know if other people have experiences with renting out apartments in Turkey, and if it's possible or realistic to live off of the rent there, if you owned 4-6 (cheap) apartments for example? Thanks in advance

Ozcan

[ExitStrategy]

I've never rented properties in Turkey, but property management is something I know a little about. It depends on what sort of an investment you want to make, and what sort of landlord you're comfortable being. In general: If you own something very high quality, and maintain it well enough, you can do exceptionally well. I would imagine that if you're interested in a place like Antalya, you can rent to well off Europeans and wealthy vacationing Turks who are staying for varying durations. If you want to rent to regular working folk, middle of the road, it gets more complicated. You have to make pre-calibrated investment that takes into account mortgages, taxes, local incomes, etc. At that point you have to be wary of property management companies and the like, because they will increase your cost. However, if you don't maintain the houses/apartments well, you won't get good tenants, and people will start to despise you. Being a landlord/superintendent can be difficult. The best I've seen people do, who only own one or two buildings, and haven't actually created a sizable property profile, is to have their cost of living covered by the profit margin off the rent. But they weren't exactly rolling it away. I would imagine that in Turkey, as someone quite used to a fiscally solvent country like the Netherlands, the turnaround might be a little disappointing. As in, it would be difficult to purchase things like plane tickets to visit home.

Hi Recluse.

After owning 2 properties in Aydin, Didim I have to say I wish at the time I had put this monies into a high interest Turkish Lira bank acciunt.
I have had a constant rental coming in from these properties purely off holiday rentals but can say it has not been hassle free.
I tried to buy another property on nearby Inbat,Golden Beach Complex but as that property purchase is still a sour taste in my mouth.
I have not gone onto increase my propertry portfolio in Turkey.
In my opinion:
There is money to be made through renting property in Turkey but the income is not as good as in UK.

Regards

Esther Mofet.

[taskalem]

Originally Posted by Recluse

Hi, I just discovered this forum. I'm of Turkish descent, but was born and raised here in the Netherlands. I'm a 32 year old male, and my dream is to save as much money as I can here, and eventually "retire" in Turkey in 10-15 years.

I hope to buy several apartments along Turkey's Mediterranean coast and live off of the rent, since the cost of living there is much lower. I'm single and don't intend to marry or have kids. I don't spend much money and I just want a simple life.

I would like to know if other people have experiences with renting out apartments in Turkey, and if it's possible or realistic to live off of the rent there, if you owned 4-6 (cheap) apartments for example? Thanks in advance

Ozcan

Hi Ozcan,
I believe the only profitable place in Turkey in terms of purchase/rent value is Istanbul. If you want to compare easily, here's how you can do: Divide the purchasing value into the rent value and find the number of years it's equal to. If it's below 15 then it's fine, if it's between 15-20, it's a bit expensive. Over 20 years is way too expensive. I don't know what you mean by cheap apartments (100K or 1 mio TL) but depending on your expenses, you might or might not be able to live on that money. My family owns a place in Izmir worth 150K TL and the monthly rent is 700 TL. If you have 6 of them, you have 4200 TL income in Izmir, which would be very easy to live on (for a normal standard life).

[belgarath]

One should also consider the hidden costs when renting.

People who rent the houses can leave a wreck behind and disappear, and the security deposit seldom covers the cost to restore the property.

If you got capital to buy 5-6 houses, I presume you could put it to a bank and live on the monthly interest as well. If you got 1 million TL, you would get ~ 7.000 TL per month without all the hassle of renting.

[Cary]

I agree with Belgarath. Also take into account, that a lot of the coastal resorts are now flooded with rental properties by expats. In didim, the rent is as low as 300 Tl.

Then as mentioned, there is the upkeep and property maintenance. Stick your money in the bank inside. So much less hassle. If you do not want an interest savings account, I have heard of some investments run by the banks where the return has been as much as 30%

[uozer]

Ozcan selam,

Investing in the southern shore would not be a wise decision. Buy 3 apartments in Istanbul instead, it will always appreciate in value and bring enough to cover your liflelong expenses with rent.

If you plan to live in south yourself, even 2 apartments would be enough.

PM if you need tips on RE market in Istanbul.

Best,

Ugur

[daniel87]

Thanks for the posts, I'd like to do the same thing in Turkey.

[Ozsubasi]

If the apartments are "cheap" then so will be any rental return. As has already been pointed out, Turkish banks are still paying good interest rates and parking your money there would give a better return, also would be accessible in the event of emergency situations, and give you the flexibility to do something else later if you decided to.