Buy Apartment In Istanbul – 11 Tips

Buy Apartment In Istanbul – 11 Tips

When you decide to buy an apartment in Istanbul you need to consider numerous factors. To understand the factors that must be analyzed, you need an understanding on overall Istanbul real estate Market. Even though it seems complicated, Istanbul real estate market is not different than the other metropoles in the world. Both for investment and living purposes, the house that you need to buy should fulfill the requirements of common sense of real estate investment. We have listed 11 tips that you may want to keep in mind when you start searching apartments for sale in Istanbul.

1 – Area Search

Istanbul is a wide city. Besides to the city center, there are different centers in Istanbul such as Kadikoy, Bakirkoy, Beylikduzu, Zeytinburnu. Each of the areas have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, when you buy apartment in Sisli area, you are couple kilometers away from the Taksim Square but you may get into a heavy traffic in rush hours. Or if you decide to buy an apartment in Beylikduzu area, you may enjoy a sea side lifestyle but it takes 45 – 50 minutes to you to go to a restaurant nearby Bosphorus. In conclusion, you should decide on the area by considering your priorities.

2 – Decision on the property type

After you decide on the area, what you need is to determine what type of apartment you want to buy as in size and number of bedrooms. From neighborhood to neighborhood the apartment types change, even though they all are in the same area. As an example, both Bomonti and Seyrantepe are central areas. In Seyrantepe area there are many 4- or 5-bedroom apartments options in different projects. However, in Bomonti area apartments are smaller such as 1 bedroom or 2 bedrooms. That’s why, to be more accurate, you need to narrow down neighborhoods by your property type preferences.

3 – Price Check

You may be looking to buy apartment in Istanbul with limited budget or open budget. Either way for every property there is a certain price range that you shouldn’t exceed. Although you like the apartment too much and find the price worthy, you should do the price check in order to be sure that you are buying the property from the right price. The best way to understand the correct price is to make comparison with other similar listings in the area.

4 – Transportation Facilities

One of the most important things in the buying decision is transportation facilities. Since in the rush ours Istanbul has a heavy traffic, metro is very popular way of transportation by people of Istanbul. That’s why many people want to live nearby metro line. In the decision process, you may want to consider if your apartment’s transportation facilities good and if it is nearby a metro station. You can see the full metro map by clicking here.

5 – Check the Rental Capability

Even though you buy apartment for living purposes, one day you may decide to move into another place and rent out your apartment. Capability of rental makes you to generate optimize return from your investment because, every month that your apartment is without tenant is an income loss for you. Taking rental capability into account as in the easiness and price should be another factor that you need to consider.

6 – Check the re-sale capability

You should evaluate the re-sale capability in order to eliminate bad surprises once you decide to sell your apartment back. There are 2 things that you need to consider while checking out the re-sale capability. Firstly, you need to be sure that the price that you buy is correct. Secondly, make sure that you are buying the right type of the property from the right location.

For instance, since Basaksehir is mostly an area that has been preferred by families, you should avoid buying 1 bedroom from Basaksehir. Otherwise you will get difficulties in the re-sale process. As long as you buy the right apartment from a right place, you will have fast and profitable re-sale experience in Istanbul.

7 – Maintenance Fee

Maintenance fee is always taken to second plan by the buyers. Indeed, this is a huge mistake. In addition to your monthly waste of money, high maintenance fee has a negative impact on rental and re-sale capabilities. Even though it seems unimportant detail, you should consider the maintenance fee to get the highest return from your investment.

8- View Preferences

The view of the apartment is also very important element. In the same project there could be different views. Try avoiding the blocked view as much as possible. Because open view units always easy to rent out and re-sale.

9 – Payment Plans

Some of the real estate developers offer deals with payment plans. You may want to buy apartment with using payment plan options to close the deal with less amount of cash payment. Even if it looks like an advantage, sometimes it may be on your disadvantage. What you need to consider is if the amount of cash discount worth paying all in cash.

Let’s say the developer offers 2 payment options as in 12 months of installments or 5% cash discount. Since the inflation rate in Turkey is around 10% by 2020, 12 months installments plan is more logical. On the other hand, if the cash discount was %20, paying all in cash would be more profitable for you.

10 – Tittle Deed Status

Tittle deed status is important if you are looking for a re-sale option. You must be sure that apartment allocation (kat mülkiyeti) is done and written on the tittle deed. Otherwise the apartment that you are buying may not be suitable for a bank loan and the value of the property drops automatically.

11 – Right real estate agency

In the entire buying apartment in Istanbul process, the agency that you work with is very important. Agencies have impact on lots of things from property selection to negotiation. If you work with an unprofessional agency, you may end up with making wrong investment because of the lack of assessment or negotiation skills. The right agency/agent must be knowledgeable about the area, price range and the process. You can click here to find out more about how to choose the right agency.