The choice of off plan property in Turkey is huge – from location to location across the Southern coastline of the nation there are villa developments and apartment blocks rising from the earth and representing a solid investment opportunity for international buyers seeking capital appreciation and/or a solid rental income from the growing tourism market that Turkey is doing everything it can to nurture.
So with all the choice available what should a potential buyer be looking for when buying off plan real estate in Turkey? This is the ShelterOffshore guide to making the right choice when buying a pre-construction home in Turkey.
First things first buying off plan is not as risky as many like to make out - so long as you do your due diligence on the property’s location and its constructor. While it is quite acceptable to put money down on a home that has yet to be started when you’re confident it will be completed on time and to a high standard, one should only do so when one is comfortable that the builder in question can complete the projects he sets out to and to the standard he claims he will manage!
To this end anyone contemplating a particular property development should ask to view completed projects from the developer under the spotlight. Chances are if the developer is serious he will have at least something completed that you can view. It may not be that you can view a completed property of the exact type you’re considering buying – but it should be that you can check the quality of the construction and the finish as well as the state the developer leaves communal areas, private gardens, swimming pools etc.
A developer who is new to the business and who cannot show you anything he has finished should really be avoided – but if you are so tempted by a property such a developer is marketing for sale off plan you can at least find out why the developer has no projects completed yet. If he has only just left college where he was learning the business or had been developing property abroad then okay – but if he has just decided to develop properties for a living watch out!
Other things that should be investigated are the levels of financial backing the developer has to ensure he can afford to finish the development, who he uses for his labour base, what qualifications he has and, as stated, what he did before if he is only just starting out as a constructor.
In an emerging market like Turkey it is not uncommon for local business people to jump on the bandwagon of a booming property market and turn themselves into developers overnight - they see an opportunity for profit and they act upon that opportunity. While this can be fine if the business person in question simply oversees the venture and employs the services of skilled and experienced labour to do everything from the planning to the plumbing, it can be a total disaster if he has no knowledge of the building industry and decides to whack up a block of flats on a whim.
We can give you two real life examples here to illustrate why it is not always a bad thing to buy from a brand new developer but also why you have to do a certain amount of due diligence – we know of two developers one of whom owned a restaurant for a while in London and one of whom was a pig farmer (yes, really, in a Muslim country). The restaurant owner’s properties were badly built ugly monsters completed many months late and not to the clients’ specifications (luckily he has now left the property market) – whereas the pig farmer on the other hand has successfully carved a niche in a specific location for well built, nicely designed homes for sale for a very reasonable price.
The main difference that would have been apparent from the outset was that the restaurant owner employed his friends to do all the building, none of whom had any qualifications or experience of the construction industry whatsoever – and the pig farmer employed architects, engineers, plumbers, carpenters etc., with qualifications, experience and references!
When buying off plan property in Turkey (or anywhere else for that matter) you owe it to yourself to ask tough questions, look beyond the pretty artist’s impression, do your due diligence and ensure that your money will actually be well invested in a given piece of real estate. Where you are confident in the constructor’s abilities, you are happy with the answers he can give and back up to address your pertinent questions and relevant concerns then there is no reason not to make an investment in an off plan property.
