Everyone was doing it, buying property abroad - retirement fund, so we thought. Spain was too expensive. How about Turkey? seemed like a good idea at the time.
Our first visit to Turkey was in 2005, we witnessed several things we were not happy with. That's how they do it in Turkey we were told by the lawyer. It will be ok if they remove part of the roof when you have your TAPU - property deed - to give you an extra bedroom and balcony you don't have permission for. Its ok that they only declare part of the selling price so you pay less purchase tax (or at least your developer does).
We decided not to go ahead that time but two months later we were back in Turkey on a viewing trip for a property we had seen at an exhibition. The model was most impressive, cost £100,000 we found out later, worth every penny. The site was sold out before the end of the year including a lovely villa to us.
We watched it grow out of the ground, the British developer along with his Turkish partner were living up to expectations. We paid our instalments as the development progressed, sometimes slower than others - they never told us what the problems were. We were so impressed we put a deposit down on the next phase in December 2006.
Our villa was ours on schedule, we received our deeds in January 2007. We used a lawyer, that's the advice. Apart from some snagging we were happy with our home in the sun.
The apartment in the next phase is still not completed, we are part of a class action to make the developer honour our contract and monies paid. Not the original developer but someone he has handed it over to, fed to the wolves you might say.
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