What is the best website for finding property to buy in Turkiye ?

01.08.24 06:17 AM

Local Knowledge and Insights from Experience are the Key...

The best place to find property to buy in Turkiye is not on websites but on portals. When searching in English, the websites at the top of the search results are the agents with English language websites. These should be avoided at all costs, because these agents typically prey on the international buyers lack of knowledge about Turkish real estate, laws, regulations etc The agents at the top of the list have typically spent the most money with SEO techniques to get their websites ranked highly, and usually these are the same agents that are taking a hidden price mark-up on the sales price they ask from the buyer- and that can be as much as 20% to 40% !

 

The best place on the web to find property in Turkiye are the portals. The difference between a portal and a website is that a portal has a message system designed to enable buyers to message the selling owners directly. Unfortunately many agents are there to, using the portals to find foreign buyers. When agents are involved, problems are sure to follow… This is not true of all agents, but with the agents at the top of the internet search results, it is usually the reality.


Regrettably it is no longer possible to receive reliable results when performing an internet search for 'What is the best website for finding a property to buy in Turkey ?' A quick survey of such results reveals that less than 50% of the results are misleading- the lowest for the last ten years, and continuously becoming worse .. There are so called 'portals' listed that are not portals, and there are portals listed that are are problematic and troublesome- using one of these will waste time and effort because they usually mislead to a wide variety of undesirable outcomes. .A closer look at the background of why the internet is no longer a reliable source of information is provided here. Relying on independent professional advice of an expert in their specialism is becoming all the more essential.  

Why Searching for a Property Is Better Done by Professionals...?

Information about many agents’ sharp practices and other key insights are only gained by local knowledge and experience. A professional property finder (fee based, not commission based)  will have such insights and many more – all very valuable for buyers looking for a property, not wishing to be deceived nor mis-lead

More Choice

Searching for a property to buy or to rent is often done by visiting estate agents shops or their internet websites. Foreign buyers are often unaware that 95 % + of all properties in Turkiye are found on property portals – not agents websites. Many agents claim their websites are portals, but this isn't so. The quantity and quality of properties that are available on the property portals in Turkiye are 10 x to 100 x more than can be discovered by searching the internet using search engines like google. This has been the situation for nearly ten years now, but many foreigners are not aware. This is why local Turks use portals, not agents.

 

Less Risk and Less Time Wasted

An added benefit of having the property search performed by a professional at MyTapu Associates is that the Due Diligence checks are built into the process. This means that the properties are checked to ensure they have the necessary permits. Other legal aspects may also be checked. A complete description of these checks are provided on our Due Diligence webpage.

 

Pre-qualifying properties in advance, during the property searching process, ensures a buyer isn’t wasting time viewing properties or negotiating, only to discover later the properties deficiencies, or are not legally acceptable - this is the experience of most international buyers, and in the past many were swindled into believing a property had permits, when it didn’t. What is the alternative ? Relying on agents' websites and the misleading advice they provide will lead a buyer down a path resulting in jeopardized position in the transaction, usually requiring payment of a 'security deposit' before any proper checks are confirmed by documentary evidence, and may make up different excuses why the Tapu ownership certificate is not forthcoming. . Agents may promise and guarantee to return the security deposit but usually will not do so until the buyer has a lawyer and paid a few thousand Euro equivalent in court fees. The agent is usually confident the buyer will not find a trustworthy local lawyer and won't pay the court fees ! 

 

Pre-qualification also applies to checking the sales price to ensure it is at a real market valuation of the property, and not over-inflated by an agent’s hidden price mark-up. thus eliminating a buyer's negotiating leverage on price.  What is the alternative ? These agents are well practiced experts in the art of deception and very convincing with psychological persuasion tactics and their assurances on prices, and a buyer's fear of losing a 'security deposit', means losing the leverage of negotiating a better price, 

 

Having a professional complete the search by checking these and many other related risks, at the earliest stage, .avoids such properties which are at best wasting a knowledgeable buyer's time.  The way the checks are performed is important- it is no good just asking, because usually an agent will tell a buyer anything to make the sale.

 

Regulations may have changed but the business culture of leading foreign buyers astray, has not, and will not, because it is so profitable for agents, and it is all they know how to do… a tiger can’t change its stripes !

 Which Websites are Best for Finding Property in Turkiye ?  Property Search & Selection Services...

A buyer may use the portals to search and MyTapu associates will provide assistance for non-Turkish speaking buyers, but the faster and better results are obtained when using an experienced professional that has done hundreds of property searches for many years. One of the main reasons for this is that using the portals to find properties requires specific detailed knowledge of specific neighbourhood locations, of how each of the different portals search functions work, of the different classification categories used by each of the portals, and several other factors. For example, when searching for a property in a coastal town if only the towns name is entered, that name usually also refers to a specific neighborhood, and so the search results will be limited to a small fraction of the properties, and only inthat specific neighborhood. Properties in the other neighborhoods with different names in that same town which may be adjacent or nearby, will not show up in the results even though they are considered to be in the same town. This is one example of why local knowledge is so important.

 

During a typical search performed for MyTapu’s Property Search & Selection Services, anywhere from 200 to 2,000 properties may be reviewed, from which 50-75 are inspected closely, and 20-35 short-listed for negotiations and enquiries. Navigating this is actually very challenging for inexperienced users. A user may find a few results, but nowhere near the number and quality of results found by an experienced and knowledgeable professional. In addition, there are several portals, and knowing which one is best for a buyer’s specific property requirements, is what the professionals know. Send an email to info@mytapu.com to learn more about this service…

 

 An example of a property search resulting in a wide range of selection of 4 bedroom villas….