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A Holiday in Turkey - Is it the new Spain? |
| Written
by Andrew Braithwaite |
| Friday,
20 November 2009 |
Some four hundred thousand Brits now
own holiday homes abroad, Spain has been the most popular of
destinations over the past twenty years; it has however become very
expensive and more than a little over developed in recent years.
As a consequence many have begun to
look elsewhere for their ‘place in the sun’. Turkey has seen a
huge rise in interest both as a holiday destination and a place to
invest in property, people who were astute enough to recognize it as a
potential ‘hotspot’ as little as eight years ago could have seen
their property increase in value by as much as 500% in that time; and
whilst Turkey too has seen a decline in demand during 2009, property
values have not dropped in the more desirable Mediterranean resorts, (one
such resort being Kalkan) to the degree they have in the likes of Spain.
The possibility of Turkey’s acceptance to the European Union has also
fuelled speculation in the property market there, whether they will ever
achieve acceptance (or indeed actually want to) is yet to be seen.
This is the account of how I became one of those ‘Brits abroad’:
I first went to Turkey, rather reluctantly, I might add, on holiday in
2000, and was very pleasantly surprised at how green the country was, I
had expected to find a dusty arid country, how wrong I was! I was also
very pleasantly surprised at how warm and welcoming the Turkish people
were; having holidayed in Greece for some years I had always believed
the Greeks would be difficult to beat in their hospitality, the Turks
did just that.
My wife and I returned some five years later, having booked a holiday in
a very swish hotel on the Dalyan delta, we were disappointed six weeks
before being due to depart, to be told by the holiday company that we
could not go there as the hotel was having work done and that they, the
holiday company, would not allow their guests to have what was not the
perfect holiday experience. They told us to choose something else from
the brochure and regardless of cost they would honour the price we had
paid and even refund us if there was a difference. My wife had seen
Kalkan but dismissed it due to the transfer time from the airport
feeling that it would be too long, however, given the situation we
decided that we would endure the two hour transfer (it turned out to be
one and a half). We chose a villa holiday instead of a hotel and hit the
jackpot!
Kalkan, we decided very quickly was an idyllic place to holiday and
whilst walking down one of the narrow cobbled streets one evening to
enjoy a pre-dinner drink stopped to look in an estate agents window (as
I’m sure many of you have), before I knew it we were making an
appointment with the agent to view some properties the following evening.
Meeting that particular agent was yet another amazing stroke of luck, he
was a charming intelligent man who’s English was impeccable.
The following evening arrived and I have to say that I personally was
not too enthusiastic, as I believed that I was wasting valuable time, I
never actually expected to be buying a house. The agent who we learned
was called Kemal met us at the appointed time and took us to view the
first property, which he had chosen as a possibility. It was an imposing
four bedroom detached property with magnificent sea views and a swimming
pool; it was newly built and was being marketed at £140,000. It was
without doubt a lot of house for the money, however, there was an
apartment block right along side it with twelve balconies all of which
looked over the swimming pool, a serious privacy issue which immediately
ruled that one out.
As we drove away from that villa Kemal asked, “what are you looking
for, do you want detached?” I rather facetiously said ‘of course’
(remember I had little or no intention of buying) “do you want a
swimming pool?” ‘ Well obviously!’ He then took us to another
newly built in fact not completely finished villa, at what point my
attitude changed I cannot actually say, I just knew it was going to
happen! This villa again was a four bedroom detached with pool and
panoramic views over the bay and astonishingly £15,000 cheaper! We left
Kemal that evening feeling like excited school children, a couple of
days later and a couple of telephone calls back to the UK to our bank
manager and we were signing on the dotted line!
From thereon Kemal did everything we gave him power of attorney (not an
easy decision to make with someone you have only just met) and he
completed the deal, we became the proud owners of our own piece of
paradise seven months later. The piece of paradise is called Villa
Katmar, a vaguely Turkish sounding word? No just a
combination of parts of our names.
Becoming a property owner in Turkey for us was a very easy and stress
free experience, however, a WORD OF WARNING, not everyone we know had
such an easy transition into becoming a Turkish villa owner! As in any
country it depends very much on the people you deal with and applying a
little common sense! I have to say we were very fortunate to have had
that almost accidental meeting with Kemal; it could have been a very
different tale had we done ‘business’ with someone else.
If you are contemplating buying in Turkey then I would urge you to
consider Kalkan and if you do then again I would have no hesitation in
recommending Kemal Safyurek of Mavi Estates.
Good luck and happy house hunting!
http://www.kalkankatmar.com/
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