It’s hard enough to do anything in a foreign country. You will most likely encounter unfamiliar language, culture, rules.
It’s even more evident when it comes to any sort of business transactions and official procedures. Not least when we are talking about investments, including those related to real estate. Investing in property can be a nuanced hassle by itself, but doing it in a completely or partially foreign environment creates further challenges.
One of such challenges is safety. The safety of being in reliable hands and a system that works to protect you, the safety of not being somehow tricked or scammed.
If you choose to make a real estate investment in Turkey, you can be sure that you will find safety here. There are several mechanisms that create it for you and there are some things you can do as well.
Let’s start with the things you can do to ensure the safety of your potential investment in the Turkish property market.
Our first – and admittedly obvious – suggestion would be to work with a local real estate professional. Though it’s more than possible to get everything done by yourself thanks to the relative simplicity of Turkey’s property acquisition process, it’s always better to have professional help from an agent or a consultant.
You would, of course, have to be careful when choosing who to approach. It should be someone trusted and reliable with extensive experience in assisting foreign investors. Considering the rising popularity of the Turkish real estate market among foreigners in recent years, this should not pose a challenge for you.
Another important factor is research. This applies to general information, i.e. market trends, pricing, legal procedures and paperwork, as well as the aforementioned professional assistance you might seek. The more knowledgable you are, the higher the possibility of you avoiding any mistakes. There are a lot of government-published materials online that can greatly help you learn as much as possible about how real estate investment is done in Turkey.
The legal process works to protect you as a foreigner too.
When you find a property you are ready to buy, the official procedures begin. To be able to apply for the transfer of ownership, a foreign buyer is required to have the property examined by an independent inspector. It’s done to ensure that the assessed value of the property corresponds to its price. To put it simply, this examination is done to make sure that the investor is paying an appropriate price and is not overcharged, for instance. The inspector’s assessment has to be accepted by the authorities, so it can only be done by an authorized entity.
Furthermore, to complete the transfer of ownership an appointment is scheduled at a local Directorate of Land Registry and Cadaster. Both the buyer (or their authorized representative) and the seller must be present. During this appointment a foreign buyer is by law required to be accompanied by a certified translator, unless they speak Turkish and sign an official waiver. Before finalizing the process, a cadaster official reads out every detail of the deal, including the property’s address, features, value, possible conditions, etc. It’s vital to know and understand these details, hence the requirement of a sworn translator. Only after your approval of every detail, would the cadaster official order to issue a new title deed for the property under your name.
As you can see, with some seemingly simple requirements the Turkish system greatly minimizes the possibility of fraud to protect foreign investors. And you can further increase the safety of your investment if you approach this process as informed as possible and choose to employ professional assistance.
