September 7th, 2010 | 
Author: So did I enjoy my wet August back in the UK? – possibly for a short while, but I must be honest the novelty wore off after a while! I was quite pleased to get back to the blue skies and warmth that will embrace my life here in Didim for the next few months.
It is always good to come back home after an extended (one month) period away. I love catching up with family and friends, but it is difficult being a guest for such a long time. I stay in my old childhood home. We have a fab back garden which is great, and safe, for the kids… if they actually manage to get out there between rain showers. I try and sneak off at least once to do some late night shopping in that temple of consumerism – the shopping mall – and follow it with the same old dishes in my favourite Thai restaurant. The Saturday night curry takeaway has been de rigeur in my family household since we were kids, and the tradition has not changed 45 years on! These are all the things I miss when I am in Turkey – family rituals that give comfort and familiarity and a sense of belonging.
But them being away too long makes me miss those rituals that Yildiray and I have created in or own home. Rituals that arise out of the daily routines of our life here in Turkey – work, the children, meals round the table, favourite trips out, plans for the future. This is the family home that we are creating, that I hope will be as secure and comfortable as that my own parents created for us.
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It is most definitely officially hot now.
It is the kind of hot when I can’t hold the steering wheel properly without burning my hand.
It is the kind of hot when any form of human skin on skin contact results in a slithering sweaty mess (and I am referring to kids on knees, not the other form of contact!).
It is the kind of hot which scrambles your brain, hurts your eyes, and makes you want to sleep – except that it is too hot to sleep!
Perfect holiday weather – if all you need to worry about is sliding from your sun lounger to the pool and back again, taking in a few sips of cold Efes beer every now and again. In these circumstances the weather is spot on.
Living and working and trying to lead a normal life between children, grocery shopping, work and keeping the house clean, then the heat can become a bit too much. August is normally when I like to escape to the UK, and right at this moment I cannot get there quick enough. I fantasise about rain, grey skies, and slipping into a warm, snuggly duvet at night.
To be honest though, I enjoy it, probably because when I get back to my Yesilkent villa at the start of September I shall have at least another 2-3 months of warm, sunny, delightfully bearable weather to look forward to… days when you wake up and the skies are blue and sunny, you step out into a warm sun, but you can feel that hint of autumnal crispness in the air. That is my favourite kind of warmth!
My mother and I waved off my cousin and her three children this morning. They had spent a week’s holiday out here at my mother’s invitation (staying in her apartment on the Aegean Pine Village site inYesilkent.)
Like so many people I speak to, she had never been to Turkey before and actually had no idea whatsoever what to expect. And she absolutely loved it. The kids were happy, which meant she was happy and could relax and enjoy her holiday. All being well she is booked in again for next summer.
So many people have no idea as to what to expect when considering Turkey as a holiday destination. Benidorm like high rise hotel ghettos is a prevalent image.
The reality is so different, and it is always heartening to see how much people are pleasantly surprised to see lush green streets, low rise buidings, azure blue seas and beaches which are clean, sandy and on a truly human scale.
So any Turkey-virgins out there get in touch and come out and try the place. I think that you may well be hooked too.
Here’s a question for you. I would appreciate any comments!
I received an enquiry from someone this week who had purchased a 1-bedroomed apartment last year and was thinking about selling to find another with a sea view. Common enough situation.
He had come through one of our agent websites, in reponse to a complex in Altinkum we list.
I contacted him and suggested that we migh be interested in a part exchange with one of our Olive Gardens duplexes if he was interested in sea views. I pasted in the website link so that he could check out the photos and prices.
About half an hour later he called me. He asked what the deal was. I explained that we would take his original apartment as a downpayment on the duplex for the original price that he paid (excluding buying costs). He would then pay the balance on the duplex price. He then got extremely angry with me and hung up.
I have cut and pasted now the resulting emails:
From him:
hi there
ive never been so humiliated by a pathetic offer as yours, no wonder you can not sell, you should be reported. i will be letting people knw about your offers on all turkish websites on the internet.
From me:
dont be so ridiculous, you dont buy a property to resell at the same price, what world do you live in ???. your offer was more then pathetic. absolute criminal.
as i said i will be letting people know about you and your website and your pathetic offers in part exchange, its people and companys like you that need to be exsposed to the buying public. i will deffinitley make sure you get some bad reviews and press.
and will be warning many people to stay away from you and your website .
mr k
just take a look at your offer i replied to, you have a photo of a seaview flat clearly stating underneath it in writing its a 1 bed apaprtment asking price £33,000,
and you then replied back to me with an offer of a possible exchange, so as far as im concerned you have a 33,000 pound appartment 1 bed seaview wanting to exchange for my 1 bed apaprtment.
you then turn around and say its a 3 bed duplex appartment ?? so whats happened to this 1 bed appartment i replied to ???with the seaview photo ????
what are you playing at kate, your misleading people with your advertising and photos.
and this is what i will be telling everybody on the internet what you are doing. apart from other lies you told me utter disgraceful people like you should be in prison.
| oii
have a look on the internet try google, about yourselves website. then you wont be having best laugh of year hahaha. conman conwomen. robbing the public misleading not good at all cheerio. bad reviews bad press thats what your getting.phone number logged as well.
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Now, is it just me or does anyone think this gentleman is slightly over-reacting? I simply offered him what he paid for originally – does this make me a criminal fit only for the slammer? Have I conned this gentleman not having taken a single penny from him? Is it my fault if he has not understood te nature of what I was offering?
We have just launched our latest website – www.myyesilkentvilla.com. Having now completed several new villa projects in this gorgeous corner of Didim, we wanted to create an information outlet which is a little more flexible and accommodating to build the right picture for what we can offer the more discerning villa seeker.
Happy browsing!
As I was driving back from Soke the other day, azure blue skies spanning the horizon, the mountains crisp and fresh looking in the noonday sun, I counted my many blessings for being able to make a life in this wonderful country. Arriving back in Didim, I alighted from the comfort of my air conditioned car into… 90+ degree heat. Uuufff ya! as the Turks are wont to say.
It got me thinking as to what the absolute best time to visit is weather-wise. July and August are the hottest months – the place steams in the summer heat, with little relief at night.
My mum and dad (God rest his soul) loved the heat, if only because when they got here in July it would completely zonk them out. They would spend their days sleeping late, swimming, reading, swimming some more, reading some more, and having gentle strolls in the evening. This heat, when you are genuinely on holiday, is fantastic for relaxing you.
However when you are leading a relatively normal existence which involves work, kids, shopping and all the burdens of modern living it is extremely hard work. Strapping a young kid into its car seat after the car has been sitting in the sun is sweat inducing for all. You particularly have to watch out for those metal buckles!
My favourite time is April/May. It is the time in Yesilkent where we live where the plant life goes wild, the colours are vibrant, the birds are a riot of song. It is at this time that I like to take some time out from the office and work in the garden with the sun a welcoming warmth on my back.
Picture: a brilliant April day in Yesilkent.
NEW FINANCING OPTIONS FOR OLIVE GARDENS IN AKBÜK
My Turkish Home has teamed up with Garanti Bank, Turkey’s second largest private bank, to offer an attractive finance package to help facilitate your purchase of an Olive Gardens property
Olive Gardens in Akbük, Turkey, is our flagship development . It is a 3-phase project consisting of 120 units in total, plus four detached villas.
The site is fully complete and key ready. All building licences and habitation certificates are in place. Kat Mülkiyeti deeds are issued.
At time of writing, the project as a whole is 66% sold out, leaving just 41 units remaining. Three of the villas are also available.
We have illustrated some payment terms below for apartments, duplexes and the villas.
2-bed apartment: purchase price £49,000
Cash deposit – £19,000
Mortgage – £30,000
- 5 year term, 0.6% fixed monthly rate interest – £596.88 monthly installments.
- 10 year term, 0.74% fixed monthly rate interest – £378.09 monthly installments.
3-bed duplex apartment with roof terrace: purchase price £69,000
Cash deposit – £29,000
Mortgage – £40,000
- 5 year term, 0.6% fixed monthly rate interest – £795.84 monthly installments.
- 10 year term, 0.74% fixed monthly rate interest – £504.12 monthly installments.
3-bed detached villa: purchase price £116,000
Cash deposit – £46,000
Mortgage – £70,000
- 5 year term, 0.6% fixed monthly rate interest – £1392.72 monthly installments.
- 10 year term, 0.74% fixed monthly rate interest – £882.21 monthly installments.
Mortgage funds are released on receipt of title deeds. These are now taking an average of 2 months to come through.
MTH are happy to release the keys upon receipt of the deposit, to enable you to enjoy your purchase straight away. The balance is then paid by the bank when the deeds have been signed across to your name.
Further details about Olive Gardens can be found on:
If you would like to talk this through in more detail please feel free to call Kate at any time on 0845 0217717, or drop her an email at info@myturkishhome.com.
July 2010.
The Didim Marina is run by the Dogus Group. This is a massive group which owns and runs many of the large companies in Turkey – Garanti Bank forn one.
Last night a massive free concert was held at the new Marina in Didm, featuring one of Turkey’s greatet popstars, Mustafa Sandal. This was totally free of charge being sponsored by D-Marin. There must have been 6-7000 people there.
What a fantastic facility to have on your doorstep – a beautiful balmy summer evening, surrounded by some beautiful yachts moored up in the marina, the bouncing, zipping energy created by Mustafa and his band. And the joyful prospect of more similar concerts to come this summer. We are very lucky!
I always choose to travel backwards and forwards between Izmir and Stansted airport using Cyprus Turkish Airlines (www.kthy.net). For years this company has been like a bridge for me, giving me comfort that my family in the UK are just a familiar few hours away. We take the same plane, at the same time, using the same car company to pick us up in the UK.
Last week the airline’s operations were suspended due to mounting debt. An agreement with Atlasjet is on the table, but there seem to be issues with the Cypriot unions and Atlasjet were unsure as to whether the deal was going to be commercially workable.
My mother is due to fly out next Friday. I am due to fly back at the beginning of August with the kids. All tickets have been booked, but at this stage we do not know whether there will be a plane waiting to ferry us all around. The financial implications aside (KTHY are not the cheapest) it is the uncertainty that worries me most. A couple of months ago it was the ash cloud that was throwing spanners into the works. Now it is the demise of an airline that I always believed to be secure and reliable.
At this stage I am hoping that the deal with Atlasjet can be sorted out. They have just over a week to get back to normal flights before I shall at look at rebooking a flight for my mother. I shall just have to keep the situation monitored.
The following article shall shortly be featured in Voices.
I am going to tell you something that may make you guffaw into your cornflakes, spit out your coffee in mirth, even sneer in cynical derision… my career over the last 20 years has spanned the noble professions of double glazing, estate agency and public relations!
Yes, I know… between them they are probably three of the most hated professions in modern civilized society. Possibly only the poor old tax inspectors are more (or at least equally) maligned.
In the UK, to say that estate agents are far from loved is an under-statement. In fact, they are usually mentioned in the same breath as ‘lies’, ‘deceit’, and ‘the lowest of the low’. In Turkey agents (emlaks) are similarly regarded by their own countrymen. Indeed, the phrase ‘emlakçı üç kağitci’ (the three card agent) is a general term to describe any form of confidence trickster.
In neither country is the employment of an estate agent a legal requirement, yet they are still extensively used in both countries to facilitate property transactions between those looking to buy, and those looking to sell.
So why use us if we are so hated?
The UK is already quite well set up with systems and tools to sell a property without an estate agent. The advent of the internet was probably a major player in this, giving every individual homeowner access to the world market from the comfort of their own (light, airy, well proportioned) living room without the need of an agent’s own carefully cultivated routes to market. One website I found (www.houseweb.co.uk) claimed that over one in 20 properties were now sold without an agent.
Yet in the UK we are on home ground. We are more confident about the approach we need to take, and there is a well established network of professionals to help us long the way (though do not forget they charge too – nobody does anything for nothing.) If you are confident about your ability to sell, and have the time and energy to do all the groundwork, you could save yourself a couple of grand at least in agency fees.
Coming to Turkey (and I write from the perspective of Brits buying in Turkey) you enter a minefield where the language barrier is the least of your worries.
The procedures you need to go through differ greatly from the UK. The rules (such as they are) change regularly. The laws are confusing. The paperwork is non-ending.
Although there is no reason why you could not work though all this yourself, a good emlak would be worth his, or her, weight in gold by streamlining and simplifying the whole process for you.
Finding a property for a buyer, or a buyer for a property, is just the start. In Didim a good emlak will do everything that you would expect a solicitor to do in the UK, and more – check ownership of said property, check it for debt, ensure all paperwork is present and correct, write up an inventory if furnished, draw up the sales contract, sort out power of attorney, make the military applications for the deeds, sort out water and electric connections, chase up snaggings, ensure furniture is delivered and in one piece, and finally (and most importantly) arrange the signing of the deeds and place your deeds in your hand with a handshake and a congratulations.
Well that is what we do anyway. However, in Didim there are three types of emlak.
First of all there is the dullest type which rarely gets a mention – the ‘Good Guys Trying To Run An Honest Business’. You do not hear of them often as they do not make good copy but do make for dull reading.
The ones that get all the column inches are the ‘Clever Cons’.
These Clever Cons will always find a loophole when it comes to making a fast, free buck. Whether it is property, sheep, battered boxes that fall of the back of lorries – whatever the business they will spot the weak link and continue profiteering from it until the gap is closed. After which they will pocket whatever cash is left and move onto the next opportunity.
The third type often get confused with the Clever Cons, though in my opinion they have their own category because they are actually not that clever at all – they are what I term the ‘Gullible Non-Businessmen’. These emlaks are basically naïve, rather than outright evil. They allowed themselves to get caught up in the gold rush of the early years without having the real business sense or sophistication to really understand the long term effects of what was happening. They went for the quick buck, found themselves in too deep, and have no idea how they are now going to get themselves out of their current financially precarious situations.
Often their only solution is the ostrich effect – stick their heads in the sand and leave everyone around them floundering.
I am hoping that now the Didim property market is that much more mature, the latter two types of emlak are becoming fewer and further between, leaving us boring lot to get on with the job of helping to create a Didim which is full of happy, more satisfied dwellers.
As to those strong feeling against my profession – well, I try not to take it personally. Indeed, I rather see myself as blazing a trail of positive energy towards the long term good for everyone who decides to invest in the area.