Angelina in Istanbul helped me renovate a few of my properties there. She also helps people find investment and lifestyle properties in Turkey’s capital city.
Airbnb has not been banned in Istanbul, but it has become very complicated to get a license. Before, people could just do Airbnb even though it was technically illegal and there was very little enforcement. Last year the government forced Airbnb to add a license number to each listing.
And to get a license number you need a notarized signature from every single property owner in the building stating that their are fine with you running an Airbnb.
Effectively this renders Airbnb impossible in 99% of cases.
However Angelina specializes in finding properties that can be turned into Airbnbs. In this video below the second apartment is an Airbnb, and the first one is in the process of obtaining a license. We ran all the ROI numbers for both apartments.
As a reminder, $400,000 in any number of properties gets you, your underage children, and your spouse Turkish citizenship.
In a world of rising geopolitical tension, having citizenship in a country like Turkey, which is between East & West is a very valuable tool. A volatile tool, but useful nevertheless.
Feel free to send Angelina an email including your Whatsapp number.
To a World of Opportunities,
The Wandering Investor.
Other articles on Turkey:
- Making a real estate investment in Izmir? A value play within Turkey
- My Apartment Renovation in Istanbul โ Case Study with numbers
- Why is the Turkish Citizenship by Investment Program misunderstood?
- Making a Real Estate Investment in Istanbul, Turkey โ Overview and what to watch out for
- I bought an apartment in Istanbul
- Citizenship by Investment in Turkey, its timelines, exact fees, and traps to avoid
- Turkish Citizenship Bank Deposit option โ Central Bank guarantee explained
- Buying Izmir real estate for the Turkish citizenship by investment
- Net real estate rental yields and cap rates in Istanbul, a case study
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If you want to read more such articles on other real estate markets in the world, go to the bottom of my International Real Estate Services page.
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Transcript of “Airbnb investing and remodeling in Istanbul: two case studies applicable for the Turkish CBI”
LADISLAS MAURICE: Hello, everyone. Ladislas Maurice from thewanderinginvestor.com. Today, I’m in the heart of Istanbul, in Osmanbey, one of the busiest areas of Istanbul, together with Angelina. Angelina, how are you?
ANGELINA: I’m fine, thank you. How are you, Ladislas?
LADISLAS MAURICE: Good. Angelina renovated a few of my apartments here in this neighborhood, and today, she’s going to show us one of the projects that she did, where she helped the client buy a big apartment, do a full renovation, and now she’s renting it out. We’ll go through all of the numbers. And then later on, we’re going to go to another neighborhood, jump in a taxi and go check out an Airbnb, which is quite special, because these days it’s hard to get an Airbnb license in Istanbul, but if you can pull it off, which Angelina can help you with, then the yields can be very attractive. Angelina, let’s go check it out.
ANGELINA: Yes, and very important point that there is metro here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: That’s true.
ANGELINA: Just here.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Osmanbey Metro Station right here, a literal two-minute walk away. Actually, one-minute walk away from the apartment.
ANGELINA: One minute, yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So this is a huge selling point. All right, let’s go.
Istanbul apartment tour
ANGELINA: Here is the apartment. It’s historical, beautiful building. You can see very nice entrance. We walk even not one minute. So shall we show it?
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, that was 30 seconds.
ANGELINA: Here we are, beautiful color of the door, turquoise colors.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How big is the apartment?
ANGELINA: Apartment is 170 square meters, just net, without balcony and without garden. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, big living room with kitchen, open kitchen, American kitchen, and another living room, just watch TV, with big screen TV and a working desk with internet.
LADISLAS MAURICE: This apartment was bought by a client of yours how many years ago?
ANGELINA: This apartment was purchased in 2021 in May, approximately, and the price was $320,000. Plus all the fees, agent fees, stamp duties is around $335k.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. What about the renovation costs, because this is a huge renovation job?
ANGELINA: This is huge renovation.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Because this was a textile thing before or was it an apartment already?
ANGELINA: No, this was a beauty salon.
LADISLAS MAURICE: It was a beauty salon, okay.
ANGELINA: There was many, many divisions, so we just demolished all these silly walls, and we made back the original layout. The client wanted only customer-made furniture, he didn’t want to buy anything from the shops. Actually, everything in this house is customer-made, even the double bed for children, this is customer-made. And you see itโs the same color as the doors. We went with a certain color range. The client has very great taste, we would say. We also use patinas on the walls, on the main walls. In every room, you have patina techniques, different colors. It’s also, of course, much more expensive than normal painting.
And this is the master bathroom. This is beautiful things, that everywhere we use natural stone, green color, which going very nicely with this turquoise, greenish furniture, doors, and the brass of the accessories.
Apartment renovation and remodeling costs in Istanbul
LADISLAS MAURICE: What were the renovation costs, Angelina, for the whole project?
ANGELINA: Whole project renovation cost is around $180k. It included furniture.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So a bit over $1,000 a square meter?
ANGELINA: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: That was about two, three years ago, roughly.
ANGELINA: No, we finalized one year ago, something, one-and-a-half year ago, roughly.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, so renovation costs have gone up since then, so now the budget would be a bit bigger for renovation.
ANGELINA: Yeah, something like $1,200, $1,500 for such renovation. Lamps, also, custom-made. Itโs crystal lamps. We have very nice producer of original Ottoman lamps here. We can make any lamp that you dream. Everything in this house was made by the special order, a special taste of the client.
LADISLAS MAURICE: I love the bathroom.
ANGELINA: We have a steam room, which is very rare. It was our first steam room that we did, nobody requested before. Handmade tiles, very original, one of a kind. To apply these tiles, also it’s a very special job. It’s not easy job to apply these tiles on the round wall. And marbles, and again, natural stone of sink and bathroom cabinet.
Adding balcony to Istanbul apartment
ANGELINA: We are going now to the garden. We add the balcony, whole balcony. We asked for the permission the building, so we did this through building permission, not illegal way. [laughs] So it’s from building permission we add all these balconies, because other neighbors they have balconies, and this one now. And of course, we add huge balconies, like a terrace. This is handmade tiles, beautiful color, very special. This show exactly that you are in Istanbul if you see these tiles. It’s designed by Ottomans.
And then we have garden. That garden was garbage. We totally put the new deck furniture. We covered all the side walls with artificial flowers. Itโs costly, the job. It’s expensive. That’s why, of course, this apartment is not so cheap per square meters, but to create all the space, you need to spend. And also new stairs, all this we have done. It’s all within the budget.
LADISLAS MAURICE: If the owner were to sell this apartment, now, how much could he sell it for?
ANGELINA: He sell for $650,000 just like that.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, which is about $3,800 a square meter, right downtown Istanbul, one of the best neighborhoods. I mean Niลantaลฤฑ is a three-minute walk away from here. That’s about a 25% uplift for the investor on his initial capital.
Istanbul apartment bedroom renovation and remodeling
ANGELINA: This is the master bedroom of the owner of the apartment. Again, the bathroom has different kind of tile, the different color. Every bathroom is unique.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. I really like the design you did with this apartment. It’s so unique.
ANGELINA: Yeah, thank you.
LADISLAS MAURICE: You don’t see this anywhere else in the world.
ANGELINA: Yes, it’s natural stone, brass accessories, marble floor make it really feeling that you’re in Istanbul, in Ottoman Empire, [laughs] especially bathroom talking about that. Also, this is customer-made. Itโs original wood. The bed frames and bed head is customer-made. Only mattress we bought. The wardrobes, everything is customer-made. Lamps, customer-made. All the cabinets, especially wood, dark wood color, and, of course, turquoise, those, it make very nice, beautiful combinations.
Istanbul apartment rental yields
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay, so let’s talk about the rental income here. The owner, if the owner were to want to put this apartment on the market, on the long-term market, how much could he get per month?
ANGELINA: $3,500 the lowest price, maybe $4,000, maybe more, but we talk about $3,500.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, let’s just be conservative, let’s put $3,500. This apartment would have a higher likelihood of getting a USD rent, which is positive. Even if it was a lira rent, the way it works is when you sign a lira contract in Turkey, typically, it’s a bit higher, and then throughout the year, then the lira depreciates, and you get less and less in dollars. But you negotiate to have increases after six months, etc. So on average, you’d end up at approximately $3,500, if there’s not a massive devaluation. But after a year, then you can increase your rent again in lira. Getting rental income in Turkey is a little volatile, people just need to understand this. What would be the occupancy rate?
ANGELINA: I think 95% is long-term, or 100%.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. I mean, we are in the heart of a city of 15 million people with some of the world’s best airport connections, so yeah, it’s easy to find tenants.
ANGELINA: It’s downtown, prime downtown, fancy restaurants, fancy shops around. Itโs the most fancy area of downtown of Istanbul, and very popular for Turkish people, not only tourists and foreigners.
Istanbul apartment rental expenses
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah, cool. What are your property management fees?
ANGELINA: 10% for long-term rental.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. What about the property tax?
ANGELINA: It’s $350 per year, it’s very small in Turkey.
LADISLAS MAURICE: For our North American friends here, yeah, $350 of property tax per year. What about earthquake insurance?
ANGELINA: It’s $80.
LADISLAS MAURICE: $80, okay. It’s important to note that, in Turkey, this is one of the areas in Istanbul where there’s less earthquake risk. It’s actually one of the reasons why I bought in this neighborhood. And then earthquake insurance is mandatory here in Turkey. What about the HOA common charges?
ANGELINA: It’s about $35 per month. In total, maintenance, we would say, with some maybe extra costs here could be $2,000.
LADISLAS MAURICE: A year?
ANGELINA: A year, yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. Then again, the common charges, the HOA gets paid by the tenant in Turkey, so that wouldn’t really need to be counted, but we’ll put $2,000 in the numbers to be conservative. When we calculate everything, essentially, if you were to buy this apartment for about $650,000, you’d get a net yield, before income tax, of about 5%, but the investor is getting 6.5%, so it’s pretty decent. But you’ve sold other apartments in this building as well?
ANGELINA: Yes, we sold other apartment and showed that in years price increased in this area, so the people who buy it two years after the apartment, they pay $475k.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Can we go see it?
ANGELINA: Yes.
Istanbul apartment before renovation and remodeling
LADISLAS MAURICE: All right, so let’s go through this one quickly. We’ll go check out the Airbnb and do the numbers there. How long ago did clients buy this apartment?
ANGELINA: They bought, like, one year ago, approximately. And we created different layout according to their taste. So will be library here, living room, kitchen. This renovation now at the mid stage of renovation, we already done with all infrastructure, walls, bathroom tiles. We’re now going to the last stage of dressing of the apartment, you say, with the these accessories, nice accessories, furniture. All furniture will be customer-made. This is very special bathrooms, very special tiles. We choose Turkish bath, Turkish Hammam style.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How much per square meter for the renovation?
ANGELINA: Because of the special marble tiles and customer furniture, the renovation will be much more expensive, $1,200 per square meter, approximately.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. I mean, to be fair, there’s been inflation in the past year, year-and-a-half in dollar terms in Turkey, so that and more expensive materials. Okay, cool. Fantastic, great. Let’s go to, which neighborhood are we going to now?
ANGELINA: Now weโre going to neighborhood near Taksim called Gรผmรผลsuyu.
Gรผmรผลsuyu apartment tour
LADISLAS MAURICE: It was raining for a bit, so we actually had to take the metro. There are no cabs when it rains in Istanbul. Right here we are in Taksim, really, the heart, heart of European Istanbul. And the apartment is how much of a walk away?
ANGELINA: It’s like five minutesโ walking distance from Taksim Square, the area called Gรผmรผลsuyu, it’s very close to here, and it’s also prime location of Taksim.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Obviously.
ANGELINA: Yes. Here is the building. The apartment is on top floor. It’s a duplex apartment with a terrace, so actually three floors, but two floors is duplex, and the short one is terrace.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And a cute little neighbor here.
ANGELINA: Yeah. And this is actually apartment cat. [laughs]
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. [laughs] I see cats everywhere in Istanbul.
ANGELINA: Very sweet.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Beautiful.
ANGELINA: Yes, beautiful view. This is apartment near Taksim, Gรผmรผลsuyu, one of the luxury areas of Taksim. I’m a real estate agent, and I can find properties like this, we search, especially for clients, for their request to find the property with a sea view for good price.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How much was it, all in?
ANGELINA: All in was $285k.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool.
ANGELINA: Then we renovate it for $70k.
LADISLAS MAURICE: With furniture?
ANGELINA: With furniture. It’s small apartment.
LADISLAS MAURICE: How many square meters?
ANGELINA: It’s 60 square meters, maximum 70 plus terrace, so it’s a small apartment but very nice layout, very good lay. And then we provide the management services, property management. We provide all services from A to Z to you for your satisfaction and to assist you the best way. Now we can show, the bathroom is very special. What we have in this apartment, smart toilet.
LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs] Cool. All right, so two bedrooms?
ANGELINA: Yes, two bedrooms, small bedroom, yes, bedroom and master bedroom, one bathroom, and dressing room on this floor. Here is the second floor. I love tiles on the bathrooms, which have very nice color range. There is some Istanbul style, but have some Far Eastern style. So bath top dressed in the marble. And here is a very nice living room with open kitchen. Kitchen also have the beautiful turquoise Istanbul style tiles that match with the stunning Bosphorus view and water on Bosphorus.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Beautiful. We were just sitting here working on the numbers. Yeah, such a nice view. Imagine just having breakfast here every day.
Getting Airbnb license in Istanbul
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And the investors have short-term license for this one?
ANGELINA: Yes, we have short-term license because the other two owners of the apartments, Russian and Turkish, they also wants to run Airbnb, so all this whole building will be for Airbnb, and which is the best place to have Airbnb in Istanbul.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. Look, it’s really hard to get an Airbnb license in Istanbul. Before, it wasn’t a problem, but they put some restrictions in place. Essentially, to get an Airbnb license, you need to have the approval of every single person in the building. This means that in 98% of buildings it’s not possible, or 99% of buildings it’s not possible, but when you find small buildings like this, where everyone is an investor, you can. We’re going to see it’s going to result in some very interesting yields for your clients. Cool. And then let’s go check out the terrace, it’s stunning.
Bosporus view apartment in Istanbul
ANGELINA: Yes, the terrace is stunning.
LADISLAS MAURICE: You’ll see it’s not easy to get to, but it’s how it is.
ANGELINA: Yes, this is a spectacular view.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Gosh.
ANGELINA: It’s a full, like, 850 view on Bosphorus. You can see Asian side, Kadฤฑkรถy, Bostancฤฑ. There is, today, I think, yacht competition. And you can see the islands, Princesโ Island. Even the weather today was not so great, but look at this view.
LADISLAS MAURICE: And then what’s pretty cool, you can see all the warships as well. You can see a bunch of Russian warships that go through, all the nuclear submarines, I think. [laughs]
ANGELINA: [laughs] Here, we were planning to put a winter garden, but neighbors behind didn’t let us. Even we don’t block the view, but we will do it. We have a construction. And the entrance to the terrace will be raised up, so it will be higher entrance. And here, the half of terrace will be winter garden. So it’s special tiles, Istanbul tiles, you can see from the colors, it’s beautiful.
Istanbul Airbnb rental yields
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Let’s go into the numbers. The investors are in for $355,000. If you were going to resell this apartment now, how much could it fetch on the market?
ANGELINA: It’s $400,000.
LADISLAS MAURICE: About $400,000?
ANGELINA: About $400,000. Maybe we can push more, but we say the lowest is $400,000 right now.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool, all right. In terms of Airbnb income, we had a look at AirDNA. We had a look at some of the data. Peak season, which is about six months here in Istanbul, how much, roughly, per night, and what would be the occupancy rate?
ANGELINA: Peak season, we plan $180. This is the lowest rate that we can do it. We can go upper but we look about $180, and occupancy around 80%.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. And low season?
ANGELINA: Low season, we would say, again, it’s the lowest price for this area and this apartment, $120, and occupancy around 60%.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. I mean, the good thing about Istanbul is that there really is year-round tourism. It’s one of the world’s biggest hubs. There are people coming from all over Europe, from Central Asia, from Africa, from the Middle East, from East Asia, really, from everywhere. It’s really one of the world’s biggest, biggest cities.
ANGELINA: Yes, and Western Europeans coming a lot. They love Istanbul.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. And Western Europeans, typically, like this neighborhood, particularly. Cool. In terms of expenses, what are your Airbnb management fees?
ANGELINA: 20% for the short-term rental.
LADISLAS MAURICE: What would the utilities be, approximately, per month?
ANGELINA: Per month, around $100.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And the property tax?
ANGELINA: Property tax very low, $60. [laughs]
LADISLAS MAURICE: [laughs] $60.
ANGELINA: $60 per year for this property.
LADISLAS MAURICE: $60 property tax, all right. Earthquake insurance?
ANGELINA: $50 per year.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Okay. And incidentals, the budget for maintenance?
ANGELINA: We would say the uppest is $1,000.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Cool. Essentially, the investors are going to be getting a net yield of a bit above 8% before income tax. And if people were just to buy right now this property at 400k they’d be getting a bit over 7% as well before income tax.
ANGELINA: Yes.
LADISLAS MAURICE: This is quite interesting for prime property in a prime neighborhood of one of the world’s greatest cities with views that are not going to go anywhere. There’s a place there where they could build.
ANGELINA: They cannot build, itโs a school.
LADISLAS MAURICE: Let’s say they build, they won’t be able to build high enough to block any of the views.
ANGELINA: Then school building.
LADISLAS MAURICE: So this view is pretty much guaranteed.
ANGELINA: There, by the way, is Kabataล. This is a boat station that you can take boat to the islands, you can take boat to the Asian side, you can take boat to Bosphorus. It’s very big, one of the biggest boat station in Istanbul.
Get in touch with Angelina
LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. Cool. Fantastic. Look, I wrote a whole article on the real estate market here in Istanbul, the neighborhoods to look into, the neighborhoods to avoid, some of the mistakes that you should be careful that people make when they come here. There’s a link below. And if you want to get in touch with Angelina, she can help you find property, do the renovations as well as manage your property, either on the long-term or the short-term market. There’s her email right below. Angelina, thank you very much.
ANGELINA: You’re very welcome, Ladislas. It’s my pleasure.
