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Buying Izmir real estate for the Turkish citizenship by investment

May 5, 2024 | Private List update

real estate turkish passport izmir

I’ve been saying it for years now, and I will continue repeating it:

The Turkish citizenship by investment program offers great value.

Why?
– Citizenship for you, your spouse and your underage children
– Very little fees
– An actual investment of $500k in a term deposit with interest and central bank guarantee or $400k in any real estate
– After three years you can withdraw your investment
– Citizenship goes down the generations if the children get properly registered
– Geopolitical diversification
– Great consular services all over the world

However most people get played when they go through the real estate option

Look, Turks are not easy people to do business with if you are not aware of the culture. They will eat you alive in negotiations.

Generally speaking, around that part of the Mediterranean, people have been haggling and doing business like this for millennia. Business and negotiations are a game.

So people just Google real estate, find these big agencies, and end up buying in big developments that are extremely overpriced and where local Turks don’t buy. There are entire developments that are built specifically to overprice, market to citizenship applicants, and offer crazy commissions to agents.

Some agents receive commissions of 20%+

It’s only once the new citizens try to sell a few years later that they realize that they got duped.

All the citizenship people are buying in Istanbul or in places like Antalya

But the city of Izmir, the third largest in Turkey, has very few foreigners buying there. The result is that there is very interesting value to be found. I bought an apartment in Izmir two years ago.

In this video, I went around with Keith, my Canadian buyer’s agent (fluent in Turkish), and we had a look at a few properties. It gives a decent overview of the market.

The Turkish Citizenship by Investment toolkit

A reminder

The price of most Caribbean citizenships is increasing to $200,000 + fees in July, from $100,000 + fees now.

You should act now if you are interested, especially if you plan on eventually leaving Canada or renouncing US citizenship in light of all the new capital gains taxes coming your way.

Laszlo can help you obtain these Caribbean citizenships.

To a World of Opportunities,

The Wandering Investor.

Other articles on Turkey:

Available services in Turkey:

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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If you want to discuss your internationalization and diversification plans, book a consulting session or send me an email.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Keith, what are your thoughts about the Izmir property market?

KEITH: I think we’re in one of those periods where there is value but, again, it’s selective, very much like Istanbul. It’s not like shooting fish in a barrel, and just pick a property here or there, anywhere, and expect to get decent appreciation, decent results on the yield. It’s quite selective but there are good opportunities if you dig around, if you work with your agents, such as myself, or you come with the criteria and you’re willing to work with me, discuss it, and I’ll tell you if that’s feasible or not. And then if you work through the process, I think you can get some really good property here. It’s still on for buying, in my mind.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Last year, I was buying a few properties here in Turkey. I was focusing on Istanbul. I bought two properties in Istanbul. I was looking for a third one. And Keith kept telling me, “You should go to Izmir, you should go to Izmir.” I was a little bit reluctant at first.

KEITH: A lot of people are.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Then I came down here a few times, I increasingly liked it. And then, one day, you found a listing online, and you’re like, “Ladislas, you should buy this one.” And I remember, I sent the money without even seeing it. And it turned out to be actually probably the best investment [laughs] of the three investments I made here in Turkey. My Izmir property, the value has grown a lot. I’m getting a very decent yield. I like Izmir from a lifestyle point of view. The city is very pleasant, it’s very calm. There’s a nice promenade here. When you go to the other side of town, you take the ferry. The food is great, it’s not too expensive. There’s a lot of bars, a lot of clubs, restaurants, everything. From that point of view, it’s very pleasant.

The airport is very well-connected as well. There’s like two flights per hour to Istanbul, direct flights to all over the Middle East and Europe as well. The location is great. And especially, more than Izmir itself, the region is stunning. If you rent a car, it’s like $30 a day, you can go to Çeşme, stunning beaches, you can go to Ephesus, which is like a historical site. There’s just so much in the region to like and to visit. I mean, the reality is people have been fighting over this area for thousands of years, not without a good reason. It’s because it’s just beautiful, it’s fertile, it’s stunning. The food is so good here. When you go to the fruit markets, the vegetable markets, everything is fresh, everything tastes great. You essentially get Greek lifestyle for much less money. And again, why, historically, in the past, this was Greece for a long time, there’s a big Greek minority, etc. So very pleasant place.

KEITH: Yeah, I agree. If you jump in the car, within an hour, an hour-and-a-half you can hit four or five great sort of coastal resorts. You have Seferihisar, which has a whole new marina. And then you have Karaburun, which is really interesting, really up and coming area. Çeşme, Alaçatı, these are all star power places. And so it’s wonderful, within an hour. Even Urla is even less, 30 minutes to go to Urla. And there’s even some great beaches in Urla. But you have to be willing to just discover a little bit, get out and try it. And there’s all kinds of wonderful places.

We’re not really like selling mostly lifestyle properties, we’re more selling investment properties. That’s what we’re hunting for. But we like the properties that also have that option where people could say, “Okay, yeah, I can imagine myself spending a couple of weeks a year here.” That kind of thing, yeah.

LADISLAS MAURICE: Yeah. Personally, I can definitely see myself spending some time here. I wrote a whole article on the real estate investment market here in Izmir in terms of which neighborhoods are interesting, which neighborhoods you should avoid, the pros and cons of each, etc., with some case studies. There’s the link below. And if you want to get in touch with Keith, there’s also a link below with more information on his services for property purchases, property management, etc.

All right. Keith, thank you. Always a pleasure.

KEITH: Certainly.

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