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How To Find A Property

Home in Bodrum
Properties in Turkiye range from old to new, small to large. (Image credit: Daily Sabah)

So, you want to buy property in Turkiye. How do you get started?

We started by watching a few YouTube channels focused on foreign property, including Wandering Investor. Through the Wandering Investor channel, we learned about an Istanbul-based real estate agent who is experienced in working with foreigners. (He’s from Canada, so he’s fluent in English, too.) We found his contact information in the comments section of the video, and simply reached out.

Keith enthusiastically responded and connected me to his local network, including a few WhatsApp groups with other current and prospective investors. Others in the group were also eager to provide backchannel chats with advice, which I found particularly helpful from those already in the late stages of the CBI process.

One of the WhatsApp groups is basically a repository for real estate listings, including photos. So, as our money became available, I was paying more attention to these. Keith and his team also worked relentlessly, often until late in the night for them, to find the right combination of properties for us.

Our properties? I’ll write about them in the next post…

But for now, know that there are a variety of property types available if you’re wanting to invest. There’s a lot of newer construction, which is more expensive, of course. Older properties are also available, but you need to ensure that they are earthquake-safe. And you can choose an urban location (such as Istanbul), a coastal beach location (such as Bodrum, shown in the photo above), or something rural elsewhere in the country.

Once you have the appropriate connections, it’s pretty straightforward to find a Turkish property that works for you! We certainly did.

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Property Search

(Note: this post was originally written in early May 2023. Spoiler alert — we have since found properties in Turkiye. But this post outlines the process for finding properties.)

This cool map was on the wall at one of the properties where we stayed in Istanbul.

Our money is deposited into our Turkish bank account, and it’s time to look for a place! The only thing – the clock is ticking, since with the country’s presidential election looming (this post written during the first week of May), it’s unclear if the CBI program will be maintained. There is zero likelihood that they would choose to terminate it the day after the May 14th election, but if such a decision were made, we may only have until June 1 or June 15 to finalize our property purchases. If only our money had been available earlier – this last-minute stress would not have been such an issue!

I didn’t know that the property purchase would be as stressful as waiting for the money to come in. Many properties for sale are under $400K, meaning we’re trying to get two. (Better to diversify our investments, anyway.) But with a hard upper limit to our budget, it’s become a game of Tetris to come up with two properties that fit the criteria, but don’t exceed $450K.

What are these criteria, you ask? The most basic one is that the property is suitable to be used for the CBI program. Properties which have been used for CBI in the past, and subsequently sold, are not eligible to be used for the program. Also, in light of the recent Hatay Province earthquake, we want a solid building. But aside from that, we don’t have too many other qualifications. Ideally, it would be in an area where we could rent the apartment and get a reasonable return – basically, the apartment paying for itself in the end.  We’re not sure how much we’ll be staying in our properties when we visit Istanbul, since AirBnBs in our favorite neighborhood are affordable enough.

The friendly faces of Istanbul and Besiktas!

The long-term plan is hopefully to buy a property in our favorite neighborhood after our initial CBI holding period is over. Once we buy our first property, we are allowed to sell it after three years and still maintain citizenship. If we hold the property five years before selling, we will avoid long-term gain taxes. We’d love to use the proceeds from these sales to buy our ideal property in 2028. This, of course, is dependent on availability, world economy, and the status of Turkiye at the time.

Besiktas — our favorite neighborhood! (So far.)

Meanwhile, we feel like we’re close to moving on a pair of properties, but the ten-hour time difference is nervewracking! I don’t expect the agents to stay up all night to help me; as it is, they’ve been more than generous, texting me until 12pm PDT/10pm Istanbul time. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say I spend the entire rest of the afternoon with property anxiety…

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The Basics Of Turkish CBI

As the name states, at the fundamental level, CBI requires an investment of money prior to obtaining citizenship. In Turkiye, the investment goes toward property, meaning that you will also be a local property owner once the process is complete.

Since we are American citizens, we do not have to give up our primary citizenship. When our CBI is complete, we will be dual citizens of the US and Turkiye. Note that this is not true for all countries; some countries do not allow dual citizenship, and those residents would have to give up their primary citizenship when pursuing Turkish CBI. This is great, since it not only gives us the freedom to move back and forth, but we will be able to use our Turkish passports to travel visa-free to certain countries.

If you’re wondering if a lot of paperwork is involved, you’d be right. But the overall process involves selecting and buying property equivalent to $400,000 (which often involves more than one property), and you and your family will have passports within about four months. Yes – if you purchase the property, you, your spouse, and any dependents under the age of 18 will also be included in the deal. There are many hoops to jump through, and I would recommend using a reputable attorney to help you through the process so that you don’t miss anything, but it’s one of the fastest CBI programs around.

Moreover, if you are not staying in your property, it can generate rental income (after any renovations are completed, of course). And, if you aren’t satisfied in the end, the program only asks that you hold your property for three years – then you can sell it.

Interestingly, all of this paperwork – including choosing and purchasing the property – can be done remotely. I have heard of many people who receive their Turkish passports never having set foot in the country. That sounds crazy to me, since I want to spend as much time as possible there; but even we have had to do some of the work through our local Embassy, as it hasn’t been practical to travel back and forth to Turkiye.