Getting a Tax ID Number
Monday morning – start of a new work week, so off we go to the Tax Office to get our Tax ID numbers. We need these in order to open a bank account and buy a property.
It was a little bit crazy in the tax office, I would have hated to get this organized by myself, but luckily we had our property broker to help us. She got us in and out in no time.
Opening a Turkish Bank Account
Next we “froggered” across the road to open a bank account. Well 4 actually. One for each currency; US Dollars; British Pounds; Euro; and Turkish Lira. I felt like some kind of international money launderer with so many bank accounts! Again we had our brokers help, but the lady at the bank was really helpful and spoke great English. Good enough to offer us credit cards and a mortgage — both of which we declined.
Then we were passed onto another member of staff for our online and telephone banking codes. Resulting in lots of bits of paper, to but virtual access to our money once we return home.
Meeting the Solicitor
In the afternoon we went with our property broker to the solicitor, who explained the contract and the power of attorney process. A lovely discussion over Apple Tea and Turkish Coffee, before heading out to see the solicitor.
We lucked out with Mehmet – I found him on the internet before we went to Bodrum, and when we arrived we discovered that our property broker already did business with him.
So we wandered through the back streets of Bodrum to find his office. There’s some tranquil little back streets of Bodrum, and this was one we hadn’t been down before.
Our Solicitor, Mehmet Sinop, advised us that we would be signing a contract, no more than two pages long. In the US, house buying contracts are immense affairs, with more pages than War & Peace, so I was pleased to hear about what we’d be signing.
As usual, Red solidified the relationship with Mehmet by speaking the International Language of football with him. Then Red and I wandered off to lunch at a nearby Lokanta.
Getting our Passports Notarized
Next stop – the Notary office to get our passports translated into Turkish for the Military Approval process.
We were meeting our property agent there, and she told us to turn left near the pomegranate tree. We weren’t sure if we’d find the office, because to be honest, neither of us had ever seen a pomegranate tree before.
Lucky for us, it was dripping in fruit, so even novices like us, could spot it.
The Notary was located in a stifling hot office in central Bodrum. The smell may have been overwhelming, but luckily the wait to drop off the paperwork, wasn’t.
Today was our own version of Challenge Anneka. Our mission? Complete all the required paperwork to buy a house in Turkey, within a day, in 100 degree heat.
Mission Accomplished. But we had to go back to the hotel for a nap before dinner, because we were exhausted!
Out for the Evening
We decided to switch countries for the nights, and head to an Italian restaurant for dinner. We were seated outside for a delicious bowl of pasta, and the local mozzies found us equally delicious, and I became main-course.
After dinner, and a brief walk along bar street, we headed up one of the side streets the other side of Ataturk Cad. – I highly recommend getting off the beaten track. We found a great little outside bar, and played pool with the owners Kia and Chris. A truly enjoyable night – despite the scratching!
Another little stop off at the Internet cafe on the way back to the hotel. The evening wrapped up at 2am, and on our way home we passed a barbers. We’d seen him at 11am when we found our out of the way bar, and 3 hours later – he was still cutting hair, and setting light to ear-hair.
[important]
Helpful Links related to the Turkish House Buying Process:
Turkish Embassy, London information related to buying a house in Turkey
Here’s some links to a couple of websites that provide a summary of buying process steps:
[/important]
Good morning,
I trully enjoyed reading your real estate experience in Bodrum.
We were there last summer and had exactly the same experience, it was a marathon of offices and paperwork ….. well almost ….. except for: we still didn’t buy the property, our bank was very very helpful but not a word of English and the lawyers we have are completely usless.
We had spoken to Mehmet before arriving to Bodrum, and had heard that he was very good, but for some reason …. we just didn’t get to see him. Hopefuly this summer when we go back we will and get him to take over from our current one. …….. and finally finish buying the propoerty.
Michael