Finding a place to Rent in the City

[anatolian_goddess]

i don't know why you guys are having to pay so much for apartments in Istanbul!! and why on earth you're paying in foreign currency!! it used to be DM but now i see references to US$...

i have had a lot of success with finding places to live because 1) i avoided real estate agents and 2) i guess i've been here long enough (living in school lojmanlar) to have acquired some really good friends who have been willing to go with me and look for flats. i usually stay in the car during initial introductions and only get out when we're going to look at a place! then it's too late for the landlord to say 'oh...i want a zillion dollars a month'.

i also have been able to live slightly off the beaten path but close enough to a bus line (before i got a car) and the rents have been reasonable. once you're IN, the landlord can't arbitrarily decide to charge $$ or euro and he has to stay within a certain percentage.

it's entirely possible that these conditions are no longer valid since i left istanbul in 2000 but it's worth trying.
i would never live near other foreigners because that would mean the rents are automatically double what a turk would pay!! i lived in resit pasa and tarabya ustu...very nice neighborhoods...check them out. i can't believe they have changed dramatically in the past 4 years.

thecybele

[kebalta]

Very true.

I wouldnt ever pay dollars. If you used to live in Tarabya ustu then you know my old neck of the woods Ferahevler. Not the best place, actually according to the police its the worst place in the area. Anyways I paid 275mil a month for a 1 bedroom. Cant get much better than that.

I'm not sure exactly who you were talking about but as you know if you dont speak Turkish you can get screwed. Personally I love to bargain, and Turks dont see it coming. Lisa and I were both living in pretty bad areas before, and neither of us felt safe coming home at night. So we figured paying a little more in rent a month and moving to a nice area would be worth it.

When it comes to apartments it all depends on what each individual person wants. I have noticed however that the nice houses and apartments do want rent in dollars - but that doesnt have aything to do with being a yabanci. The landlord would be crazy to rent a yali out in TL. Since most of us arent making that much it doesnt apply to us anyways

I think a lot of people feel more secure using the currency they are used to. I cant tell you how many people I know that still convert TL back to dollars just to figure out how much something costs. I dont even know what the exchange rate is! I found out a long time ago that if I convert back to dollars I spend a lot more money here.

Kelly

[carlota]

Good subject, expecially for me as I am a virginal neophyte to all things Istnabul.
Someone with knowlege, please recommend an area for living for an American woman (alone) whose Turkish in non-existent bascially. A place to kickstart learning the language , any ideas?

[swoop]

Lots of people will give you different advice but I wound recommend you live on a site (compound) as theytend to be more secure. I am sure if you ask around people will give you an idea of the rates. can be anything between 400 million to 4,000 dollars per month. depends what you are after.