Friday, November 23, 2012

SAS opens route from CPH to Gazipasa


Lately there hasn't been a lot of positive stories coming from Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).

But this week one suddenly popped up, when SAS announced a whole list of new destinations and among these both flights to Antalya Airport and more surprisingly also the newly opened Gazipasa/ Alanya Airport.

That is what we call a good news...

- Our 6 new summer routes all go to destinations in southern Europe. In that way our business travelers can also fly with SAS when going on holiday, tells marketing director Robin Kristensen from SAS.

Tickets are put on sale as of November 26st 2012.





This blog-post is written by 2Base Estate Agency & My2Base Holiday Homes
Visit us online:
Holiday Homes for sale: www.2base.com
Letting & Services: www.my2base.com
Online Shop: www.my2baseshop.com

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The size of a Turkish square meter








This time we will look into something that should seem quite simple - which is the size of a square meter.


Let us first take a look at what Wikipedia has to say related to the subject:


The square metre (British spelling) or square meter (American spelling) is an unit of area...

It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one metre.


For those who are particularly interested in the subject it is worth noticing that 1m2 equals 0.000001 km2 (square kilometers) or 10.000 cm2 (square centimeters).


A question to which Wikipedia does not answer is what the size of a Turkish square meter is.

Because one thing that experience has taught us, is that one (1) European m2 and one (1) Turkish square meter are not equal.


This is most obvious when we receive the floor plans for the units we promote. These are often quite exaggerated and often we see 2-bedroom apartments of 150m2.

But visiting the apartment in question often reveals another story.
Or to put it another way: The 150m2 apartment turns out to be just 100m2.


Main reason for this:

- Measuring square meters in Turkey are not subject to any standard decided by law. Each constructor and developer are therefor measuring based on their own system.
Handing out wrong information is of course not legal, but often firestairs, hall area, elevator area and inside service shafts are included in the total squaremeter figures.

- Also estate agents are not subject to a certain standard when informing clients about apartment size. Each estate agent are determining themselves how to measure and no public records are available/ hard to access.

This means that figures given for each apartment are approximate and often tends to be a bit positive, so to speak.


In the end....

- Never trust the figures given by estate agents, private sellers or constructors entirely. In case the property is already constructed this is of course less problematic since you as a buyer can view and visit the unit in question and see for your self how big - or how small - the apartment really is.

- In case the unit in question is an off-plan apartment and not yet build, you as a buyer should always ask for the floor plans and inside measurements - wall to wall - of the apartment.
In that way you can fairly easy calculate the correct figures your self.

Get the size of the apartment written into the buying agreement and make sure to specify that in case the apartment turns out to be smaller than agreed, you will be entitled to compensation.

- In general when looking for a new holiday home: Do not get blinded by huge figures and apartments that on the paper seems to be extremely large.

- At www.2base.com we always try to give exact and correct figures. When promoting off-plan projects we use the figures provided by the constructor. And as explained above, these should sometimes be considered more as guidelines than as a fact.

In general we try to use a gross-figure that consists if the amount of livable square meters plus balconies.

Furthermore we always try to have floor plans available, but often they do not exist.


In case there are questions related to any of the square meter figures on our web site, please do not hesitate to contact us.




This blog-post is written by 2Base Estate Agency & My2Base Holiday Homes
Visit us online:
Holiday Homes for sale: www.2base.com
Letting & Services: www.my2base.com
Online Shop: www.my2baseshop.com

Friday, November 16, 2012

Questions related to yearly fees





As an apartment owner in Turkey - and most other places too - you each year have to pay the yearly fees to related to the owners association.

These payments will then cover expenses for keeping common areas clean and tidy, usage of common electricity, maintenance of the pool, elevator checkups and so on.


How much to pay is decided each year at the annual general meeting (AGM).

This often leads to the following questions:

1) Can the AGM decide what ever amount they choose?
Yes and No. According to Turkish law on this matter an apartment owner can not be forced to contribute with payments to new facilities or improvements that are considered as being "luxurious and out of the ordinary".
That means, that in case the AGM decides to add an indoor pool to the complex or install floor heating in the gym area, then each individual apartment owner can not be forced to contribute, since both items will be considered as being improvements that are "luxurious and out of the ordinary".  
On the other hand no apartment owner can avoid paying fees related to daily operation of the complex and expenses for general repairs since they are both considered as a part of the daily operation and maintenance.

That leads us to another frequently asked question.
2) When must the decided fees be paid?
The Turkish law does not state when the fees should be paid, only that they MUST be paid.
The AGM - or the board in case it is not decided on the AGM - should therefor decide whether the fees must be paid once and in advance, in monthly installments or quarterly installments.
This decision is to be obeyed by all owners.
In other words: In case the AGM decides that the fees must be paid in once and in advance, every owner must do so.

In case some owners wish to pay monthly payments - for instance because of their economical situation - the board should consider allowing this, since creating unnecessary conflicts are in no ones interest.
But this is not something that the apartment owner can demand, it is solely something that the board can allow if they wish to do so.


This blog-post is written by 2Base Estate Agency & My2Base Holiday Homes
Visit us online:
Holiday Homes for sale: www.2base.com
Letting & Services: www.my2base.com
Online Shop: www.my2baseshop.com