Moved to Izmir

[MiddleEarth]

The missus (Turkish), our cat, and me (yabanci) moved to Izmir on the 1st of January. We are temporarily staying in Karşiyaka, Mavişehir. We are in an active search for a permanent rental of a furnished apartment (3+1 w 1/2 banyo) in the Karşiyaka (Mavişehir-Atakent-Bostanli), or Konak/Alsancak areas. We do not want to buy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We have been in contact with a few emlaks and use sahibinden.com to search for rentals.

As we are well over middle-aged :w00t:, retired, on a fixed income and on SGK, we would appreciate your recommendations on hospitals, both private and devlet, sağlık ocağı and/or tip merkezi, as well as family practice/internal medicine practioners.

Any favorite shopping areas, parks, "touristy" sites, or other Izmir information you wish to recommend would also be appreciated.

We have only started exploring the city and especially like the public transportation system as well as ferries.

 

[IbrahimAbi]

Hoş geldiniz. A good choice of city. I cannot offer any advice as I have not been for many years. I lived there for 4 years in the 80s. IMHO still the best large city in Turkey.

 

[Yildez Datca]

Hi, I can’t offer advice about Izmir, but as I’ve been renting since 2005, I can give some tips. In the long run you’d be better to rent unfurnished. Finding long term furnished rentals is difficult, and the standard of furniture/equipment/decor is rarely good. If it is good, it will be expensive; you’ll have a far greater, and cheaper, choice with unfurnished properties in my experience. Furniture is not terribly expensive, white goods are more expensive generally than the UK. Washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves etc are not generally included. Older style rentals may not include a water heater, you have to supply it yourself.

Check out Sahibinden for rentals in your area of choice, it’s in Turkish but has an English tab at the bottom right of the page. As you scroll down there are 3 tabs, the middle one shows a location map.

If you rent through an agent, rather than direct with the owner, you’ll have to pay a months rent in commission, as well as a months rent in advance, and a months rent deposit. The rent will go up each year by a percentage set by the government, tied to the official rate of inflation.

Good luck!

 

[jandj]

No offence to the previous post, but I totally disagree on the following.
" white goods are more expensive generally than the UK."
White goods are in my experience, are cheaper than in the UK, especially from "spot shops", or the many electrical shops in Konak or Metro.
We lived outside of Izmir, in Foca, and loved our trips to Izmir, especially Konak and Karsiyaka. The transport infrastucture is superb.
The rest of the advice seems spot on. Good luck

 

[MiddleEarth]

Hi, I can’t offer advice about Izmir, but as I’ve been renting since 2005, I can give some tips. In the long run you’d be better to rent unfurnished. Finding long term furnished rentals is difficult, and the standard of furniture/equipment/decor is rarely good. If it is good, it will be expensive; you’ll have a far greater, and cheaper, choice with unfurnished properties in my experience. Furniture is not terribly expensive, white goods are more expensive generally than the UK. Washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves etc are not generally included. Older style rentals may not include a water heater, you have to supply it yourself.

Check out Sahibinden for rentals in your area of choice, it’s in Turkish but has an English tab at the bottom right of the page. As you scroll down there are 3 tabs, the middle one shows a location map.

If you rent through an agent, rather than direct with the owner, you’ll have to pay a months rent in commission, as well as a months rent in advance, and a months rent deposit. The rent will go up each year by a percentage set by the government, tied to the official rate of inflation.

Good luck!

Thank you for your well thought out reply. We have been through the rental situation in Istanbul, Kaş, Fethiye and now Izmir a number of times (I have lived in Turkey over 20 years). We have attempted to "declutter' to the point where we are unemcumbered by a lot of "stuff." We have found quite a number of "eşyalı daireler" listed on sahibinden.com, some of them quite nice, so far none have really taken us in so to speak. Your advice is excellent for someone who wants to own furniture and white goods, we chose not to, knowing this will make our search a bit more difficult but ultimately more suitable to our lifestyle.

 

[Matrixca7]

The missus (Turkish), our cat, and me (yabanci) moved to Izmir on the 1st of January. We are temporarily staying in Karşiyaka, Mavişehir. We are in an active search for a permanent rental of a furnished apartment (3+1 w 1/2 banyo) in the Karşiyaka (Mavişehir-Atakent-Bostanli), or Konak/Alsancak areas. We do not want to buy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We have been in contact with a few emlaks and use sahibinden.com to search for rentals.

As we are well over middle-aged :w00t:, retired, on a fixed income and on SGK, we would appreciate your recommendations on hospitals, both private and devlet, sağlık ocağı and/or tip merkezi, as well as family practice/internal medicine practioners.

Any favorite shopping areas, parks, "touristy" sites, or other Izmir information you wish to recommend would also be appreciated.

We have only started exploring the city and especially like the public transportation system as well as ferries.

My wife and I are in the same boat. We're moving to Izmir next week from Canada, how do you like Izmir? Initially we were interested in living in Narlidere or Urla, but it seems there are just a few furnished apartments in those areas. Based on my research Mavişehir is a nice neighborhood and there are many furnished apartments in that area. We're looking for a 2+1 in Site with 24-hour security and a swimming pool. If you find a good apartment please let me know and good luck on relocation.

 

[MiddleEarth]

My wife and I are in the same boat. We're moving to Izmir next week from Canada, how do you like Izmir? Initially we were interested in living in Narlidere or Urla, but it seems there are just a few furnished apartments in those areas. Based on my research Mavişehir is a nice neighborhood and there are many furnished apartments in that area. We're looking for a 2+1 in Site with 24-hour security and a swimming pool. If you find a good apartment please let me know and good luck on relocation.

So far we like it a lot, good and easy-to-use public transport.
You should buy an Izmirim Kart: https://www.izmirimkart.com.tr/

LOTS of apartments in our area.
I use the English page for rentals here:
https://www.sahibinden.com/en/for-rent-flat/izmir
It has a very good search using map section.

If you use Google Chrome you can set it so that it automatically translates Turkish pages to English.

Hope this helps and good luck. When you get settled message me and we can talk more.