When it rains, it pours (apartments)

Still no rain in Ankara or Istanbul, but in terms of finding an apartment we had a bountiful day yesterday.  After a month and a half of searching, three viable options showed up all at once and we finally got a place.

It ultimately came down to deciding between two very different places.  The one we didn’t choose was a newly renovated apartment on the Asian side in a district that has more of a village feel (Kuzguncuk).  It’s a five minute walk to the Bosphorus, has a balcony overlooking a nice green valley (very rare in Istanbul) and is even located on the same road as ISAM; my commute would’ve been about 20 minutes.

Too good to be true?

On the other hand, the apartment was on the 6th floor of a building without an elevator and the steps were killer.  There was also no water tank in case of shortages.  On this point the two real estate agents told us not to worry:

“Ambassadors and politicians in Ankara may have had their water cut, but there are a lot of artists living around here, so it won’t happen.”

The power of artists!

The price was also incredibly cheap, so what weren’t they telling us?  Were they having trouble finding a renter because of those steps?  What else?

Other things that rubbed me the wrong way:

1. Racist real estate agents:  “Oh, there’s no way we would rent to someone from the east of Turkey, and definitely not to Kurds.”  (My wife is from the east, but apparently that’s not obvious.)
2. The owner wanted two months’ rent and a deposit of two months’ rent up front.  Adding in the agent’s fee we would’ve had to pay $4000 up front, which seems ridiculous.
3. One of the agents started smoking while showing us around the apartment.
4. No furniture.

Too good to pass up

Instead of a pastoral existence that would’ve rivaled Princeton for peace and quiet, we settled on a fully-furnished apartment just five minutes from Taksim Square in the center of town but down a quiet street behind the German consulate.

This place is also about a 5-7 minute walk from the Bosphorus (downhill, at least), but because we’re on the European side we’re much closer to restaurants, theaters, major public transportation, etc. and the cost is only about 10 minutes in terms of my commute. Rent is the same as the other apartment.

We found this place through a former SSRC fellow who’s living there now, so there are no real estate agents to pay, and the home owners, who live upstairs, are really nice and take good care of the building.

We move in at the end of the month.

UPDATE: Pinar reminded me that two days before we found this apartment, she stood directly in front of the exact same apartment building and said to herself, “Gee, I would really like to live around here.” Right about then the doorman of the neighboring building asked her if he could help her. She said she was looking for an apartment around there, and he told her that she should give up because it was simply too expensive. Two days later? Big time kismet.