Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Does anyone know of an apartment like this?

I'm looking for an apartment in Istanbul that has all of the following qualities:

*3-year lease

*Within 10-15 minutes walking distance to Taksim (Gümüşsuyu is probably ideal)

*Unfurnished, or little furniture

*Properly reinforced for earthquakes, soil and foundation report must be available, and the landlord must be willing to show them to me. ABSOLUTELY NON-NEGOTIABLE.

*Landlord friendly to cats.

*About 100 sq m.

*Very light, not claustrophobic, feeling of space

*Quiet: No construction nearby or planned--also non-negotiable.

*Sea view--I work at home, and I want to see something beautiful when I look out the window.

*A balcony that's structurally such that I could enclose it with mesh or wire, making it a place my cats can go without falling off and killing themselves

*There must be doors that close on the kitchen and at least one of the rooms that could serve as a study for me--open plan isn't suitable. I need to be able to keep the cats away from computer cords and gas stoves when I can't supervise them.

*Landlord has no prior history of major disputes with tenants or failure to do reasonable repairs in a timely fashion (in other words: NO CRAZY LANDLORDS.)

*Ready to move in immediately--no major renovations or repairs required

*Bathtub--not just a shower

*Safe neighborhood that would feel okay to walk in by myself at night, with appropriate building security (e.g., bars on ground floor windows, if any)


The above are non-negotiable, "nice to have" would include:

*no emlak, direct from landlord

*more than one balcony (one for the cats, one for the plants)

*elevator if it's on a high floor

*lots of closets and storage space

I'm willing to pay someone a reasonable fee to help me find this quickly. Get in touch with me or leave a comment if you know of something suitable.

The main consideration here is that I need to move very quickly, and can't take time off of work. So I don't want to see apartments that don't meet the criteria above.

Thanks!