Hi Rimms
We renovated our village house in Uzumlu as Pookie said. I think its was 3 years ago that we bought - £42K, and probably spent the same amount again renovating it. We find it cool in the summer and not needing aircon (manage on fans - just). Winter we have a small soba - once the house has warmed through it does seem to retain the heat. Rats get into the loft and we have to leave rat poison out after each visit, there are lots of holes for creepy crawleys to get into (but we don't mind those). Probably needs the same kind of maintenance as a new build - our large veranda needs sanding and revarnishing after 3 years - but I'm sure a new build would need a repaint.
From what I undertsand, the older houses are more difficult to find because of Turkish inheritance laws - we have a derelict house opposite us which would be fab, but all the brothers cant agree on what to do with it.
We have retained the stone walls inside and bits come off it all the time - but we could plaster over this if we wanted...
We did get builders to do out work (original plan was to do it ourselves, but we did not have the time, and even if we did they have their completely different ways of building.)
We had an architect to do the plans, etc, and a good honest builders ho kept us in the picture back in the UK.
As I said we bought our 'project for £42K from an Englishman who did not get round to doing the house himself. He said he did not make any money on it when he sold it on to us. Another neighbour bought her 'project' last year - I think in the region of £30K. I don't know how much she has spent on the renovation.
Let me knwo if you want any more info!!
