Jan 18th, 2019 : Turkey Bubble

The Sarot Group, real estate speculators in Turkey, planned and built 732 villas they wanted to sell to wealthy people from the Gulf area.
But they didn’t sell enough, probably because they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
One on a far hilltop might be cool, but 732 in a close together rows. :headshake

Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage — hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.
Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairy tale for their investors.
The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry — a key sector — as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.

Sarot Group filed for bankruptcy protection after some of their Gulf customers could not pay for the villas they had bought as part of the $200 million (175 million euros) project, Sarot's deputy chairman, Mezher Yerdelen, said. So far, $100 million has been spent on the project.
"Some of the sales had to be cancelled," Yerdelen told AFP, after the company sold 351 villas to Arab investors. The villas are worth between $400,000 and $500,000 each. They were designed with the Gulf buyers in mind, architect Yalcin Kocacalikoglu said.

I read elsewhere a judge has ruled against bankruptcy protection, saying nope, shut 'er down.
Looks like Turkey is in for a rough ride. Maybe because...



link

732 identical eyesores. And they had investors. This was the day fools met.

And we haven't heard about the HOA rules yet. I bet ya can't even park your bucket truck in the driveway.

My uncle lived in a luxury "concept" neighborhood that had "themed" houses. There was the "Mediterranean Villa," the "German Cottage," etc.-- about half a dozen "types" of houses. In addition, the houses of each "type" weren't identical in floor plan-- although they did use the same materials and techniques (cost saving). This was the best way to build cheap, easy "fantasy houses" BUT you could drive around the neighborhood and you might never see a "same looking" house on the same street.

Also, all the houses weren't RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.

xoxoxoBruce;1023460 wrote:

The Sarot Group, real estate speculators in Turkey, planned and built 732 villas they wanted to sell to wealthy people from the Gulf area.
But they didn’t sell enough, probably because they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.
One on a far hilltop might be cool, but 732 in a close together rows. :headshake

Hideous! Living in a place like that would be literal death to me. *shudder*

I understand my frame of reference is much different, but I don't see how they can call this luxury. The plans I found show a single two-bedroom, one-bath unit on the first two floors, with a one/one on the third. Compared to the bedrooms, the living spaces are next to non-existent and the bathrooms are bigger than the kitchens. Yikes!

http://burjalbabas.com/assets/images/katplani.pdf

Wow, so the "tower" is actually a staircase to three individual apartments!

They needed to find 1296 people/families who wanted to live in a neighborhood that looked like that, not just 732.

Yeah. These were never meant to be lived in. They were simply a place for Saudis to invest their money.

"Why yes, I have a villa in the European mountains."

I bet all the ones that were purchased were purchased sight unseen, or simply by viewing the several photos of the one model home. http://burjalbabas.com/

Flint;1023503 wrote:

My uncle lived in a luxury "concept" neighborhood that had "themed" houses. There was the "Mediterranean Villa," the "German Cottage," etc.-- about half a dozen "types" of houses. In addition, the houses of each "type" weren't identical in floor plan-- although they did use the same materials and techniques (cost saving). This was the best way to build cheap, easy "fantasy houses" BUT you could drive around the neighborhood and you might never see a "same looking" house on the same street.

Also, all the houses weren't RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.

The neighborhood where I grew up had one plan, then the same plan mirrored, then the same plan rotated 90 degrees with the door locations slightly modified. And all were painted differently. So you get most of the assembly-line cost savings, but all of the houses look different from the street. And the mirrored houses are sometimes next to each other, which is visually interesting.

At least in Edward Scissorhand's neighborhood they were painted different colors. :rolleyes:

Happy Monkey;1023519 wrote:

The neighborhood where I grew up had one plan, then the same plan mirrored, then the same plan rotated 90 degrees with the door locations slightly modified. And all were painted differently. So you get most of the assembly-line cost savings, but all of the houses look different from the street. And the mirrored houses are sometimes next to each other, which is visually interesting.

Did we grow up in the same neighborhood? Was your driveway under the neighbor's bedroom windows? Was your neighbor's driveway under your bedroom window?

I finally figured what the OP pic reminded me of.

♪ ♫Welcome to the dollhouse[s]♪ ♫

No driveways; my neighborhood was more densely packed than that. Nobody has garages in front, though some gave up significant amounts of their back yards to garages.