BIO: Ibrahim Kocagoz is the Technical Director at SODEXO Thailand, responsible for Innovation, Smart City & Systems, and Sustainability.
STORY: Ibrahim and his wife bought several apartments in Istanbul. The plan was to retire soon at a vineyard, making wine while receiving income from the apartments. However, the Turkish currency started devaluing, throwing off the value of the flats. Ibrahim could only charge half of what the apartments were worth when purchasing them.
LEARNING: Do thorough research before investing in property. Real estate is high-risk; avoid investing in it if you can. Understand the currency risk concept before investing abroad.
“Learn a lot about what you want to invest in and try to invest in more than one sector.”
Ibrahim Kocagoz
Ibrahim Kocagoz is the Technical Director at SODEXO Thailand, responsible for Innovation, Smart City & Systems, and Sustainability. Before joining SODEXO, Ibrahim worked as a Smart City Project Manager in Qatar for almost seven years. Ibrahim received a Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Istanbul, Turkey, in 2004.
Ibrahim has more than 15 years of experience in urban development, oil & gas fields, and industrial projects. He has excelled at engineering, construction, commissioning, research, development, and management, especially for systems integration, instrumentation & control systems, and sustainability.
Ibrahim and his wife talked about investments, and they settled for real estate. They believed that it was stable and it would gain in the future. So they bought several one-bedroom apartments in Instanbul.
The plan was for the couple to, later on, move to the South of Turkey, buy a vineyard and produce wine while getting rent from the apartments.
Soon after they bought the apartments, the Turkish currency started devaluing, so the apartments’ value went down. Ibrahim, thus, had to lower his rent to get tenants. Selling the flats was not even an option because he could never sell them for a profit.
The currency recovered after a few years, but Ibrahim could not increase rent, and so he lost 50% of their expected value in rent collection.
There are two things that Ibrahim and his wife overlooked when they decided to invest in real estate. One, they assumed that Instanbul, being the largest and most popular city in Turkey, would be more profitable in terms of rents. However, the city of Izmir has better incomes.
The second thing they overlooked was the performance of the currency. They did not do any research to see how the currency was changing and if it was stable or not.
Real estate is a high-risk investment because there is no guarantee that you will make a profit. It is, therefore, imperative that you do thorough research before you decide it is the right investment option for you.
Do not invest in just one sector; diversify your investments. At the very least, invest half of your money in different stocks and the other half in a sector that you understand fully.