Ibrahim Kocagoz – Do Your Research Before Investing in Property

<p><strong>BIO:</strong> Ibrahim Kocagoz is the Technical Director at SODEXO Thailand, responsible for Innovation, Smart City &amp; Systems, and Sustainability.</p><p><strong>STORY: </strong>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.</p><p><strong>LEARNING:</strong> 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.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p class="ql-align-center"><strong>“Learn a lot about what you want to invest in and try to invest in more than one sector.”</strong></p><p class="ql-align-center">Ibrahim Kocagoz</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h2><strong>Guest profile</strong></h2><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ibrahim-kocagoz-87b2681a/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Ibrahim Kocagoz</strong></a> is the Technical Director at<a href="https://www.sodexo.com/home.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> SODEXO</a> Thailand, responsible for Innovation, Smart City &amp; 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.</p><p>Ibrahim has more than 15 years of experience in urban development, oil &amp; gas fields, and industrial projects. He has excelled at engineering, construction, commissioning, research, development, and management, especially for systems integration, instrumentation &amp; control systems, and sustainability.</p><h2><strong>Worst investment ever</strong></h2><p>Ibrahim and his wife talked about investments, and they settled for real estate. They believed that it was stable and it would g