Moving to Fethiye from California

1} No idea about any reliable solicitor
2} $500 per month is in no way enough to live on here - double that and you'd live fairly good.
3}$50,000 is also too little to buy property there - you might find a very small apartment for that price , but you'll have to add taxes and fees and the title deed price as well.
4} Charities have to be registered and is quite costly and no, you won't get a work permit for that.
5} You can hardly, if at all, find any place that won't have kids in the neighborhood. This is a country with many children as the majority of Turks are young.

you need a miniumum of $1000 per month to have a great living.  if you planning to preach christianity using a charity, Don't.   Turks are Muslims and they know about God and Jesus more than you think.  so please don't create issues to all of us expats living in Turkey.   Other than that, it is a great country to live in

Cost of Living in Fethiye
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/Fethiye-Turkey
As I understand, this site is up to date but this page doesn't seem to be updated recently

@Ftoloui Gunaydin. I think $500 a month is playing to close. I understand yo will not be paying for rent but Utilities, services and food have been rising in price over the last 6 months. I live in Kusadasi. If you want more details, please let me know. When I first came to Turkey I hired a very good lawyer who was worth every penny I spent. If you want his contact information, again, please let me know.

Hi buddy,

This is not a good idea.I recommend you stay where you are.The situation here is very much fucked up.We the %90 of Turkish people won't be able to buy a new car or property for the rest of our lives.

Don't get an idea like Turkey is cheap and full of hospitality.As a foreigner they will just rip you off.Either when you buy property or buy food you ll feel the rip off vibes.Then you ll ask yourself how long you can take it easy.

Want a friendly advice? stay where you are and eat your reasonably cheap hamburger.

That I am living in a social apartment I pay reasonably cheap rent but I don't know if I ll be able to pay the heating cost next winter.

I paid 15 000 Turkish lira for winter coal purchase last year September.This is 4 000 more than my monthly income.So what s it gonna be next year?Who knows probably I am gonna have to leave that I can not afford to pay the coal.

But where am I gonna go?I am stucked.May be I ll live in a tent on government property burn tires.

See how the situation is very much F.Up.

Independent on the location USD 500 is challenging, certainly where you intend to go. I am surprised/shocked that you have a budget so small and want to hire a lawyer?

Anyhow the location is already expensive, in my view for a comfortable life you will need USD 1500 minimum (excl alcohol and cigarettes).

Did you do not your research? Turkey is in a way advanced country how can you expect to live here with such a small budget.

Great country (Turkey), great choice, but you come from the US and you do not know anything? What happened with your internet?

@ufukalpaslaninvest

You are right about being ripped off.  I have been to Turkey many times and last 3 of the times was just to figure out the areas that I would want my family and I to live in. Property prices have gone up but nonetheless,  most realtors here will scam you.  Even though I consider myself street smart, they almost got the better of me. I was looking in Kusadasi. Beautiful area but so many scams, especially with foreigners. So either accept that your cost of living will be 40 to 50% higher as foreigner or learn the local language and haggling skills.

You are making  a horrible choice buying a property in Turkey. Right now the Turkish government can't even decide if it wants foreigners to live in Turkey or kick them all out. Right now you would have to buy your property in an area that has less then 25% of foreigners. Even peoples homes who are worth over 75,000 USD got rejected for ikhemets.

You are talking about a country who changes its laws almost every quarter calendar on foreigners. Most people had to sell their properties in Turkey at a loss, and as a foreigner your expected to sell at a loss.

Could you live on 500 USD in Turkey a month? Yes. But it will be hard. Your biggest expense is going to be natural gas in the winter time. If your someone who does not smoke, who does not drink alcohol, and who stays away from all vices. You can live a simple life in Turkey for 500 USD a month.

But you will not live that life on 500 USD a month in Istanbul, or any other tourist area in Turkey. You will be living out in the country side of Turkey or living in smaller towns that are not well known and have no foreigners living in it or very few foreigners. Places where 99% of the population speaks no English.

I lived in Yalova which was better then Istanbul for prices, and also that people didn't try to scam you every single day. But you still run into scammers if you give them the chance like everywhere else. Don't expect to go anywhere in Turkey or the rest of the world and trust everyone you meet. Expect that everyone is trying to scam you.

In order to live on 500 USD a month you can not convert all your money to Turkish Liara. You will have to send your money monthly by services like moneygram or western union to keep up with the rate that the Turkish liara is falling.

To give you an example of why you need to do this: I stayed in Turkey for almost 2 years. The first year I was there if I converted 1 million dollars into Turkish Liara by the end of the year if I converted it back to USD(With spending no money from it) I would only get back 400 thousand USD from how much the Turkish Liara devalued and it has only gotten worse since then.

Turkey is no longer a stable country, and I would suggest either finding a more stable country or forget about ever buying a house in Turkey until they decide to stop being schizophrenic and have a stable history of treating foreigners with respect. Which they have never had this history ever.

If you want to try to find a very cheap apartment (100-200 USD) a month. You can do that. But every single person I have seen with exception of a few foreigners have all lost money on their apartments, and homes. Many of them are so desperate they were willing to sell them for a huge loss to get their money out of Turkey.