REA Eoin Dillon of Nenagh offered a
residential farm for sale by public auction at Ballintotty, Nenagh, Co.
Tipperary. There was a large crowd in
attendance at the Abbey Court Hotel and the late comers had to avail of
standing room only with many observers choosing to observe from the hall
outside the room. The crowd was no doubt
helped by the inclement weather on the afternoon with little opportunity for
ploughing or spreading slurry.
The property was offered for sale
in 6 different lots. Lot 1 was a parcel of 19.13 acres (7.742 hectares), of
which 6 acres were planted in trees since 2001 and the remainder of
approximately 13 acres was reasonable quality grass lands. The agent started seeking bids of €130,000
and dropped in increments of €10,000 to €100,000 where a local farmer opened
the bidding, this was quickly followed by a local solicitor who offered
€105,000 and they exchanged bids of €5,000, to €115,000. At this stage the auctioneer announced that
the property was not on the market yet but was close to the reserve and the lot
was parked while they offered the next few lots. Lot 2 was 7.5 acres and comprised of 6 acres
of forestry and 1.5 acres of poor quality grass land. The agent sought bids of €30,000, €25,000 and
€20,000. There were no bids and accordingly they quickly moved on to lot
3. Lot 3 comprised of 14.853 hectares (36.7
acres) of forestry, again €130,000 was sought and the agent went down in €5,000
segments seeking an opening bid. An
opening bid of €110,000 was then received from a solicitor acting in trust,
there were no further bidders for this section and a short break was taken to
discuss the first 3 lots with the vendor.
On resuming the auction the
auctioneer announced that we were €5,000 away from being able to put Lot 1 on
the market and a bid of €120,000 was quickly received from a local auctioneer
acting in trust and the land was officially placed on the market. The solicitor duly obliged and offered
€125,000 before the land was knocked down to him acting in trust for a young
local farmer.
Lot 4 comprised of the house on 7
acres (to include approximately 6 acres of forestry) again an opening offer of
€130,000 was sought and the agent worked the room seeking bids before an
opening offer of €90,000 was received from a young couple. A second young couple then entered the race
and the property quickly climbed in bids of €5,000 to €130,000. As lots 4 and 5 were also being offered as a
joint lot (Lot 6) this offer was parked while the agent offered lot 5. Lot 5 was a single stubble field comprising
of approximately 40 acres of what can only be described as very good land with
excellent road frontage. It was clear
from the off that this was what everybody was interested in. The Agent sought offers at €450,000 and went
down in €10,000 to €350,000 before an opening bid of €350,000 was made by a
local solicitor acting in trust for a local farmer. A second bidder quickly emerged in the form
of another local solicitor again acting for a local farmer. In fact the two solicitors were from the same
local firm acting for two separate clients. They quickly traded bids of €10,000
to €440,000 and then in €5,000 increments to €470,000 with no one else in the
room getting a sniff of the action. The
biding stopped at €470,000 and the agent offered lot 6 for sale (Lot 6 was lot
4 and 5 combined). Having a combined bid
of €600,000 the auctioneer sought an opening offer of €605,000 there were no
takers and after a very short break the agent came back and announced that he
had instructions to put lot 4 the residence on 6.7 acres on the market at
€130,000. There were no further bidders
and the lot was knocked down to the highest bidder at €130,000. The Auctioneer Eoin Dillon then announced
that he was also happy to say that Lot 5 was on the market at €470,000. The bids then came fast and furious rising to
€475,000, €480,000, €482,500, €485,000, €487,500, €490,000 €492,500, €495,000,
€500,000, €502,500, €505,000, €510,000, €515,000, €520,000, €525,000, €530,000
before the final bid of €535,000 was received from a solicitor acting in trust
or a local farmer. The sale represented
an extremely good price of just over €13,000 per acre. Immediately after the auction offers were
made by a number of parties for the remaining two lots and both were sold at
what is believed to be at or very close to their original asking price and the
auction contracts were signed.
Speaking after the auction the
selling agent Eoin Dillon said that he was delighted with the result, two hours
previously he would have been delighted with if 3 out of the 5 lots were sold
but to get all 5 lots sold on the day was incredible. The prices for the lots were bang on what was
expected with the main tillage field making the higher end of everybody’s
expectations. It just shows that where
you have good land in a good location there is always a market for it. It was also great to see that the purchasers
of all 5 lots were hard working local persons seeking to expand their holdings
and a in the case of the residence to set up a new family home.
