# Thomond Lodge Retirement Village



## joesoap (13 Jun 2007)

I have been investigating investing in a retirement home scheme in Ballymahon in Co. Longford. The name of the development is Thomond Lodge. 

The purchase price for a one bedroom house is approx 300k which seems quite high considering the location. The big advantages seem to be the tax relief that can be claimed.

Does anyone know anything about this particular scheme. Also what is the general opinion on this kind of investment.


----------



## Leonidas (19 Jun 2007)

[broken link removed]
This is the website for the place.  Are you thinking of this for a relative or as a passive investment? 
Retirement villages, operate on a sale and lease basis whereby the operator leases it from you for x years at a certain rent - all with tax breaks (great things),so it doesn't really work if you want to move your granny in.
The returns on this one look very good.  With the HSE looking to farm out what they lovingly refer to as "bed blockers" from the hospitals to free up space, there's definitely a market.  Read somewhere that Dermot Desmond and Dennis O'Brien are buying in to them in a big way.  Be worth looking into a bit more I'd say.


----------



## joesoap (26 Jun 2007)

Sorry for the late reply. I have been thinking of this as a passive investment but my fears are.

1. How can I be sure that this company will be around for 11 years.
2. How are they so sure that they can rent out the properties on an ongoing basis.
3. Will the market be saturated with this type of investment when it comes time to sell it.


----------



## Leonidas (28 Jun 2007)

At the end of the day, the HSE are mad to get the elderly out of hospitals - between them and people with elderly parents they can't look after themselves, there's a definite market.
What I'd do is check out who's actually going to be running the nursing home and what their pedigree is.  If they're newbies to the business who were flipping burgers one week and trying to this, this week, I'd avoid the place like the plague.  If they've a history in the sector and know how the health boards etc work, you're onto a better one.
It seems as if in the last few years, builders opened these places and tried to run them themselves with no idea of the business - not a recipie for success.  
It's the same as anything I suppose, if you reckon you'd be happy to have you're granny living there, then it's probably going to be successful.
Regards the returns, this place from what I can see guarantees the rent for the first few years, which is a definite bonus as it'll probably take 12 / 18 months to fill up - section 50 campus work on the same premise.
Regards the saturation issue the tax breaks for these places have dried up as well so you probably won't see too many more being built, so saturation shouldn't be an issue.
And in fairness, even if there are a few, in 15 years time the places should be well established and showing a strong history of return so punters will know exactly what they're getting.
Just look at the lads that bought section 23 15 years ago..
Here's the link to the Dennis O'Brien piece I mentioned before.
http://www.rte.ie/business/2004/1020/barchester.html
When it comes to investment, if you were going to follow anyones lead, you'd definitely do worse than him!
Hope this helps!


----------



## ClubMan (28 Jun 2007)

This is esentially a _Property Investment_ query. Moved from Location, Location, Location.


----------



## hema1 (6 Jul 2007)

i am sure i can help answering all questions. please send me a PM if any one would like to know more details, i will give my persoanl mail id and phone number due to conflict of interest and my respect to rules of this website i cannot use this forum to speak on this particular investment.


----------



## ClubMan (6 Jul 2007)

hema1 said:


> due to conflict of interest and my respect to rules of this website i cannot use this forum to speak on this particular investment.


The posting guidelines do not prevent people from discussing stuff in which they have a vested interest - they just require that people declare such interests and stick to posting factual info and not sales pitches.


----------



## hema1 (7 Jul 2007)

Thanks for confirmation. i already invested( signed contract) after taking my duediligence in one of the unit- builder approached me if i can share my knowledge and such knowledge transfer results in a sale i will be compensated- so i decalre the interest, means what ever i say in favour will be loaded with financial incentive, but please remember i already bought one-

on this particular scheme, since me and my wife are on a high paye income, it works for us as we need not paye and prsi on our paye income, the limit of tax refund for a 1 bed unit is apprx €22K. if an employee has gross of 65K per annum his early approx. tax liability and prsi liability combined will be approx 17K means( please check the past p60 to get the figures) he can write-off that 17K and still transfer the unused 5K to write-off against rental incomes. The tax relief is available for 7 years, so approx. you will recieve 22K by 7 -144K from revenue provided if you have income,

There was a rental guarantee of 4 years of  €13000 perannum on 1 bed unit, which 'washes its face' on a 85% mortgage . 

I already bought another unit from this builder previously and this builder stands on his word, that was my past experience with him-even though every detail is covered through solicitor and agreements.

now what happens after year 5, already agreements were in place with HSE and nursing home is coming next to retirement village, details i have verfied when i am signing and what happens to rental guarantee,(shared among all investors) etc etc i can provide iall details f you can contact me- 

i checked the tax relief certificate from long ford county council, so i did my due diligence and thats for me- need less to say it works for some and does not for others.

P.S: Since builder is happy as i am one of the first persons to give him deposit cheque, any one who goes with my referal will be given at a significant lesser price than 310K.

i have compared other retirement villages in wexford, kinsale cork
co.monaghan, this is the good value for me-

My apologies to website owners if i sounded sales man, please remember i am an investor like every one of you and i declare my interest that if i help other investors to come and invest at  a lesser quoted price and such help result in a sale, i will be compensated for such sale.


----------



## johnp (11 Oct 2007)

Which banks will provide mortgages for the purchase of units in retirement villages? 

i'm having difficulty as the alternative use value of the units is limited.

thanks


----------



## mosstown (28 Nov 2009)

My Dad is thinking of buying a retirement apartment for cash for himself to live in next year at Thomond Lodge, Ballymahon. Co. Longford.  He is a native so knows the area very well and will be retiring next year.  Apparently these apartments are now starting at €200k (way off the original price €310k ! ) - he would probably even get it for less than this now or next year.
I would be grateful if anyone out there could share any knowledge they may have of this retirement development whether it be good or bad.  I will be viewing an apartment with him in January when I am in Ireland so want to ensure I find all information before viewing and making any decisions with him.


----------

