Kerry - Kenmare/Sneem: Buy/Build/Restore?

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PaddyBloggit

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I would like to purchase somewhere in the Kenmare/Sneem direction (preferably as close as possible to Kenmare) but am finding it difficult to decide on whether I should be looking at building, buying or restoring.

At most my budget would be €150 to €200k. I want to downsize and live a simpler, more self-sustainable life when I retire (I'm single and I don't have dependents). A two up/two down with a bit of acreage and some privacy is what I'm after. I have looked at the purchase option but the economic crisis doesn't seem to have hit Kenmare or Sneem yet. Even derelicts still seem to be commanding exorbitant prices. The 'clean buy' is way above that again.

  • I've thought about purchasing a site but am wondering if Kerry County Council has clauses on eligibility?
  • What would it cost to build a standard two up/two down style house?
  • What options should I be considering for self-sustainability?
  • Would Kerry County Council allow such a development?
Advice would be gratefully appreciated.

(Apologies if this is in the wrong area. Please move if necessary)
 
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http://www.kerrycoco.ie/planning/devplan03.asp




there might be criteria relevant to you in some of these links.
 
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Thanks woodbine! I had looked but got lost in the Kerry Co. Co. site. Time for a read!

Thanks again!


10.45 p.m. ~ I had a look at Kerry County Council's pdfs but they don't have much information.

Anybody out there who has gone for a similar downsizing? And done it in a self-sustaining way?
I am stumped as to how I should proceed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Message received ajapale.

I should have read the 'guidelines' more closely when dealing with my own thread.
 
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I know the area a bit and looked into building (we have a site) and if you look through the kerry county development plan, there are lots of restrictions on building. They're trying to discourage "string" developments and have strict criteria about who's eligible to build a one off development. It was enough to discourage us in any case although we weren't planning to move there yet.

Even though the prices are not dropping in Kenmare, the houses are taking a LONG time to sell and my guess is that people might be more willing to negotiate now if there was something you were interested in.

It's a lovely town, good luck with your decision.
 
mel o said:
I know the area a bit .......
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. Yes Kenmare is a great place. I have friends down there and love the 'cosmopolitan' feel of the area. I reckon building on a clean site isn't an option because there would be too many restrictions so I'm looking at doing a (realistic) restoration or perhaps purchasing a renovated place where the owners are hoping to off load it but that isn't happening at the moment.

I saw an ideal place, 2 up-2 down a while back ... a restoration project, beautifully located in a valley with everything ticking the right boxes but it was only coming with an acre and a half, the farmer had done a lot of land reclamation work around it so he'd be there for the long haul working around the property. The farmer was looking for €350k and was adamant that a reduction in price wasn't on the cards, nor was a possibility of purchasing more land with the house.

It was ideal ..... the house itself was structurally sound .... it had a massive open fireplace with the crane .... a series of stone outhouses at the back that had a cobbled courtyard (not huge but enough to satisfy me) ..... it had a beautiful mountain back drop, a view of the valley to the front and it had a grove of mature trees around it.

I'd have loved it as a retirement retreat ..... and as a weekend away D.I.Y. project. My dogs would have loved the place .... then I'd get the hens, the ducks, the donkeys ..... oh to dream.
 
Paddy

my bro pretty much had the same requirement as yourself and after a long while looking bought a doer-upper a couple of years back. even with a lot of work to be done it was still fairly dear at purchase if I can rememebr correctly (think >250k ????), but it was on a fantastic site, i acre, overlooking kenmare bay, long winding country lanewy etc.

at the time there was no chance of an "outsider" getting planning. anyawy did it up over a year and a half weekend diying etc

have to say love kenmare as well


good luck with the search
 
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah .................. great to hear GreenFlag ..... I hope it has worked well for him!

My philosophy ... whatever will be will be ..... if a place comes along and I get it then I'm grateful. If it doesn't .... well .... it ain't meant to be.
 
I'm from Kenmare, but don't live there full time, but from what I hear property isn't selling at the moment, so I would recommend contacting Sherry Fitz Daly or O'Conor Scarteen, the two main EAs in the town. They may point you in the right direction as some properties may not be advertised online.
 
Mucker Man said:
I'm from Kenmare, but don't live there full time, but from what I hear property isn't selling at the moment, so I would recommend contacting Sherry Fitz Daly or O'Conor Scarteen, the two main EAs in the town. They may point you in the right direction as some properties may not be advertised online.
Click to expand...

I have been in contact with the EAs you've mentioned and I've viewed some of the stuff on their books but nothing suitable available. There is very little coming on the market at the moment I'm told as the potential sellers are holding tough to see how the market pans out. Some of the prices being asked are ridiculously high.

At the moment there's no budge in prices by some vendor. I enquired about one property that had almost €90k knocked off the asking price only to be told it had major structural problems so potentials savings were lost even before purchase.

Here's hoping ............................
 
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