land investment

Wondered if anyone would have any insight into the following:
We own agricultural land between 5 family members - one member wants to be bought out as the 5 members don't agree of selling the whole lot and splitting the money. Thing is none of the members can afford to buy out nor get a loan for the amount needed; approx 50,000 - 80,000 euro. Wondered if anyone could share if they are aware of any possibilities of any investment plans whereby perhaps someone needs to dispend of money for tax or whatever reasons and would invest in giving a loan repayed weekly over an agreed number of years. Other than this I am clueless and would greatly appreciate any advice and suggestions anyone may have for us.
Regards C

No sensible investor would invest in such a plan.

Can you sell part of the land?

If none of the 4 of you can borrow the €50k required, it would suggest to me that you could all do with the cash. Why not sell the land?

well the cash is proving only important to my sister. One of my brothers is completly against selling the land and i just don't want a feud as a result although with one member pushing for the land to be sold or bought out, its not easy trying to please all parties unfortunately.
If anyone could suggest any which way to perhaps resolve this I would be ever so grateful as it is proving beyond me to figure a way to keep the land keeping one party happy while also allowing another to profit from the land at this time...

catcarraccoo said:

We own agricultural land between 5 family members - one member wants to be bought out as the 5 members don't agree of selling the whole lot and splitting the money.

Click to expand...

If one member wants to sell her share there isn't much you can do to stop it unless the remaining 4 of you can come up with the 15 or 20K each needed to buy her out.

Long term what do the remaining 4 of you all intend doing with the land?? It seems like a tricky situation and there is never an easy solution to this age old Irish problem.

Well as such she doesn't own 'a designated part' of the land just part of the whole and it is unlikely that my brother will agree to registering any certain part to her if it prevents her from selling. Complicated. As for long term the brother that is against the sale wants the land but as of yet he cannot afford to buy us out. Definitely a J.B.Keane 'The Field' moment :-( I'm really holding out for a solution ???

Why does she want to sell?

Does she need the cash now? Or does she think that the price is high now and about to go down?

You could draw up a contract to buy her share at a set price with the money to be paid out over 5 years.

Brendan

Thanks Brendan... Yes she says she's researched it and that prices are not going to get better. She has quoted roughly 20k per acre but i'm not quite sure this is correct as i was speaking to auctioneers only 2-3 months ago and they say it's roughly 10k per acre for agri land - must look into this further. She wants the money to pay a lump sum off her house i guess which is understandable but not quite sure its worth the agro between family. The contract is a great suggestion and will be passed by her to see what she makes of this. Thank you!
All other suggestions welcome!

Obviously before any contract is drawn up you will need to verify exactly how much the land is worth. I'd imagine it's closer to 10K per acre (or less) but this depends on the quality of the land and where it is etc. I wouldn't trust one estate agent to value it. Make sure you know what it would actually get per acre, ask around locally etc. Houses are valued by auctioneers but in practice they are not getting those asking prices. I'd imagine land is the same.

A small piece of land say 2acres with road frontage may be valued at 20k per acre. However if those 2 acres are part of 40 acre farmland which was valued as 40 acres the value will be much less per acre. Probably around half above figure. Account for this the location and condition of the land also.
As your sister is part owner of the overall farmland and not a specific part of it, the value per acre could only be the per acre price as if ALL the land were sold and divided by the acreage. This would be a much lower figure than valueing a small number of acres. I would suggest you talk to a couple of local estate agents, explain exactly, to get an idea of the real value of your sisters stake. When this is established she may be so keen. Land prices have gone down anyway.

goingforgold & Troy McClure... Your responses are very welcome and also the prices are more in line with the figures I had been given a little while back. I will be looking into getting the land valued by a number of local auctioneers so as to get a fair price.
Does anyone know if the credit union give top-ups on loans? As in if we were to arrange a contract with my sister to pay her an agreed price over a 5 year period; then if we were to get a loan from the credit union of 1/5th of her asking price payable over a 5 year period; then would it be possible to get a top-up of again 1/5th of the price from the credit union each of the following 4 years having shown that the repayments were being made by double the agreed loan repayment.
Hope that makes sense... not sure if the credit union work this way?
Also what is the opinion on using land as allotments for rent? Would it prove profitable?
Another enquiry I made to the planning department advised me that it is possible to get planning permission for one house per threshold on the condition that the house will be lived in by applicant for 3-5 years if I remember correctly and also it would need to contain a 10 year sterilisation agreement whereby no more planning for a house would be put forth or accepted in that 10 year period. So my question is if we were to sell potential sites on the basis that the sale was 'planning permission pending' and the party's planning application got accepted would this be considered as the same or a different threshold and would we be tied to the 10 year sterilisation rule? Anyone with any knowledge on this topic please do share.
And thank you to all who have contributed it has been very helpful to me in trying to get my head around this!