Sunny southeast sees battles royal for properties in Wexford, Wicklow

IN spite of the weather the auction season is ploughing ahead in the south-east with David Quinn recording recent successes under the hammer.

Last week the auctioneer sold two properties, a holding with 32.6ac of tillage and a derelict house at Brideswell Little, Gorey and a farmhouse on 6.1ac at Bonagrew Little, Brittas, Co Wicklow. The Wexford property sold for €420,000 or €13,000/ac, while the Wicklow farmhouse sold for €340,000 under the hammer.

The property at Brideswell Little is located 6km from Carnew, 3km from Askamore village and 15km west of Gorey.

Accessed by a private laneway that divides the holding into two lots, the land is all currently in tillage and is described by David Quinn as the best of ground with no waste.

The property also includes a derelict, single-storey, stonebuilt farmhouse in need of complete restoration. The site has the infrastructure for electricity and a private well for water but neither utility is connected.

At auction the place was offered in a number of lots and turned into a battle royal between the lots and the entire. The first lot, made up of 13.5ac of tillage, was bid to €190,000 by three bidders while the second lot, of 18ac, was also bid to €190,000 by three bidders. The derelict house on an acre was driven to €42,000 by three interested parties.

This made a total of €412,000 for the lots but a local farmer had different ideas and bidding on the entire he stayed in the fray eventually winning the day with a bid of €420,000.

In an earlier auction, Mr Quinn brought for sale a two-storey, three-bedroom farmhouse on 6.1ac at Bonagrew Little, 2km from Brittas Bay in Co Wicklow.

The house has been unoccupied for some time and needs some refurbishment and modernisation. The accommodation includes a living room, sitting room, kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor, while upstairs there are three bedrooms.

The gardens are overgrown but contain an old orchard along with a shrubbery. The outbuildings include a garage, a lofted shed and a two-column haybarn with lean-to.

The land is laid out in two divisions with plenty of road frontage and, according to David Quinn, has agricultural use and may have site potential.

This auction also turned out to be a battle between the lots and the entire with the house and sheds on 0.4ac as one parcel and the land extending to 5.7ac making up the other. With the lots bid to a total of €280,000, the entire was ahead when the property went on the market at €290,000.

Bidding continued and at one point, close to the end the house and yard was making €225,000 while the land was making €110,000, a total of €335,000. The entire was bought by a UK buyer for €340,000.