Farm Sale consultant, Roger McCarrick of REA McCarrick & Sons is gearing up for a very busy Spring
LEADING Co. Sligo Auctioneer and Farm Sale consultant, Roger McCarrick of REA McCarrick & Sons is gearing up for a very busy Spring in his specialist field of Land Sales and Rental, Farmhouse and Cottage Sales, and E. U. Entitlement Sales and Leases. Land Rental: A large proportion of land rental is gone from the old traditional 11 months conacre system to longer leases of 5- 10 years. This is more helpful for both land owner and tenant. It is tax free for Landlord if over 5 year lease and it gives security of tenure to Tenants. Many tenants are young farmers, willing to do significant improvements on rented land, and this is good for the land owner. Values of land rentals continue to hold strong and depending on quality, area and demand, can vary between € 50 - € 150 per acre. Farmers considering winding down on work should have a discussion on their options with Roger McCarrick. Land Sales: As always, the amount of land coming to the market for outright sale continues to be very low, with the result that there is usually good demand for any parcel of land that does find its way to the open market. In 2015, Roger McCarrick sold nearly 20 parcels of land of varying sizes and prices, varied according to quality from € 1,000/ acre to € 10,000/ acre. To prove age is no barrier to purchasing land, one parcel at Doocastle was sold is a 93 year young farmer who had no intention of retiring for many years to come. The profile of land purchasers vary hugely, with poor quality land being bought in many cases for planting and better quality land in varying sizes being purchased by either expanding farmers, young start up farmers or hobby farmers. All types of purchasers are important to the market.
Farming is not for the faint hearted, and farm incomes have not increased over recent years with dairy farm incomes collapsing over the last two years. E. U. Entitlements: 2015 saw the introduction of a new entitlement regime from the E. U., and now in 2016 E. U. Entitlements can be sold or leased separately from land for the first time.
The rules and regulations are still unclear, but, Roger McCarrick identifies this market as one that will be active this spring.
If farmers are not going to claim on all his Entitlements this year, they should contact Mr. McCarrick to either sell or lease them out. If they are not used by somebody, they will be lost back to the National Reserve. Cottages and Farmhouses: Many farms have unused cottages/ farmhouses located on the property. These are often saleable, usually to the foreign market, and Roger McCarrick is always looking for supplies to replace those already sold. Often overlooked by farmers as of no value, they can provide and important source of income to pay college fees, or do improvement works on farms.