How to buy 1-3 acres of land

Hello

I am interested in buying a small parcel of land in Kildare, maybe 1-3 acres max.
The purpose would be for me to dabble in horticulture, plant a few trees, cultivate a meadow and hedgerow or two and basically indulge my hobbies for wildlife and trees.

What would be the best way to go about doing this? Where would I find land for sale, or should I approach farmers directly?

Thanks,

https://www.daft.ie/commercial-properties-for-sale/kildare/agricultural-land
Land doesn't change hands very often in this country, and farmers aren't in the habit of deciding to sell some land because someone knocked on the door.

Identify some local auctioneers and tell them what you are looking for.

arctictree

Very hard to buy 1 - 3 acres that's not being sold as a site. You'd probably be better off buying 10 acres ag land and then selling off 7 acres of it!

Apiarist

Deleted User wrote: »

I am interested in buying a small parcel of land in Kildare, maybe 1-3 acres max.

Sign up on Daft and create an alert for suitable sites. Something will come up eventually. Example:
https://www.daft.ie/commercial-property-for-sale/ballyhagen-carbury-co-kildare/1466268

Land in Kildare is pretty good for agriculture, so it may be expensive. You may look for a more marginal land in Wicklow.

blindside88

arctictree wrote: »

Very hard to buy 1 - 3 acres that's not being sold as a site. You'd probably be better off buying 10 acres ag land and then selling off 7 acres of it!

This is correct, also be prepared to pay big money per acre. A lot of land being bought up by dairy farmers and in County Kildare you’ll be competing with the horsey crowd as well. Expect to spend approx €15k per acre.

Donald Trump

blindside88 wrote: »

This is correct, also be prepared to pay big money per acre. A lot of land being bought up by dairy farmers and in County Kildare you’ll be competing with the horsey crowd as well. Expect to spend approx €15k per acre.

When doing his sums he'd also need to remember that between stamp duty and auctioneers fees (if we were to sell 7 of the 10 acres for example) he'd probably be looking at an extra 10% or so on top of the money he'll pay for the 10 acres. Plus some legal costs as well.

batyushki

I have done just this. We live in a typical village estate and wanted some land where we could grow food and enjoy nature. We ended up buying an acre of good land near the village that came up for sale. For us it was important that we could walk or cycle there, otherwise we would never end up going. We paid site prices but it was worth it for the location. We go there nearly every day outside of winter.

I have tried approaching multiple farmers and landowners in the area and none of them were interested in selling part of their land, even when that land was completely underutilised. Unless you knew the person really well already, I think this route is very unlikely to succeed.

We also bought a much larger piece of marginal land at auction (found through myhome.ie) that we had planted up as native woodland / pasture mix. That land is 30 minutes drive away and we don't go there often.

My suggestion would be to get good land near your location so that you are more likely to visit. Avoid marginal land if you want to do any food growing.

bilbot79

Interesting thread. Anyone care to show a picture of their small holding in use?

batyushki

batyushki wrote: »

I have done just this. We live in a typical village estate and wanted some land where we could grow food and enjoy nature. We ended up buying an acre of good land near the village that came up for sale. For us it was important that we could walk or cycle there, otherwise we would never end up going. We paid site prices but it was worth it for the location. We go there nearly every day outside of winter.

I have tried approaching multiple farmers and landowners in the area and none of them were interested in selling part of their land, even when that land was completely underutilised. Unless you knew the person really well already, I think this route is very unlikely to succeed.

We also bought a much larger piece of marginal land at auction (found through myhome.ie) that we had planted up as native woodland / pasture mix. That land is 30 minutes drive away and we don't go there often.

My suggestion would be to get good land near your location so that you are more likely to visit. Avoid marginal land if you want to do any food growing.

Thanks, these are great points.

batyushki

bilbot79 wrote: »

Interesting thread. Anyone care to show a picture of their small holding in use?

A photo of our place before and after is in this thread: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=112175590