The country's most exclusive 'ghost estate'

[BoyRacer]

The country’s most exclusive ‘ghost estate’ - Siobhan Creaton -> independent.ie/lifestyle/the … 53681.html

Mr Smurfit and his partner at the K Club, developer Gerry Gannon, sold more than €150m worth of houses and apartments built on its 550 acres in Kildare at the height of the boom. A range of different types of properties were offered in four developments – The Courtyard, Churchfields, Ladycastle and the Ryder Cup Village – that ranged in price from between €1m and over €5m, with buyers easy to find.

Five years on, everything has changed. The K Club itself is shouldering huge losses as international business has dried up. Mr Gannon’s property empire has crumbled under massive debts and has been transferred to Ireland’s bad bank. In the meantime, the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is handling Mr Gannon’s assets, that include his 49pc share of the K Club.

All around the resort the impact of the property crash is evident. One resident says few people live there permanently and the place often looks deserted.

"It is very private, very secure and extremely quiet. There are few people actually living here."

The trophy investments are well and truly tarnished, and banks and even NAMA have begun to take over some of the loans used to purchase homes at the K Club from financially distressed borrowers.

there is more

[September]

The expensive annual service charges associated with each of the properties, together with the annual membership fee of around €7,000 which goes with each property, is mentioned as adding to these seller’s woes and can amount to as much as €25,000 a year.

This could be also a place where property value would go below zero with this kind of regular costs. I wonder how successfully they are collected. What happens if you do not pay? For sure repossession is not an option.

[2Pack]

€32k a year would pay off an 800k gaff over 30 years …crudely…but would not include golf club membership of course

[theschmuck]

Having the 25k to spend on the services will take over 50k of your pre-tax salary. I can’t imagine there’s many left in the country who can afford it let alone think it’s worth the money for having nice grounds and the opportunity to hit a golf ball 80 times once or twice a week.

[murf]

Having the 25k to spend on the services will take over 50k of your pre-tax salary. I can’t imagine there’s many left in the country who can afford it let alone think it’s worth the money for having nice grounds and the opportunity to hit a golf ball 80 times once or twice a week.

80 times?

Me?

Not even on a nine hole

[slasher]

Having the 25k to spend on the services will take over 50k of your pre-tax salary. I can’t imagine there’s many left in the country who can afford it let alone think it’s worth the money for having nice grounds and the opportunity to hit a golf ball 80 times once or twice a week.

What’s the joining fee for members ( - can’t imagine they’re still as picky about the members now…) most people would also question how ehm, ‘secure’ that fee is - at the very least it will come down