How to use 15 acres of land to retire early?

I will shortly be handed down 15 acres of good quality land in County Monaghan. Being 48 and a factory worker for the last 30 years i see this land as my opportunity to change my life. If i use this land wisely it may allow me to retire early from my present job and allow me to do more charity work which i find both rewarding and fulfilling. My question is how can i best maximise this asset?

what will you do with it? 15 Acres is a very small holding.

You could join REPS to get some EU grants. Is the land classified as 'disadvantaged'? If so, you might be entitled to more grants if you maintain a certain level of livestock on it. However, that means work as cattle must be looked after ,fed, housed, vetted, disease tested etc.

You could do some research into the feasibility of opening up an open type farm, where visitors would pay a fee to walk the place and see animals in their natural environment. If doing this, you could also have a little coffee shop, play area and at Christmas time, perhaps have a santa grotto. Again, all require work and labour and money.

Could you sell the entire holding as agricultural land? You migth get €20K per acre, again not a huge windfall to change your life and finance your lifestyle to the grave.

Could you sell a site or sites? If so, you should try to get PP, or at least OPP before selling. Could you do a little development of one off sites throughout the holding, creating a little luxury housing estate, but estate is the wrong word to use.

Farming is hard work for little money.

Hi Claragh,

They say there is gold under those hills you'd surely make a tidy sum if you found gold under the place. You wouldn't be entitled to the gold however government would have to compensate you, for depriving you of the use of your land while they tore the place apart.

All joking aside keep the day job, if you talking about 15 acres of agri land in monaghan your not going to get an income out it. However the place would sell very well as they are land mad in monaghan. I can't imagine that they would pay anything like 20k an acre. With the sale proceeds you could invest in something which would yield a better return.

You could let the land to a neighbour and get up to €250/acre.
The Reps suggestion would bring in about €75 per acre however you would have overheads like paying reps planner each year and protecting environment and you would be prohibited from letting the place. You should check if there are any single payments entitlements attached to the land.

The open farm option does not seem to be viable option as you are too far away from an urban population and I'd imagine such an venture would be much better suited to an existing farm which is a going concern as a farm.

Claragh said:

If i use this land wisely it may allow me to retire early from my present job and allow me to do more charity work which i find both rewarding and fulfilling. My question is how can i best maximise this asset?

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A neighbour of mine donated about 5 acres of his land to a local charity. They built some sort of a housing centre on it.

Though you want to retire early and do more charity work, it is not always possible to have your cake and eat it. You may have to use the land to do one or the other.

Ravima said:

You could do some research into the feasibility of opening up an open type farm, where visitors would pay a fee to walk the place and see animals in their natural environment. If doing this, you could also have a little coffee shop, play area and at Christmas time, perhaps have a santa grotto. Again, all require work and labour and money.

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I can't see something like this being a success in Co. Monaghan. I've never been but isn't it in the BMW region? This would indicate that the locals "see animals in their natural environment" everyday, and would be unlikely to pay for the privilege.

These places are only really a sucess in cities, eg Airfield Trust in Dublin.

Ravima said:

You migth get €20K per acre, again not a huge windfall to change your life and finance your lifestyle to the grave.

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Very lucky to get €20k, I reckon. Half that.

Ravima said:

Could you sell a site or sites? If so, you should try to get PP, or at least OPP before selling. Could you do a little development of one off sites throughout the holding, creating a little luxury housing estate, but estate is the wrong word to use.

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Probably your best option. However, there is a slowdown in the housing market at present and this would indicate that the price of sites will also drop.

Planting it as forrestry may be an option. There are very generous grants available, though you'll have to wait about 30 years for a return. Plus, you'll have to replant it with trees again (you can't let it go idle or revert to farmland if you want your grant money).

You could try leasing it to agriculture every year, though you'd probably only make about €1k per annum.

Thanks folks for all the advice.

The land is presently leased for €2000 a year for 2 Years. A 20 acre farm near by sold last year for €24,500 an acre.

I will have about 5 road side sites but getting planning permission for these could be difficult as Monaghan has a policy of not allowing new stand alone houses. However i will probably try anyway. If successful i will give one of these sites to the Nial Mellon Trust who build houses for the Township people of South Africa. I have traveled with them 3 times to Cape Town and know the money will be well spent there.

Had a quick look at free range egg production over the last few days. High upfront costs but seems to have good returns.

The land is to good to plant trees on and i contacted a couple of companies about putting up wind turbines and was told my holding is to small but in a good location.

Id recommend selling it or renting it out. Farming it or REPS is probably of of the question because you have to be a qualified farmer with a herd number to qualify for EU grants, the paper work and compliance is a big enough headache for full time farmers. If they are so land mad in monaghan let them have it.

Claragh said:

I will have about 5 road side sites but getting planning permission for these could be difficult as Monaghan has a policy of not allowing new stand alone houses.

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Is this stretch of road straight? The roadside location is another factor apart from county council policy. The entranct to a site must be visible from something like 200 meters in either direction.
Note, the figure I quote may be wrong. Ignore if it's a long straight stretch.

Also, when applying, it's worth considering applying one-at-a-time.
If you apply for 5 together, you'll probably be refused, then have a black mark against you, and may have to wait 5 years before being considered again.
Instead, if you apply for one and get it, you've got that bit sorted.
Then apply for the second, etc.

Claragh said:

The land is to good to plant trees on...

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Have you spoken to a professional about this? There's a misconception that tree-planting is for bad land only. If the elevation is greater than 500 metres, you land may not be good enough for trees.

Plus, if much of it is close to a road, you may not be able to get a felling license anyway.