Court-ordered home front sale for Morris

ALMOST 200 years old is this former mill, owned in recent years by overseas property promoter Karl Morris, and now being sold by a bank on foot of a court order.

The Old Mill and adjoining mews, plus original mill wheel and gears (and possibly millstone) with gardens with sea frontage and boat access via a slip, is near Schull in west Cork, and had been on the market for a period guiding a veryaspirational €1 million.

But, like the Irish and overseas markets exploited by Mr Morris (he sold heavily in Spain, Morocco and Montenegro), values have now fallen sharply.

So, the former mill, now a three-bed holiday home of character, and adjacent mews conversion are being sold as very much ‘open to offers,’ via Skibbereen agent Charles P McCarthy, via private treaty so far.

The same agent last month brought Castletownshend’s Taggart Park to market via auction, jointly with Dominic Daly, and that ‘distressed’ sale saw the property which had been bought for development purposes by an investor withdrawn unsold from auction at a sub €500,000 sum. On 2.5 valuable acres in Castletownshend, Taggart Park had an initial €1.5 million, guide, then reduced to €1 million. It is still for sale, now available by private treaty, and currently is over €500k in offers.

Like Taggart Park, the Old Mill has a number of key ‘box ticking’ attributes that would have seen it at the centre of bidding wars a few years ago, but now lack of bank finance — and in particular for second homes and investment property — will see the market shrivelled for the Old Mill. An overseas buyer, possibly from the UK, may well end up the purchaser.

The original mill, with protected facade, dates to the 1810s, is up a quiet roadway and has the shoreline access across that road from the mill buildings, linking terrace and mill race. The private water accessincludes pier, slip for dinghy, sun deck, etc., in a tidal area of scenic beauty.

Fully renovated, and with an eye to working with the building’s original character, the four-bed mill conversion has quality living space, some Liscannor stone and wood floors, feature stone fireplaces, etc., (plus a mill race room with old working beneath). The separate three-bedroomed mews has its main 22’ by 14’ living quarters up on the top floor to make the best of water views over the inlet and over a stone arched bridge to the sea,

Location is just half a mile from Schull, with Cork city, airport and ferry a 90-minute-plus drive away.

The sale comes on the heels of another prime Schull waterfront property, in one of the harbour’s best positions, where a 1970s bungalow on a 0.4 ace site sold after a (bank induced) summer auction withdrawal for a sum in the mid-€500,000s.