REA Dooley buys Charleville auctioneers
The Real Estate Alliance group has acquired Sherry FitzGerald Walsh in Charleville, Co Cork.
Limerick-based REA Dooley, headed by Pat Dooley, has taken over the business, in operation in the north Cork town since 1999.
Pat Dooley has been in the property business for 25 years and founded Dooley Group in 2009, opening its first office in Limerick City in 2012, followed by a Newcastle West branch in 2019.
The Charleville office will have an experienced team: alongside Pat will be Derry Walsh (former director, Sherry FitzGerald Walsh) and Cathy Dunne (administration and property management), together with north-Cork resident Jane Foley, who has been with REA Dooley for a decade.
Derry Walsh opened the auctioneering business in 1999 and joined the Sherry Fitzgerald franchise in 2002.
Fantastic addition
Pat Dooley has been in the property business for 25 years and founded Dooley Group in 2009, opening its first office in Limerick City in 2012, followed by a Newcastle West branch in 2019.
The Charleville office will have an experienced team: alongside Pat will be Derry Walsh (former director, Sherry FitzGerald Walsh) and Cathy Dunne (administration and property management), together with north-Cork resident Jane Foley, who has been with REA Dooley for a decade.
Derry Walsh opened the auctioneering business in 1999 and joined the Sherry Fitzgerald franchise in 2002.
REA Dooley offers a private treaty online bidding platform bidnow.ie.
“While residential is our main business, our portfolio of agricultural listings is ever increasing,” Dooley said. “I am from a farming background, and many of our REA members would have agricultural sales as their forte, which enables us to benefit from combined advertising in media.”
There is high demand meeting low supply in the land market currently, he commented. “The average price of good grazing land in the Limerick and north Cork area is around €14,000 per acre – a figure that has increased steadily over the last number of years. While milk and cattle prices remain steady, land values will continue to be strong.”
Residential property prices in the area are continuing to rise month on month due to a shortage of supply, according to Dooley. “The first-time buyer market in north Cork is particularly strong but, unfortunately, the supply of property is nowhere near where it needs to be,” he said.
“There is no new housing being built to cater for the private market in Charleville at present. First-time buyers are grappling with the secondhand listings that arise out of either a landlord exiting the rental market or probate sales.
“The trader-upper market is also there but can be very much chain-dependent at times, where the trader-upper must sell before they buy.”