K Club and Doonbeg sell a share in golf homes

CO KILDARE & CO CLARE: FROM €125,000 AND €165,000:TWO OF of Ireland's most prestigious golf clubs, the K Club in Co Kildare and Doonbeg in west Clare, are to sell shared ownership in some of their holiday homes for the first time.

The move comes at a time when investor-owners in both clubs have been finding it extremely difficult to offload exclusive properties because of the banking crisis and the downturn in economic activity.

To broaden their appeal, both clubs have set up partnerships with international companies involved in fractional ownership of homes at top holiday resorts in various parts of the world.

Doonbeg has linked up with Timbers Resorts, which operates private residence clubs, boutique hotels and club communities in the US, Mexico, Italy and the US Virgin Islands.

The K Club has formed a partnership with Firstlight, a global shared ownership specialist with a portfolio of holiday properties in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central America and the European continent.

At Doonbeg, investors will be offered a one-tenth share in each of eight cottages at a cost of €165,000. For that they will be entitled to three pre-planned holiday weeks each year as well as unlimited use at short notice provided the cottages are vacant. Extending to almost 278sq m (3,000sq ft), each cottage has four bedrooms and a spacious living space laid out in a simple but elegant country style.

All the properties come with membership of the Greg Norman-designed golf course as well as access to facilities like the luxury White Horses spa. New owners can trade their holiday weeks in Doonbeg for homes in any of the other Timbers Collection properties in a variety of ski, golf, beach and countryside destinations.

Shared ownership of a holiday home in the Ladycastle part of the K Club will cost from €125,000 to €310,000, depending on whether it is a two-bed apartment, a two- or three-bed duplex unit or a three- or four-bedroom house.

Owners will be entitled to six weeks use per year with two of them available at short notice. Alternatively, they can be offered for international exchange, with the weeks being valued and the value in points used by the owner to reserve an exchange week in one of 40 international destinations.

The fractional offering will entitle purchasers to one-eighth of the ownership of the property as well as full family membership of the K Club with its two championship golf courses designed by Arnold Palmer.

They will also be able to avail of a dedicated concierge service, the K spa, a golf cart for internal transportation, a private locker in the clubhouse, full housekeeping service, property maintenance and airport transfers. The club will even throw in a hamper on each visit.

Elsewhere in the K Club a two-bedroom apartment in the Fountain Courtyard beside the golf resort’s hotel has just been sold for €380,000. It had been valued at over €1.1 million just before the Ryder Cup was held at the K Club in 2006.

In Doonbeg around €20 million worth of properties, both new and second-hand, have been for sale in recent months.