Keenan Auctioneers showing properties in their best light

With a rental market showing signs of revival, Keenan Auctioneers is continuing to increase its footprint in terms of managing residential rental properties while further enhancing its land sales service.

Donal Keenan explained more: “Traditionally we would have sourced tenants for landlords, vetted them, signed them up and registered the lease but then we would have been hands-off. In the last year, we have increased our profiles on the rental management front. We have the right tradespeople on our books to tackle any issues to remove the pain for landlords.”

There has been much commentary at national level on landlords exiting the market, and that was Donal’s experience up until 2024 too.

“The pendulum seems to a have swung back a little bit towards the end of the year. In recent months, we have five or six new landlords come on board for our rental management service.”

He doesn’t have a definitive answer to what’s motivating this mini-recovery but suspects renters might have been priced out of Navan, which is less than 30 minutes’ drive.

“Maybe they would be paying as much for a two-bedroom apartment in Navan as they would for a three-bedroom, semi-detached in Kingscourt, it starts to look attractive then - they get more bang for their buck.”

Keenan Auctioneers is also eager to capitalise on its unique position as the sister company of Kingscourt Mart to further maximise attention for land going up for sale.

“We already have access to a wide farming community who are coming into the mart two or three times a week,” says Donal.

“We are showcasing land in its best light through video marketing because every farmer is on the phone these days and, any time we put land up or auction land, it always gets a lot of attention.”

Generally, Donal says static supply of properties is an issue and he forecasts more of the same in 2025.

“It’s a continuation of a low volume of houses coming on the market and any good house that is move-in ready with an energy rating of B3 or above - which gives them access to better mortgage rates - those ones are getting a lot of eyes on, a lot of viewings, a lot of offers and hitting pretty high prices compared to a year or two ago.”

Donal gives the example of a three-bed semi detached in good condition in Kingscourt, which went ‘sale agreed’ that day.

“That might have got €280K 12 months ago, it has just gone sale agreed at €320K, so it’s continuing to climb.”

He has sympathy for disappointed buyers.

“We try to be as transparent as possible. We try to give a finishing line for how long the property is going to be up for sale and a deadline for final offers. We also have online bidding so they can see bids come in and they are notified as soon as that happens.”

Keenan Auctioneers continue to lead the way in terms of digital marketing providing property tours via Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram channels.

“We’re always trying to come up with different ways of grabbing attention for sellers and getting eyes on their properties, whether that’s a short Tik Tok video: ‘Three things to love about this property’, or ‘coming soon to the market’.”

Donal and the team at Keenan Auctioneers thank all of their customers, sellers and buyers for their business over the last year.