If you are thinking of buying the Caiseal Mara (or know someone who might) you can go along and have a look. You can view it today from 1pm to 2pm. You get a second chance next Monday from 1pm to 2pm as well. The next day it goes for auction in Dublin.

The reserve price is €175,000. That’s for a hotel with 48 rooms. It has two function rooms, one which can take 300 people. It also has a restaurant and bar – and can be purchased for the price of a decent house in Moville. In fact, a few years ago, you might not even have got a decent house for that.

THere are several possibilities:-

1. It doesn’t sell. After all it has been on the market for a year at €300,000 without a sale.

2. Someone buys it, boards it up and waits till the market recovers to sell it. You would have to think that a place like that could be worth €2 or €3 million ten years from now.

3. Someone buys it and uses it for another purpose.

4. Someone who knows nothing about running hotels buys it and it is back in receivership next year.

5. Someone who knows about hotels takes advantage of a very cheap price and makes it into a success.

The last scenario is the one that everyone around here will be hoping for.

We shall see a week tomorrow.