We have big news to announce. We are in the process of becoming business owners in Ireland. Actually, this has been going on for several months and we have posted about it a couple of times on Facebook, but with about 90% of the transfer of Kerry House Management complete, we felt like an official announcement was called for.
Our Story
When we bought our home outside of Kenmare, Ireland in 2013, our biggest concern (besides how to pay for it) was how to keep it safe. We still had to live in Texas for a few more years to finish out our careers and, at best, we would only be able to visit the house a few weeks out of the year. How would we know if a tree crashed onto it in a storm? What if the water heater failed and flooded the house? Who would we even call to fix these things if they did happen? Finally, who would keep the yard from becoming a jungle in our absence?
Kerry House Management
Enter Fiona and Michael Marshall, owners and operators of Kerry House Management. They met us on our first visit to the house and put our minds completely at rest. We knew our house would be well cared for under the watchful eyes of this company. They would keep an eye on the house, make suggestions about service providers, and even run errands for us if we needed them to do so. During that first visit they used their truck and trailer to haul off the teal green carpet (original to the house and pictures of it can be seen here) that we had pulled out of the house. In other words, they were a God send.
Sadly, Michael was battling cancer and passed away in 2014. Fiona carried on with the business and did a fantastic job looking after Niamh Cottage and other homes in the area. However, her family was back in Great Britain and she wanted to be closer to them.
The Keoughs Become Business Owners
After we arrived in Kenmare to live full time, Fiona approached us to see if we would be interested in taking over Kerry House Management. We saw this as an excellent opportunity on several fronts. This will help us engage with our new community. It will get us out of the house to meet people and become more familiar with the surrounding countryside. We also felt that it will put our career skills to good use. Protecting and serving is what we have done for a number of years and now we can continue to do it by looking after people’s homes and keeping them safe.
What We Will Be Doing
Kerry House Management offers a number of services. Our main service is checking houses to ensure that it hasn’t been broken into or doesn’t need another type of service and then to let the owner know that all is well with their home. We also offer lawn maintenance, handyman services, and holiday home preparations. When we see a problem that is bigger than we can fix, we suggest service providers and will meet them at the home so that they can solve the problem.
While most of our services are geared toward holiday home owners, we also provide services for fulltime residents who need to leave their homes for any length of time and want to know that they are secure and looked after in their absence. Another service that we are going to offer is pet sitting in the pet owner’s home. We know that our girls are much more comfortable staying in our own home while we are on vacation, so we prefer to leave them at home rather than kennel them. We are certain other pet owners feel the same.
How to Follow Along
If you wish to follow along or learn more about our business you can like our Facebook page – Kerry House Management, follow us on twitter @kerryhousemgmt and even on Instagram at Kerryhousemanagement. We definitely have the social media platforms covered. 🙂 We also have a gorgeous website that Fiona created, but we are still in the process of updating the information to reflect that we are the new owners. It is quite the process. Check it out at Kerryhousemanagement.ie.
Owning a Holiday Home
So if you have been trying to figure out how you would keep up with a holiday home in Ireland, now you know. We’ve got you covered.
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