‘Awesome’ Scottish island up for auction with bids starting at $ 111,000

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(CNN) – With people spending more time inside than ever due to lock-in restrictions, many have reevaluated their living options and wanted to move to more spacious accommodations.

And city dwellers who want to flee to the countryside can be lucky.

An auction house sells an entire rugged Scottish island with an initial bid of £ 80,000 ($ 111,700), an amount you wouldn’t even buy a small apartment in London.

Deer Island, in the Scottish Highlands, has 11 acres of land and is “nestled” in a “stunning and quiet” lake on the “dramatic” west coast of Scotland, according to auctioneers Future Property.

The uninhabited island, on Lake Moidart, is a space that can be “enjoyed with zero chances of intrusion” because of its remote location, Future Property said.

It is being sold after being owned by the same family for 500 years, property manager Stephen McCluskey told CNN on Thursday.

The future owner will be a distant neighbor of the family of British businessman Richard Branson, whose sister Vanessa Branson owns Eilean Shona, the closest island to Deer Island, McCluskey said.

“They use it as a business – Eilean Shona is bigger, significantly bigger, but there are chalets and a shelter where there are several celebrities, ”McCluskey added.

Nearby neighbors will include red squirrels, seals and some occasional dolphins.

Also nearby is the stunning Tioram Castle, built in the 13th century and now in ruins.

Deer Island is near Tioram Castle, pictured, dating from the 13th century.

Deer Island is near Tioram Castle, pictured, dating from the 13th century.

Future property auctions

“Right now they are rock and trees (there is nothing) and there has never been anything [built] about it, or any app to have something in it, ”McCluskey said of Deer Island.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s been completely uninhabited for 500 years.”

The online auction will take place on March 26, but McCluskey already has registered interests, including someone who wants to park his yacht and another person who wants to use it as a base for kayaking, he said.

The buyer will need to look for the relevant planning permits to build anything on the island, McCluskey added.

He expects the land to sell for between £ 150,000 and £ 200,000 (between $ 209,000 and $ 279.00).

“With something like that, you get different types of buyers: you get foreign investors, wealthy landlords, and you get romantics who fall in love with the idea of ​​owning a Scottish island,” he said.

Brokers and experts in the travel industry told CNN last year that since the beginning of the pandemic, they had seen an increase in potential buyers and tenants wanting to escape to an exclusive island.
The islands put up for sale last year have included Little Ragged Island in the Bahamas, which features 730 acres of wooded hills and pristine white beaches, priced at a minimum price of $ 19.5 million.

In July, an unnamed European buyer took a 157-acre island to the southwest of the Irish mainland for $ 6 million. Horse Island, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, was sold after negotiations on WhatsApp took place.

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