- NEWS
10% tax on junk food to tackle obesityA 10% tax on fizzy drinks, sweets, biscuits, crisps, and chocolate is to be recommended to the health minister as a way of tackling the country's soaring obesity problem.
Prayer vigil for fine weather as farmers queue for fodderA 24-hour prayer vigil for fine weather has been held on the Kerry-Cork border.
- WORLD
It’s technology, Jim, but not as we know it WHEN Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first dreamed up the concept of a television show based in the unexplored universe of Outer Space in 1964, the world was a very different place.
Berlusconi’s party girls dressed as nuns, Obama Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured women dressed not just as sexy nuns and nurses, but also as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor that the former Italian premier has accused of persecuting him.
- BUSINESS
IBRC delays loan valuations, saleThe valuation and sale of IBRC loans has been pushed out by six months to November and December of this year.
The smart money is always on SeánFounded four decades ago, its annual turnover is now €2bn.
- SPORT
The Terry Reilly Interview: The Godfather of GalwayOver the course of almost half a century, Liam Sammon has been in service to Galway football. Now he hopes a new generation can restore county pride.
Super Blues keep double in sightsJoe Schmidt's side won their third European trophy in successive years and gave Connacht reason to celebrate also as the Westerners gained entry to next season's Heineken Cup courtesy of their neighbours to the east.
- LIFESTYLE
Let in the seasonal lightYOUR wardrobe isn't the only thing that needs updating once the barometer starts to rise.
It’s a guy thingDid you cry with your buddy while watching Fergie say farewell at Old Trafford?
10-13C
Breaking stories
House of the week
THERE’S going to be strong viewing and bidding activity on Blackwater House — guaranteed.
By Tommy Barker
House quality, a location near Douglas village, a half acre site, and southerly views over the estuary and Mahon golf course area are all box-tickers in a current southern city market starved of good trading up supply. But, throw in a guide price of €515,000, and you pretty much can join the queue to view. It’s absolutely set to rock. Across all of Cork’s strong agents — and aspirant buyers — the refrain’s the same right now: shortage of stock and of places ready to move into. The pick-up in first-time buyer activity this year and a flow of sales has generated a bit of trading-up movement, and there’s pent-up demand and often spirited bidding as well.
One of the last box-ticking, good-to-go houses we gave lots of space to here in late July was a mint-order three-bed extended cottage in Cork’s Blackrock, floated at €220,000. Over the last month. three bidders chased it past €270,000, and it’s now sale-agreed making about €60k over the asking.
Now, while the air is thinner in the €500,000-plus league, the old property saws of location and value are the yardsticks that will be run over new-to-market launch Blackwater House, for sale with Clare O’Sullivan of Savills.
Built on its own half-acre sloping site at the top of Skehard Road/end of Well Road near Douglas and Blackrock villages, and close to Mahon’s burgeoning amenities and employment base, this detached dormer first belonged to the builder who developed Douglas Hall Avenue houses back in the 1990s.
Near the more recent Brickfields scheme of contemporary detacheds overlooking Mahon Golf Club and the Douglas river/Lee estuary (so, where exactly did the Blackwater name come from?) it’s hugely private and almost wholly hidden from view. But, you can glimpse it from the south ring over by Rochestown, or from the golf course beneath.
Split-level Blackwater House works with its sloping site, set about half way on it, with three and nearly four layers of lawn, two in front, two behind, and it’s all immaculately presented.
Traditionally built, the 2,00 sq ft dormer has a render and brick exterior, with quality brickwork featuring in the arched entrance doorway, in window sills and heads, and around its landscaped ground in low walls and framing patios and paths. It’s all low-key, laid up against good landscaping, colourful beds, and swathes of lawn that could have been trimmed by the golf course’s green-keeper.
Once past the arched, teak front door, there’s an immediate choice — up a half flight of stairs to three of this family home’s four bedrooms, or down a half-flight the other way to the main living areas, while off to the right on this half-landing/hall is a playroom or bed four facing the front drive.
All flooring is varnished boards, bar the tiled kitchen and the tiled floor on the lean-to conservatory at the house’s far end, and there’s a main 21’ by 13’ sitting room on the eastern end with conservatory access, then there’s further sun-room access back into a den/play room, and on to the house’s other family room/den, by a kitchen/dining room. It makes for a great flow of space and circularity, and on sunny days like last week, it funnels heat into the house’s core.
Blackwater House has been well kept, with neutral colours and lots of exposed or varnished timbers, while the kitchen units are in quality pitch pine. New owners might want to up the quality stakes with a small investment in granite tops, modernise some of the tiling, or carpet a few floors, but there’s nothing at all urgent about any of these jobs.
VERDICT: One of very the best in town at this price level, expect to have to fight other bidders for it.