Starter Homes

Glengarriff, Cork €160,000

Sq m: 125 (1,300 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 4

Bathrooms: 4

BER Rating: C3

Glengarrif’s River Lodge is a former B&B — and that helps explain the fact it has got four en suite bedrooms in its two-storey layout.

It’s on the market now as a private buy with agents Cohalan Downing, who guide at €160k and who say it is secluded, but not isolated, near the famed West Cork beauty spot. It would make a good family home, with summer tourism income potential, they add.

VERDICT: Glengariff’s just gorgeous.

Friars Walk, Cork €95,000

Sq m: 67 (725 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 1

BER Rating: G

Over 100 years old, and now needing a good bit of work (but set to repay it) is 7, St Antony’s Walk, off Cork City’s Friars’ Walk.

The end-terrace home, with side and back garden “is in original condition, needing a substantial amount of work, time and money to put it right,” says John Barry of Frank V Murphy & Associates, adding that it also has kept many original design features.

VERDICT: Just a mile from the city centre.

Ovens, Cork €210,000

Sq m: 69 (750 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 2

Bathrooms: 1

BER Rating: D2

The cheery yellow coloured bungalow Cruchan Ruadh is as handy a buy for a starter home as for a trader down. It’s a two-bed with sun-room, on a quarter-acre site just west of Cork city off the Macroom road by the Ovens bar.

The townland is Knockanemore, and it’s near a range of services, says Norma Healy of Sherry FitzGerald, and has great space around it, ideal for extending into for a young family, or for an older buyer who loves to garden.

VERDICT: Neat-sized package on the city’s fringes.