Hettyfield sale sure to woo city buyers

FIRST bun-fight of the year for a detached home in the Douglas suburb of Cork can be expected for Ashton, a house with a lot going for it - especially a Hettyfield address.

Hettyfield is a wending estate of fine post-war homes built on large, mature and private sites off the Well Road: it is near all amenities, but just separate enough as well to be quietly removed from the rush.

An early 2006 market arrival into this highly-prized address is Ashton, a detached four-bed home on a corner site of one third of an acre.

It has been owned by the same family since the 1940s, and it will be as keenly held onto into the future by any new owners, who will have to see off the expected keen biding competition to get their hands on this fine home.

Estate agent Peter Cave of Hamilton Osborne King guides Ashton at €850,000-plus. However, this can be taken very much as a starting price, even though it needs some modernising and could easily take a sizeable extension as well given its site size and shape.

Given the calibre and quantities of buyers out there with €1 million or more to spend (over 30 Cork houses made over €1 million in 2005) it can be expected that many bidders will have an end-game figure in this €1 million-plus price bracket for a family home here: stamp duty alone, at 9%, will bring a purchase price close to this sort of sum.

Features include original wood floors, two good reception rooms one with bay window and gas insert fireplace, kitchen, and the house has an original pantry, now described as a utility room, guest WC and closet, four first floor bedrooms, plus main bathroom.

New owners will probably want to increase the bedrooms quality, as none is particularly large: the addition of a large master bedroom with the now-requisite bathroom and dressing room can be predicted, as can sun room additions.

As it stands, there a flat roof extension to the side, plus a 33’ long garage, so there’s plenty of scope and space here for adding on, with lots of garden left to enjoy.

Ashton has gas central heating, PVC double glazing, and good privacy on its corner site. Nearby is Douglas village with two shopping centres, restaurants and bars, cinema, a tennis club, swimming pool, schools, churches, GAA, rugby and other sports codes’ pitches.