Large and lovely old properties calling out for suitable families

THE university quarter in Cork city is always a good location for property and sales have been consistent here on the back of student lettings.

Now, notwithstanding the huge opposition to high-rise development in the western suburbs, the upside of the Section 50 phenomenon has been the return of these residential areas to families.

The lovely old properties on College and Magazine roads are being gentrified by a new wave of buyers, which is not only sustaining property levels, but in some cases, is pushing prices up.

Right now, Tom Woodward of Woodward Auctioneers, has two large properties on his books in the inner western suburbs, starting at the €500,000 mark.

The first he describes as “very Homes and Gardens’ and is a four-bedroomed property on a dog-leg road off Connaught Avenue. Ardmeen is on offer at €650,000 and is in walk-in condition with some very nice fittings.

Rooms are generous, with a living room of 17’ by 13’, a smaller family room and a comprehensively fitted kitchen/diner. There’s a guest loo off the main hallway and a utility room - all the basic requirements in a family home, including an en suite master bedroom. Alarmed and with gas heating, this house has a tidy front garden and a good back garden with large shed.

The property originally stood on a larger site and part of this made a hefty €350,000 when sold by the same agent recently.

While Ardmeen offers a ready-made home, Croata, on the Glasheen Road, is a house of a different colour. This is a doer-upper, but one with lots of character and a long, south-facing back garden.

An executor’s sale, the house is bare at the moment, which allows viewers a very honest appraisal of the property, which is on offer at €500,000.

Croata has a certain charm and with some investment (we’re into how long is a piece of string territory here) could be a smashing family home. Built pre-war, rooms are a good size, with a kitchen of 17’ by 10’, a living room of 16’ by 13’ with bay window and a dining room that has French doors to the rear. There’s also a scullery with a shower room and a lean-to sunroom overlooking the old-fashioned back garden.

Bedrooms one, two and three are on the first floor, with a bathroom on the half landing, as is traditional, and the master bedroom has a balcony overlooking the long driveway to the front.

Bedrooms four and five are in the attic and one includes a walled-in roof area, or, as Mr Woodward says, a solarium.

As further proof of the strength of the market in this area, Denis Prendergast of Marshs has sold a three-bedroomed semi in Croaghta Park for €435,000, a sum well in excess of the guide price of €375,000. While the house is detached, it will need substantial renovation to bring it up to standard, says Mr Prendergast.