Rosy future for Douglas semi-d

A FULL-ON southerly aspect to the front and a back garden which isn’t overlooked are some of the attributes of 5 Rosebank, a Douglas semi-d, off the main road by the swimming pool entrance to the estate.

Best of all, though, is the super-convenient address: its setting mid-ships between city centre and suburban shopping overload cuts out the very worst of Douglas’ increasing traffic congestion.

No 5 arrives up for sale at a time of strong demand for locations like this, and it carries a €500,000-plus price guide with Joe Gavin of James G Coughlan Associates.

If that seems low for the location (and it is, given the surge in values in the vicinity), it is because this Rosebank house needs up-grading: simply put it is in close to the ‘original’ condition of the 1950s.

So, there are tiled fireplaces in the two reception rooms, and a kitchen without a gas cooking option: in other words, no central heating yet.

Heating and wiring both need immediate attention, though windows have been replaced, and the likelihood is that any buyer will move a builder in before they budge themselves. The fact there’s an attached garage gives scope for extension, and the location will repay any further expenditure, in spades.

The house looks directly south, down Rosebank towards the greenery of Mount Vernon and the Frankfield hills, while directly behind No 5 are the car garages for the up-market Elm Bank, so there’s no-one peering in over the hedges or through the large rhododendron in the corner.