Ideal trader upper property

WHILE the starter home market may be slow at present, mid and upper ranges houses are ticking over, slowly perhaps, but ticking nonetheless.

A fine example of a big, one-off house on the periphery of Cork city is this one, at Ballymartin, Grenagh. Ideally placed for trader-uppers from the Blarney/Tower areas, the property is just off the main Cork/Mallow road and just a zip up from the city and Blackpool Shopping centre.

It’s on a bus route to town and to the local primary and secondary schools. All important considerations when buying for a family. On an acre of ground that includes a babbling brook on the boundary, this house ticks all the boxes for buyers at this level. It’s on the market with Michael O’Donovan of Sherry FitzGerald for offers in the region of €725,000.

Located at Ballymartin, Grenagh, it’s a four-bedroomed, 2,500 square foot house with some great extras. Top of that list is a back area with lots of hard standing, (great for bikes, roller blades and skateboards, not to mention cars) and a raised deck that captures the sun all day and gives great countryside views.

And there are quirky touches: the lounge is almost stand alone in its design, and has a corridor running almost its full circumference. Instead of having double doors it has two separate glazed doors outside and a modern, neat fire insert.

Overhead the staircase forms a bridge to the bedroom area.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ground floor provides copious living space. The main kitchen has units on three sides and a large island unit. There’s a living room opposite and up a couple of steps is a sunroom, with access onto the raised deck and the back yard.

The gardens run right around the house and are perfectly laid out with paddock fencing and tarmac driveway. Overhead, the master suite is huge and comes with lovely, spalted beech units made by a local craftsman. It also comes with a roomy en suite.

The remaining rooms are good doubles and share a large, main bathroom with four piece suite.

This Ballymartin house is one to look at for buyers looking for an accessible and maintenance-free family home.