Going, going, gone

WHAT you see won’t necessarily be what you get, with a couple of Cork bungalows up for sale in prized locations.

In fact, aspiring home-buyers will be rubbing shoulders in viewings in each case with those who’d knock, rebuild and replace with far larger houses, or even builders looking for a site for a few new-builds.

The tempting buys, with two different agents, are at Dundanion Road, Beaumont/Ballintemple and with a sizeable one-third of an acre, with Timothy Sullivan & Co, and across the city to the east at School Avenue is another offering, on smaller site, with McKenna O’Donoghue Clarke.

First up is Oaklands, with its extremely sizeable gardens on Dundanion Road. “It is one of the very popular Beaumont and Ballintemple addresses, up there with the Crescent,” says Tim Sullivan.

He seeks €595,000 for the three-bed bungalow, in good condition, and is selling ‘as is,’ with its clear scope for extension, replacement or further dwellings. The locale has seen a recent flurry of older dwellings knocked and replaced with large one-offs, some up to 4,000 sq ft. At this level, paying €595,000 for a ‘site’ isn’t beyond the beyonds. A recent case in point was the 2006 sale of the Edwardian property Somerton House, on fine and rare gardens off the Ballinlough Road. It made well over €1 million, and its purchaser was refused planning permission to knock and replace it and its outbuildings with two new dwellings.

He appealed to An Bórd Pleanala, and although the board inspector also recommended refusal, the board itself allowed the demolition to go ahead. This has recently been carried out.

Meanwhile, across the city at School Avenue off the Glasheen Road, No 7 is a cottage-style detached property, on a site of 0.16 of an acre. It is on the market for €400,000 with Michael O’Donoghue of McKenna O’Donoghue Clarke. It has options for renovation and/or replacement, subject to planning permission.