Properties come at bargain prices and with water views

BOTH have water views – and both vendors have taken a view to a sale, dropping asking prices by hundreds of thousands of euros.

The biggest drop and most dramatic is from €1.2m to €800,000 for the Georgian Cliff Cottage on French’s Walk in Cobh.

It faces directly out on Cork harbour, and is on 1.8 acres of land with 180 metres of shore frontage. Galway-based agents Spencers had reckoned it could even have made €1.5m when launching it for sale a year ago. Its new, ‘priced to sell’ €800k ask is down nearly 50% from their optimistic valuation, or down one-third from its formal quoted AMV.

The villa, needing modernisation, or at least some upgrading, overlooks the comings and goings of Cork harbour, with steps from the house down to Kitchen Cove, virtually a private beach.

Its terraced gardens have exotic trees planted over the last 150 years, which flourish in this sheltered position located just a mile from Cobh and nine miles from Cork city.

Accommodation at the house, which dates from around 1820, includes a pantry, old kitchen, dining room, kitchen, lounge, bathroom, toilet and four bedrooms. Although a protected structure, the selling agents highlight that this property does have development potential due to its location within the Cobh Development Plan Area.

Meanwhile, move 15 miles or so upriver along the Lee from the harbour, to the Lee Road, and the new-build contemporary home at Hollymount, put up for sale last October with a €1.6m AMV is now re-launched at €1.4m, and needs not a penny more spent on it.

The box-shaped home, with 3,600 sq ft of living space on an elevated site overlooking the river, the amenity Lee Fields and acres of greenery, has an all-singing, all-dancing modern specification, flooded with light in every room thanks to its aspect, design and glazing.

It has a high BER rating, designed in, and the 0.4 acre grounds are extensively landscaped with a range of patios and terraces, all with views.

Selling agent is Dan Howard of Dooley and Howard auctioneers, who had offers around the €1.4 m level at Christmas, but they were conditional offers, on the sale of other property.

This one-off, four-bed Hollymount new-build is fully finished inside, with flooring, tiling, kitchen and appliances all in situ.