Auctioneer goes solo on property front

NEWLY out on his own as an estate agent, but with 15 years national agency experience behind him, is Bandon and Cork city auctioneer Mark Kelly — whose early sales listing is a place particularly close to his heart. It is his former family home and childhood stomping ground.

He is overseeing a severe price cut on Summerhill, a pristine period 2,700 sq ft house owned by his parents for almost 30 years.

Hoteliers Tom and Nora Kelly of the Kingsley Hotel fame, as well as other hotel interests, are his folks, and they’ve built a new, modern home close to Summerhill itself for their future retirement.

Summerhill was first offered for sale, on half an acre, as the market came down from its peak in 2007, and the price was pitched at €750,000.

Later on, this was reduced to €625,000, and at each level offers were made shy of the asking, and rejected at the time.

Those offers would now be grabbed with open arms, but today’s 2010 buyers have an even better chance now to buy a genuine period bargain, as Mark Kelly (trading as propertyonline.ie, and due to open physical offices shortly) has reduced the asking price on Summerhill to €495,000, and is open to offers around his sum. Joint agent is Brendan Bowe.

“It really is a bargain at this sort of level. It has always been well kept and lots of work has been done to it to keep it a warm, working family home within a short walk of Bandon town and the bridge,” says Kelly, who previously worked with agencies like Lisney, Savills, and CBRE, as well as with Chessers in Limerick.

Imposing enough, but not intimidating, Summerhill has very good formal reception rooms (with parquet floors) and complete with excellent fireplaces; the entrance hallway has terazzo flooring, and there’s a very good family area by the kitchen/dining room.

All four of the bedrooms are well-sized, and the master bedroom has an en suite as well a dressing/wardrobe area.

Despite being almost 200 years old, Summerhill has had regular investment in insulation/dry-lining, damp proofing, extensions and upgrades.

Accommodation includes dining room, a lofty-ceilinged drawing room, a family room, a kitchen/dining room with large pitch pine ceiling beams, utility, inner hall and guest WC.

Specifications and creature comforts at this one-off with noble roots (at one stage deer grazed in its original, many acres of grounds) are fully up to modern expectations, with a landscaped west-facing patio.