A mature, four-bedroom bungalow in peaceful Douglas Lawn enclave

JUST as the political/economic cliche of our times is “we are where we are,” the property sale equivalent is “we work with what we have.”

The days of blithely knocking houses, and starting on good sites from scratch, have been rolled back in the past two, humbling years. Anyone looking at an older house in a strong location is as likely to say “what can we work with here?”

So it is with Chiplee, a modest-seeming bungalow in Douglas Lawn, close to the iconic Douglas Fingerpost. There’s been one or two knock-downs and rebuilds at Douglas Lawn, and the builders are finishing one new build here, but, other than that, this pretty much is an enclave of quietly-set homes, in a block, with two access points, one off Church Road and the other off Douglas Street, just east of the village. Pretty much everything in Douglas’s broader community is within an easy walk, including two shopping centres, library, churches, schools, cinema (though there are plans to replace the cinema with a German discount store), bars and restaurants.

New to the 2011 market is Chiplee, a west-facing bungalow with more than 1,300 sq ft at ground level, and with a further 320 sq ft up in the attic, with a couple of rooms here with Veluxes and there’s an adjacent, first-floor shower room.

Estate agent Ann O’Mahony, of Sherry FitzGerald, prices the detached Chiplee at €345,000, and says while a new owner might want to modernise aspects, it has much going for it. It has four bedrooms, off to the right, a kitchen, plus two reception rooms to the left, with the rear living room backing into a conservatory with polycarbonate roof, main bathroom and gas central heating.

The site is mature (large trees have recently been cut back), but isn’t very large, with a shallow back garden, and there’s off-street parking. Good basics, and a super-handy setting, will draw viewers.