Swift interest shown for 4-bed home

This Carrigaline house in south Cork is selling itself, hears Tommy Barker

ESTATE agents with decent houses to sell in Cork are reporting a good surge of early 2012 property viewings. And with more banks now eventually lending and stressing they are open to new mortgages, they expect the level of interest being shown to be translated into extra completed sales by late summer/autumn. At the risk of overstating the anticipated increased activity, some are saying that there won’t be enough new supply of attractive trading up houses to meet the need being shown.

The selling agent of 5 Ferndale, on the Cork side of Carrigaline in south Cork, has a prime example of a good mover: Dan Howard of Dooley & Howard auctioneers reports 20 viewings in the first ten days that this immaculate, McInerney-built four-bed semi-d has been on the market, many being first-time buyers who have been busy saving for the past three or four years.

Most are couples, with Cork harbour pharma or civil service jobs, and that level of combined income puts this 1,450 sq ft house within FTB’s buying grasp: Mr Howard is guiding €249,000, and this week it was already in the mid €230,000s in early offers. He says he doesn’t expect it to be around for long, such is the swift reaction to it.

Extended into the side for a third reception room, described as a playroom and long, at 16’ by 8’ wide, it has two other very good interlinked reception rooms, front and back, and one has a powerful 7kw solid fuel stove for real heating oomph. The house has had its walls pumped for extra insulation, the attic has been re-insulated, and the gardens (pictured here last summer) are immaculate, as is the four-bed, three bathroom home.

It has a guest WC, master bed en suite, and a main family bathroom

VERDICT: At the risk of doing himself out of a fee, the auctioneer confidently says this house “is selling itself”.