Trading Up
Sq m: 83 (900 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 3
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
Don’t be fooled by the modest look of this admittedly modest-sized house — its gardens and Cork harbour views more than make up for its size, and most of its c 900 sq ft of space is in smart decorative order in any case.
For sale with Helen Kearney of CCM Property Services in east Cork, this Rathcoursey bungalow home is located a few miles around the fringes of Cork’s inner harbour from Midleton. Above the road, and with those water views thanks to its elevation, it is on woodland gardens of three-quarters of an acre, enhanced by seasonal colour bursts of azaleas, rhododendron and lots and lots of planting.
The house itself (called Hillcrest) is in the Roh-fab/cast-concrete style, with several deep floor to ceiling feature windows, and has a simple layout, with 23’ by 11’ living room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom.
The sheer site size should allow for extension (planing for one was granted, but lapsed) and any wished for upgrades, or a new owner may just want to get used to the place, and get out in the gardens.
VERDICT: It takes years and years to get gardens as settled and serene as this. The Rathcoursey setting feels off the beaten track, but is one of Cork harbour’s hidden treasures. Up the harbour!
Sq m: 172 (1,850 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 5
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
Go see Villa Maria — the selling agents Savills say they can’t impress enough what scope there is at this detached Cork suburban home.
Built in the 1970s, and reflecting that era in its decor (lots of Colombian/piranha pine sheeted ceilings), it really is a package with heaps more potential. It can be taken bang up to date on a manageable budget.
The site size of this Dundanion Road home by Beaumont Drive is a quarter of an acre, and that’s unusual enough in a settled suburb like this. As it stands, this is a 1,850 sq ft home, with further space up at attic level currently used for storage, but crying out to be opened up, currently with pull-down stairs access.
The garden has good bones and mature trees and shrubs, and the house is eminently extendable, either before moving in (subject to planning) or a few years down the road. There’s also a detached garage.
And, the floor plan inside is good: there’s a front L-shaped 19’ by 16’ living room, rear kitchen/diner, a very decent 18’ by 17’ lounge to the right of the hall, with a playroom or optional sixth bedroom, by a bathroom.
Overhead are five bedrooms, four with built-ins, and the master is effectively en suite, with an adjoining shower room.
VERDICT: Needs updating, but worth any extra spend.
Sq m: 242 (2,600 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
It feels a world away from the city, but this Waterford home with stables, great gardens and a private acre is on the edge of town. And, while a modern home, it has a feel of an older, gentler place — the selling agents Sherry FitzGerald John Rohan even point up its many open fireplaces as a plus. Which they are: it’s that type of lived in home in very good order inside and out.
This Clonlara, Kiloterran home’s gardens are beyond private electric gates, and have swathes of colourful planting, just coming into season too, along with trees and shrubs. Manicured does, indeed, fit the bill for this €375,000-priced country-lite property, complete with large garage and two stables.
There’s a large hall, three main reception rooms with fireplaces, a dining room, and a kitchen/diner with oak units. There’s more: a home office, utility and ground floor shower room.
Upstairs in this brick-finished two-storey home with quite symmetrical side wings are four bedrooms, with built-ins, and the master is en suite with a patio door to a balcony, and there’s a main family bathroom with large landing.
VERDICT: Clonlara’s a bit of a cracker, just as a stand-alone home, but the acre site and garden’s quality make it a banker. Flower lovers will fall for it.
Sq m:135 (1,450 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
Sales of Ballincurrig, Douglas houses tick over nicely, says Tim Sullivan who has a new market entrant, Knockadoon, to sell there at the moment.
There have been two or three sales in the Douglas park this year, he says, and he’s had ‘loads of viewings and offers brewing’ on the four bed semi.
And Knockadoon has had all the basics done, he says, and by basics he means underpinning, driveway and windows, and says the house is in good, structural condition after its remedial works.
The interior is spick and span but a little dated, so there will be renovation work but mostly decorative for new buyers.
At €320,000, the house isn’t the cheapest in the park, but this side of Ballincurrig has the best gardens, he says. Midway between Douglas Village and the city centre, this is a classic, mid range buy and resale is almost guaranteed, so no market risk in this part of Douglas.
The house has a sitting and dining room of 13’ by 12’, a kitchen of 12’ by 12’ and four bedrooms and bathroom on the upper floor.
VERDICT: The garden is plenty big for an extension, which could go two-storey and would bring this solid semi bang up to date. Plus, there’s a detached garage included.
Sq m: 158 (1,700 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
There’s lots on offer at the self-proclaimed beautiful place, Áit Álainn, near Rossmore in West Cork.
The dormer home is on a three-quarter acre site as it stands, but there’s the option of a further five acre field which can be negotiated with a neighbouring farmer, says auctioneer Henry O’Leary. He doesn’t give a guide for the extra five acres, but the 1,700 sq ft dormer home right now is priced at €199,000.
It has two of its four bedrooms en suite (they’re upstairs) with a main bathroom at ground level servicing two more, along with a 15’ by 11’ front living room, a kitchen/diner behind, with granite-topped Shaker wood units linking into a gable-set sun room for a visual run of space.
The 0.75 acre site is level, with stone entrance pillars and double, farm-style gates, with a shed and polytunnel frame currently in situ, and appealing to a buying cohort who might want to grow their own produce.
Location is at Kildee, inland and north west of Clon town, in good farming territory.
VERDICT: At €199k this house is within a lot of prospective buyers’ reach, in a gentle country setting half an hour or less from the West Cork coastline and about an hour from the city.
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