Trading Up
There’s been some fine new-builds, rebuilds and heavily upgraded homes gone in and around the Hettyfield and Well Road areas Cork city where, thanks to market mark-down, houses are relatively affordable again.
Boom-time levels homes here made €1m to €2m, and some of the recent new arrivals might still be up in that rarified price echelon after major extra investment.
Back on the market after its own make-over is Avonmore, a four-bed detached Hettyfield house of over 1,400 sq ft, on a site that previously ceded some of its grounds to a contemporary new-build.
Avonmore now carries a guide price of €395,000 with Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing, and that’s already €80,000 less than when it was last offered in a rawer state in 2009, at €475,000, via a different agent.
Since then, it has had new windows fitted, has an oil Aga installed in the kitchen, and it has all been redecorated, with spending outside too in the gardens and front drive. It’s already under very active viewing.
It has a main reception, dining area off the kitchen, utility and guest loo, attached garage, and four bedrooms, two singles and two doubles.
VERDICT: Work needed three years ago has now been done, and it’s even €80,000 cheaper after that spend.
Quite different from all of its neighbours is this Aylsbury Court, Ballincollig family home, No 1 in the cul de sac estate.
It was cherry-picked and altered by its first purchaser, German businessman Willie Stockhaus of nearby company Westphalia, and has one of the more unusual-shaped sites, with both secure front and side/rear access.
Once inside the private grounds, its corner site allows several lawns, lots of parking space, and a car-port and storage building, as well as the main 2,000 sq ft home. There’s also walled boundaries, and a built-in BBQ.
No 1 is new to market with Joe McCarthy and Robert O’Keeffe, of Irish and European, who price it at €350,000, and who say it’s a very good trading-up option for Cork families on the western suburbs, as well as being accessible to the bypass road, and convenient for the many jobs in Ballincollig’s new town centre, and for EMC.
Internally, No 1 has a great 27’ by 12’ living room with a stone chimneypiece, there’s a side sun-room/dining room off the kitchen, with quality wood-sheeted ceiling, there’s a utility and a ground-floor guest bedroom, and a bathroom with bidet, plus a sauna room.
Overhead are three bedrooms, with a 27’ by 16’ master bedroom, en suite with bath and bidet, and main family bathroom, with shower and bidet.
VERDICT: A solid home with presence, on a useful corner site.
There are a few stand-out features of Mirmahon — including a west-facing rear conservatory addition. This early 1960s three-bed semi d at 17 Ardfallen Road is tucked in off the beaten track by the back entrance to the Methodist Ardfallen Centre, between the main Douglas and Ballinlough Roads.
Also nearby, just to the west, are the playing fields of the old Douglas Nurseries park, swimming pool and playground, with boys’ and girls’ national schools within a few minutes, as are second level schools. Selling agent for Mirmahon is Joe Gavin of James G Coughlan Associates, who says there’s a lovely feel to this private-set home. It’s got a detached garage alongside, though a wall separates the drive to it from the front garden and door, so drivers will be more likely to come in the back door.
It’s got two reception rooms, the front one being 14’ by 13,’ a ground-floor guest WC plus a sun roof off the dining room. High hedges give great privacy to the back garden a step or two below the sun room. Upstairs, there are three bedrooms plus bathroom with shower.
VERDICT: Good location, good aspect, good condition and good for traders-in.
There has been loads of work and upgrades done to 37 Tara Lawn, a four-bed semi-d on a wedge-shaped site off the Glasheen Road in Cork’s western suburbs, near colleges and schools.
It’s got lots of space and rooms at ground level in particular, having been extended to the side and rear. So, now it manages to fit in two reception rooms, a kitchen/dining room, conservatory, ground floor bedroom by a guest WC, plus there’s a work-room/home office.
Upstairs, the layout is more traditional for the type, with three bedrooms and a main bathroom, with bath and separate shower.
Work done includes side/back extensions, upgraded floors and joinery, and even the stair spindles have been replaced while the front room has a raised, wall-mounted electric fire as a counterpoint to the gas central heating.
No 37 Tara Lawn is unusual in that it has no lawn at all, no grass to cut. The front is tarmac for car parking, with graveled side section inside its hedge, and behind there’s more paving, gravel and decking, with a sheltered outdoor seating space by the side extension.
VERDICT: A clean buy in a popular estate within a walk of the city centre.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
