TRADING UP
€415,000
Sq m: 195 (2,100 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4/5
BER rating: D2
Broadband: Yes
With 2,100 sq ft to play around with, there’s no shortage of rooms for a family to colonise at 2, Willowmere, a detached 1970s family home off Coach Hill in Cork’s Rochestown.
With views over Mahon estuary to the front, especially from its upper level, and a south-facing back garden, No 2 has both a good aspect and setting, and has the option of a fifth bedroom with adjoining en suite bathroom at ground level, making it very adaptable for a range of occupants, without devouring living space.
As its stands, it also has a main 20’ by 13’ living room, a smaller family room, there’s a dining room off the ash-fitted kitchen, sun room with rear garden access, plus utility.
There’s also a ground floor guest WC, that en suite by the optional bed five, or playroom, and overhead the master bedroom is en suite with a shower; the family bathroom also has a shower, and two of the other three bedrooms have built-ins.
Agent Timothy Sullivan seeks offers around €415,000 for No 2,which has oil central heating and further extension scope, with elevated, south-facing and gently sloping lawn, with mature tree boundary to the very back of the site.
VERDICT: Imagine the sense of release trading up to this sort of space from a standard 1,200 sq ft home.
€480,000
Sq m: 186 (2,000 sq ft) plus attic
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: C3
Broadband: Yes
For the family trading-up, No 11, Dunville Crescent is an adaptable buy — right now, it’s a spacious four-bed, but previously the owners kept it as a three-bed with a first floor drawing room, whilst it’s also got 350 sq ft of useful attic space. Relaunched to the market after a price drop to €480,000 with Johnny O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, No 1 is an extended detached family home, near the end of the south city ring road off the Waterfall Road. The new flyover’s hoving into view from its setting and motorists at the Dunnes roundabout can see the back of No 11, as its cedar-clad two storey extension is a bit of an eye-catcher. As a result of this c11-year-old add-on, there’s around 2,000 sq ft in the house’s two lower floors, plus that extra 350 sq ft up top.
Overall condition is good, the house is bright thanks to all the extra glazing, and the gardens have been professionally landscaped as well. BER rating at C2 is more than respectable for the vintage, while windows are a mix of cedar, and pvc double glazing. There’s a front-to-back kitchen/dining room to the left, with three other reception rooms plus a sun-room with tiled floor and louvred shutters on the far gable. Upstairs, the main, bedroom has windows on three sides and is reached via a walk-though dressing room with en suite alongside.
VERDICT: Good home, easily reached, by a green.
€275,000
Sq m: 139 (1,500 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: G
Broadband: Yes
Up beyond the monastery and Rochestown is this square-shaped, four-bed detached bungalow, The Glen, with unusual roof profiles, and a solid presence on its rural site.
New to market with agent Michael O’Donoghue of REA O’Donoghue Clarke, it has been well-kept, he says, but is now likely to need some upgrades — the teak single-glazed picture windows probably helped earn it a lowly G BER rating.
This can readily be addressed by things like new windows, extra insulation, and perhaps a stove in lieu of one or both of the open fireplaces — all jobs that can be done as and when extra budgets allow. And, already, this bungalow on a one-third of an acre site has a part-floored attic of 600 sq ft, which give huge scope for future expansion/extension, so it’s a house that can grow further with a family.
Rooms include a 20’ by 13, living room with parquet floor and marble fireplace on a raised hearth, and with double doors to the back garden, then there’s a lounge, kitchen with oak floor and utility.
In addition, there are four bedrooms, or three plus study, and main family bathroom.
VERDICT: Good as it stands, but extra spending will add to its scope and comforts/energy efficiency.
€390,000
Sq m: 148 (1,600 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 3
BER rating: D1
Broadband: Yes
River Suir views peeping through to the back, with a long, private approach avenue to the front, plus a bright three-bed bungalow in the middle — yes, indeed, Waterford’s Green Gables is a find for a family on the move along the salubrious Newtown Road.
Set across the road from Newtown School’s sports grounds, the single-storey home is one of a cluster of good detached homes between road and river, all separated out by mature trees and boundaries.
Green Gables carries €390,000 AMV with agents REA O’Shea O’Toole, who say the area’s good, within a walk of all amenities and the city centre, with a good balance of site (with garage, patios etc) and internal areas.
Rooms include interlinked 15’ by 14’ sitting-room with dining-room off via double doors, there’s a family-room, modernised kitchen with tiled floor and Shaker-style units and breakfast area, plus utility, guest cloakroom and main family bathroom with bath and shower.
There are three bedrooms, all with built-ins, with a dressing-room and en suite bathroom for the master bed.
A detached garage is visually linked to the main portion of house via an arch, and there’s extension potential here, to the rear.
VERDICT: Lovely settled site.
€115,000
Sq m: 121 (1,295 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
BER rating: D2
Broadband: Yes
This asking price on a four-bed detached Douglas, Cork home has seen the selling agents Sherry FitzGerald inundated with calls. That’s the second time 9 Amberley Way has been inundated — the first was by floods, a couple of years ago during one of the super-cold winters.
No 9 got flooded from the top down thanks to burst pipes in the attic, and suffered pretty devastating consequences.
Now, with the waters long receded but the damage still needing redress, it’s come up for sale, is creating a stir of interest but it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Ann O’Mahony of Sherry FitzGerald reckons she’ll have 50 people through the doors by this weekend (perhaps like Noah she should march them Ark-like, two-by-two through the rooms?) and it’s gone over the asking price already.
She’s advised those coming along to bring a builder or an engineer, and it’s likely to need tens of thousands of euro now to reinstate to a good standard.
Depending on finishes, or skill levels, buyers could expect to spend €50,000 to €80,000, and be home and dry.
VERDICT: A good example of these four-bed timber-frame house types could be expected to sell for €200,000/€210,000 and the same Sherry FitzGerald agents recently sold an extended quality Amberley house for close to its €270,000 after a Christmas market launch.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
