Starter Homes

MODEL FARM ROAD, CORK €149,000

Sq m: 66 (720 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 2

BER rating: E2

Broadband:Yes

A great location underpins the value of No 6, The Belfry, a spotless two-bed apartment in a scheme of 12 units in all on the city end of Cork’s Model Farm Road.

The 720 sq ft renovated apartment is near all services, schools, colleges and major hospitals, notes selling agent John Barry, who has just joined the offices of Frank V Murphy & Co from another city firm.

There’s a sitting/dining room 18’ by 14’, a kitchenette, two bedrooms and shower room, and electric storage heating.

VERDICT: Great, handy setting, by Dennehy’s Cross, but you’ll have service charges (a reasonable enough €1,000 a year) to pay.

BISHOPSTOWN, CORK €190,000

Sq m: 102 (1,100 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 3

BER rating: B3

Bathrooms: 3

There’s a fresh, contemporary look to the townhouses at Bridgefield Grove, in Cork’s Curraheen beyond Bishopstown, where mid-terraced No 18 is for sale for €190k via Jeremy Murphy Associates. The two-storey house has bright glazing sections as a feature.

VERDICT: An easy-keep home, with enclosed back garden, on the edge of Bishopstown under Nama’s ‘80/20’ purchase scheme.

WOODSTOWN, WATERFORD €170,000

Sq. m:100 (1,100 sq ft)

Bedrooms:4

BER rating: F

Bedrooms: 1

A price drop from last summer’s hope of €250,000, to now rest at €170,000, will bring fresh eyes, and ideas, to this Ballyglan, Woodstown, Co Waterford bungalow home.

On a great elevated 0.6 acre site, it manages to squeeze in four bedrooms into its c 1,100 sq ft space, but needs some modernising, say agents Sherry FitzGerald John Rohan.

VERDICT: Not too many homes built here so close to the sea, so good future value to be had.