Trading up
Sq m: 120 (1,300 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 1
BER Rating : E2
There’s great scope with the four-bed detached family home Lislee, in the heart of Cork’s Bishopstown suburb.
Set near the Dunnes Stores Roundabout and Hawkes Road, as well as schools, shopping centres and the CUH, it’s going to prove to be a bit of a box-ticker for home hunters seeking to trade up in the western suburbs.Tick. It’s got a great location. Tick. Its back garden faces south. Tick. It’s solid, and detached. And, tick, it’s not badly priced for all of these attributes, with offers sought around €315,000 by Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing.
Lislee is next door to a distinctively-upgraded similar era home with cedar-clad extensions (it’s a dentist’s surgery) and whoever swoops on this residential offer will in all likelihood also seek to extend further. It’s not overly large, despite its exterior presence and bay window, and none of the rooms are particularly large — so bring on the open-plan extension drawings.
As it stands, it has two reception rooms, kitchen, utility, garage and four bedrooms, plus family bathroom, and it’s extendable to the side and to the back, where there’s going to be good sun and brightness to capture.
Did we mention it’s a box-ticker? Great scope for updating at Lislee.
Sq m: 105 (1,125 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3
BER Rating: B3
Not too many older-era holiday homes manage to hit a B level BER energy rating, so it’s probably due to the fact that this Castlegregory home was upgraded six years ago that helped it on its way to a decent B3 report.
The detached four-bed, done in country cottage style is one of nine in a cluster at Cloghanesheskeen, near Castlegregory between Tralee and Dingle.
Right to hand are the Maharees, and miles of beaches, with spots very much favoured by surfers
Agents Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean say the development of nine houses, on good sites around two sides of a field off the main road, is well maintained and No 1’s on a site of a quarter of an acre, well kept, with ‘native’ gunnera plants.
It has a living room that’s traditional in style with open fire and high ceilings, a galley kitchen, sun room, study, plus four bedrooms with two en suites, along with a storage shed which is plumbed.
The house was updated in 2007, with new windows, heating and plumbing with re-tiled bathrooms.
Being part of a small scheme brings security, and the €900 service charges means you don’t have to race to the lawn-mower on arrival.
Sq m: 175 (1,900 sq ft)
Bedrooms:4
Bathrooms: 2
BER Rating: C2
Glorious countryside and the Comeragh uplands are to hand around this Coum Bridge home — and its own grounds aren’t half bad either.
Very much a country-feel spot, this stone-faced detached four-bed home in on the Comeragh Drive, near the Monavullagh and Comeragh mountains and the Waterford-Tipperary border, north of Dungarvan.
Selling agent Eamonn Spratt of the recently re-branded Real Estate Alliance Spratt guides this handsome home at €249,000, and he says its acre of grounds set it apart.
There’s an aviary, masses of decking to the front for a prairie-home type look, sun terrace and wee garden house for view taking, paved parking and feature arch to the rear garden — lots of input already visible outside here.
Internally, the house is in very good condition, says Mr Spratt, and it keeps faith with its rural setting with use of lots of timber, stone fireplace, etc.
Rooms include hall, living room with solid fuel stove in a stone and brick chimney piece, kitchen/diner, dining/family room, utility and rear hallway. Upstairs is a main family bathrooms, and four beds, with one en suite.
Living in the midst of the sort of scenery people drive to see, and hill walking’s almost on your doorstep.
Sq m: 232 (2,500 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 6
Bathrooms: 4
BER Rating: D2
Effort, rather than sizeable sums of money, will help turn around the look of Ardville, a period-style red-brick on Cork’s Old Blackrock Road junction with the main Blackrock Road.
The semi-detached house was extended to the back, over three levels, a decade or so ago and looks for all the world like it was laid out as three self-contained units.
Not so, says Ardville’s selling agent Shane Finn of DNG Michael Creedon, who says it’s primarily a family home, with six bedrooms (three per floor, plus bathroom on each upper level), on a large corner site.
It’s got a bit of profile visibility, but is looking a bit scuffed, and unfinished externally in the grounds, but nothing a bit of landscaping won’t immediately improve, he admits, while planting of taller trees around the perimeter will immediately soften its look.
In its favour is the floor area, some 2,500 sq ft, and a price tag of €325,000, which should mean many aspiring Blackrock/city area buyers will have money left over for a bit of spit and polish.
Roll up the sleeves for this good-sized home, on a neglected site with clear potential for improvements. And, the city centre’s just a ten minute walk away.
Sq m: 270 (3,000 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 5
BER rating: B3
In anyone’s book, 2,000 sq ft is a decent amount of space for a house, but here at this modern build at Lisnacunna, Ballinascarthy, in West Cork, that’s only the measurement of the lofted garage. The house is half as big again, about 3,000 sq ft. Phew.
This new-to-market five-bed home is guided at €385,000 by agent Noel O’Donovan of Hodnett Forde in nearby Clonakilty, who says not only is it big, it’s extremely well finished, with a decent B3 BER to make heating such a size family home a manageable matter.
Tall (there’s attic level rooms) and set behind wide splayed stone pillars on trimmed lawns, it’s set on a countryside site, with a stream boundary and the garage is handily close, and smartly finished. The house has two large reception rooms, country kitchen with Aga, plus high-ceilinged conservatory, optional fifth bedroom at ground floor, store, utility, etc.
Upstairs are two baths, one in the main bathroom, the other in the master bedroom’s en suite, and two further bedrooms also have en suite rooms.
Finishes include quality carpets, solid wood floors and farmhouse-style floor tiles.
Quality country home, ten minutes from Bandon and Clon, and a 40-minute city commute.
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