Starter homes: Rochestown, Cork €350,000

Size: Sq m 140 (1,500 sq ft)

The gardens of 44 Rochestown Rise were being laid out by the house’s owners/buyers, just as it was being built 34 years ago.But, “you wouldn’t get away with gardening on what was a building site, now, what with health and safety legislation,” notes estate agent Mark Gosling, of new Cork city agency Behan Irwin Gosling (BIG), linking with colleagues Sonia Irwin and Cearbhall Behan.

BIG are a new presence on the South Mall, with 40 years experience among the three directors, and they’ve high hopes — and hops — of a quick sale on No 44 as a quality residential offering. Why hops? Well, the arrival of spring means that frogs have just spawned in one of the garden ponds this week — so hop to it. The 1,500 sq ft detached home, called Enfield, has been in the same family’s ownership all its life, and they’ve upgraded as the family grew up.

So, now, there’s a good modern bathroom, a redone oak kitchen with granite worktop, a master bedroom en suite, and up to three ground floor reception rooms, or one by a guest bathroom can be used as fifth bedroom.

Thanks to planting from day one, the tiered gardens (with a south west aspect at the back) are mature, with lots of magnolia and good privacy thanks to well-established boundaries.

A recently-fitted stove/enclosed fireplace as well as gas central heating and double glazing helps the house get a D1 BER.

VERDICT: Location is good, by a bus stop and Douglas village, and updating work has already been done.