Starter homes: Dillons Cross, Cork €100,000

Size: 83 sq m (900 sq ft)

An honest house — that’s No 22 Stream Hill, an early 1900s house in a super-handy setting off Cork city’s Gardiner’s Hill and Dillons Cross.

It’s new to market this month with new estate agency Behan Irwin Gosling, where auctioneer Mark Gosling puts a €100,000 price guide on the three-bed in good order, but with loads of extra scope too for a new generation of occupants.

The hill’s a quiet spot, with one-way traffic, and it’s near St Patrick’s NS, as well as Brian Dillons GAA club, a credit union and lots of services right at Dillons Cross itself, And, the city centre’s a 10 or 15 minute walk away, too.

A nice feature is the west facing back garden, very private and sheltered and sun-trap on a fine evening.

No 22 is on the old fashioned side right now and needs some updating, says Mr Gosling, but he adds there’s already gas central heating, alarm, cable TV and part double-glazed windows, so everything else can be done at a pace, and on a budget if needs be. Handily, it has parking in front for a car (and could take a second parking spot if the garden were sacrificed) and has a small entry porch, hall, two reception rooms with pine floors, a kitchenette, shower room, guest WC, and three bedrooms.

The secure back garden faces west, with a patio and mature boundaries, with distant hill views over the back hedging.

VERDICT: A neat city starter.