Starter home: Fenells Bay, Cork harbour, €60,000

Tommy Barker says imagination is the key when it comes to doing something magical with this derelict chalet/house near Crosshaven.

Size: Half acre

Bedrooms: You decide

Bathrooms: Ditto

BER: N/A

Best Feature: Great scope

There’s oceans of demand for Fennells Bay, that south Co Cork coastal spot just out around the mouth of Cork harbour, looking towards Roches Point and the wide Atlantic beyond.

And, now, hot on the heels of a swiftly sewn-up house sale there comes a site with agents Jeremy Murphy Associates, and the chance to build an affordable - or an extraordinary - home. It will all come down to bidding: bí ullamh.

Estate agent Fiona Waldron of Jeremy Murphy’s offices has had an immediate response to her listing of Tampa, a derelict chalet/house on a good one-third acre site at coastal Ballinluska/Fennells Bay, a mile or so from Crosshaven. As there’s still a roof on the empty home, a planning door is at least ajar for a dramatic renewal, or even house replacement. Something lovely could come of it.

Ms Waldron guides Tampa - “a derelict ruin” at €60,000, but can surely expect it to go above that sum. Her vendors can take confidence from the most recent sale in Fennells Bay. Just a month before Christmas, we covered the arrival of a 1,200 sq ft home here, older style but with charm, seeking €450,000 via agent TJ Cronin of Irish & European. That was in late November, and already he has signed contracts, not bad going, given the holiday lull in between.

Mr Cronin says his buyer was relocating from outside the region, and secured the property after bidding. That house’s €450k guide was considered strong too, but it sold well, for a sum between the guide and €400,000.

VERDICT: Bidding could drive this Tampa stir crazy.