Starter home: Ballinascarthy, West Cork €90,000

Charming two-bed is just the ticket for first-timers, writes Trish Dromey.

Size: 83 sq m ( 900 sq ft)

Bedrooms:2

Bathrooms:1

BER: E1

Best Feature: A sleeper

Best know for its association with Ford Motors, the village of Ballinascarthy was once a stop on the Great Southern Railway line in West Cork.

The line has long gone, but Railway Cottage remains, a two-bed property in the centre of the village quite close to the statue of the Model T Ford, erected as a memorial to Ford Motors founder Henry Ford, whose family emigrated from Ballinascarthy.

For the last 15 years, Railway Cottage has been a holiday home for a UK owner. Now it’s on the market with Hodnett Forde auctioneers who are seeking offers of €90,000.

Although in need of modernisation and redecoration, it has charm and is affordably priced says auctioneer Ernest Forde, who has shown it to a number of first-time buyers from Clonakilty.

Offering 900 sq ft of space, the cottage has a tiled kitchen dining room with some basic kitchen units and a timber floored living room with a raised redbrick fireplace and an exposed stone wall.

The bathroom is on the ground floor and a ladder stairs leads to the upper floor which has two bedrooms.

Fitted with double glazed PVC windows and oil-fired central heating, the cottage has an E1 energy rating. Set on a site of a third of an acre, it has a small garden area at the front and a large one at the rear.

The village of Ballinascarthy is located five miles from Clonakilty and six from Bandon.

VERDICT: Has potential to be pretty