Starter home:  Donnybrook, Cork €225,000

Tommy Barker on a Douglas home with three-floors of accommodation.

Sq m 110 (1,200 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 3

Bathrooms: 2

BER: B3

THERE’S a decent 1,200 sq ft of living space at 5 Chatsworth, off Cork’s Donnybrook Hill, thanks to its three floors of accommodation. But, what with an expanding family of three children, two dogs and two guinea pigs, the owners have clearly outgrown it.

They’ve now upped sticks and moved to pastures new at Blackrock, and the house and easy keep back yard have been cleared out for viewings.

It’s listed with estate agent John Barry of Frank V Murphy & Co, who guides the three-bedroomed No 5 Chatsworth at €225,000: Mr Barry says it’s ideal for first time buyers.

That would have been the starter-home profile of its current owners, who bought in 2005 and found it filling up, willy-nilly, with children and family pets over a decade of convenient living as the location is close to Douglas village, with lots of services, shops, south link road access, and primary schools and more.

Chatsworth is a small gated development, and No 5 is mid-terraced, with ground floor L-shaped 18’ by 15’ living room tee-ing into a smaller kitchen, which faces the front of the house.

There’s access via sliding patio doors from the living/dining area to a rear, west-facing patio and 22’ deep garden, which is fully walled in and has lots of greenery up its side and back wall to soften the look.

Back inside, there are two first floor bedrooms one with balcony to the front, plus main/family bathroom, and the top dormer floor has an attractive master bedroom, plus en suite shower room.

Overall condition is excellent, and the B3 BER is excellent for a 10-year-old home.

VERDICT: A three-storey starter for the upwardly mobile.