Trading up: Mount Oval, Rochestown, €475,000

The name, Oval Top House, makes it sound like a table... but, as anyone who knows his or her Rochestown in Cork might suspect, this is the real sweet suite of options to dine out on.

Size: 225sq m (2,500sq ft) 

Bathrooms: 2 

Bedrooms: 4 

BER: F

Just a week or so on the market, and this tired, c 1970s house at the top of Clarkes Hill in Mount Oval has been making a bit of meal for itself, with inquiries starting to come in immediately from a smorgasbord of small builders, and big-home dreamers alike.

Estate agent Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing is selling the detached 2,500 sq ft home on a valuable half acre site with dual road frontage, to Clarkes Hill and the Garryduff Road.

Even though it’s at a road junction with traffic lights and traffic volumes at peak times, it’s still a cracking good bit of ground, in good housing company and with some very large one-offs and niche schemes such as Eyrecourt on its doorstep.

It’s guided at €475,000, and this is one that could go in any direction in bidding, and may be upgraded, extended, knocked down or doubled up, subject to planning permission and access issues.

A single, Eyrecourt-type home would be most comfortable set on this mature half acre, and a pair could snuggle up a bit and still have space to breathe.

Agent Mr Olden says the sale is “an opportunity to develop a wonderful family home, or equally it’s a development prospect with obvious potential.”

VERDICT: Existing house and site is just a starting point.