Trading up: Crosshaven, Cork Harbour, €295,000

If you love boats, dinghies and the sea, No 2 Dolphin Terrace will be right up your street: directly across the road from this early 1990s semi-d is the dinghy park of the Royal Cork Yacht Club.

Size: 101 sq m (1,096sq ft) 

Bathrooms: 2 

Bedrooms: 3 

BER: F

And, if you can’t stand the sound of mast halyards snapping in the wind, best stay away, as this house now completely embraces its sailing fraternity setting on the Cork side of Crosshaven, by the end of the hugely popular Carrigaline-Crosshaven public walkway.

No 2 is a few weeks on the market and is already under heavy viewings, remarks selling agent Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing, who guides this do-er up at €295,000.

Coincidentally, that’s about the price guide that new, A-rate three-bed semis launched at this week in Carrigaline’s brand new Janeville development (see House of the Week), but this is for a different buyer, perhaps, as it needs work and further spending.

Yet, despite being in need of TLc and bigger budget, “it has great potential as a family home,” says its selling agent, who is getting inquiries from FTBs, trader-down, and relocaters all in the mix.

It has a bay window in the front living room, plus cast iron fireplace, separate dining room, and simple kitchen plus three first floor bedrooms. Add in off-street parking (space for a dinghy trailer?), tiered rear garden, pvc double glazing and central heating in place, and 2 Dolphin Terrace is a manageable period home modernisation proposition for a wide cross section with a sense of porpoise.

VERDICT: A keeper, not a flipper