Starter home: Youghal, Co Cork €175,000

Trish Dromey hears No 4 Pilmore Cottages is attracting big interest. 

Sq m 125 sq m (1,350 sq ft) 

Bedrooms: 4 

Bathrooms: 1 BER: C3

Although it was built as a holiday home, No 4 Pilmore Cottages in Youghal is, with its sea views, spacious accommodation and four bedrooms, now attracting first-time buyer interest.

So say selling agents Colbert & Co who, within hours of advertising the property online, secured a bid of €165,000, just €10,000 shy of the asking price, from the first viewer.

“As a four bed detached property with sea views, it offers very good value at this price,’’ says auctioneer James Colbert adding that much of the interest so far has come from first-time buyers.

He says that several of the houses in the small gated 12 property development are already owner-occupied. “The location, a few minutes walk from the beach, is idyllic and is just 12 kilometres from Youghal,’’ he adds.

Offering a spacious 1,350 sq ft of living space, the property has a sunroom which was added on by the owners.

“They have been in situ for many years have kept it in excellent condition,” reveals Mr Colbert.

Accommodation includes a carpeted sitting room with a fireplace, a tiled kitchen with fitted units and a sunroom at the rear with timber cladding and views of the garden and the beach.

The property has one ground floor bedroom while upstairs there’s a bathroom and three bedrooms.

Fitted with both oil and electric heating and double glazed windows it has a C3 energy rating.

To the front, there’s a communal garden with cobblelock parking and to the rear a large private lawned garden enclosed by timber fencing.

There’s a patio outside the sunroom and another in the bottom corner of the garden.

VERDICT: Offers affordable and spacious seaside living.