Trading Up: Ballinlough, Cork €340,000

Good enough to move straight into and work away on, with modernising tweaks or more substantial upgrades, is this mid-20th century-built semi-d in Cork’s South Lodge.

No 25 is a family home in the suburban Ballinlough hinterland, with a long back garden, attached garages, an attic converted for storage with rear-facing dormer window, and it even has a part-covered rear porch just off the kitchen, with low walls, tiled floor, and corrugated plastic roof, handy for pets or clothes drying.

No 25 is listed at €340,000 with estate agent Florence Gabriel of Sherry FitzGerald — it had been on the market since last year with other agents at €350,000. The Price Register shows a handful of South Lodge semi-d sales since 2010, when one sold for €140,000. By 2016 one had sold for €363,000 so timing is clearly a factor, as is overall condition and the scale of modernising needed.