Trade-down home at Laburnum Park has cottage-style garden for €495,000

There’ll be no hardship moving to this wholly-redone and comfortable 1,335 sq ft two-bed suburban home.

Sun, 14 Jun, 2020 - 15:30

Tommy Barker

Silverhill at Cork’s No 8 Laburnum Park, a fully upgraded mid 1900s era detached bungalow.

It might ‘only’ have two bedrooms, but a house as good as Silverhill at Cork’s No 8 Laburnum Park, is as good an option anyone trading down from a large, multi-bed house might wish for - if they can stretch close to the near - €500k asking price.

A fully upgraded mid 1900s era detached bungalow, with extremely attractive gardens showing at their floral best right now, Silverhill has a very decent 1,335 sq ft, all on the one level, and already that’s about the size of a fairly substantial three or even four-bed semi-d.

Set in the western suburbs, off the Model Farm Road, it’s fresh to market this week with auctioneer Johnny O’Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, who guides at €495,000, and it shows on the Price Register as recently as 2016, when it last sold for €395,000.

Photos of its look back then can still be found online, and make for a salutary comparison: it was probably always lovely, in an older fashion, but now is fully upgraded and extended to the back.

Even at its size, and certainly in terms of bedrooms tally, it’s possibly one of the smaller houses along Laburnum Park, where most are detached, and get made even bigger when resold.

One of the larger deals in recent years locally was of a home called Sharonvale, at €805,000 just back in 2018. SF’s Johnny O’Flynn says No 8 has been fully renovated; one of its two bedrooms is en suite, it has a living room with stove, a large open kitchen/dining/living room with another stove, and modern finishes throughout.

Add into the mix of good-sized gardens, and interior comforts, off-street parking, a garage for storage and a settled suburban location near colleges and hospitals, and further strengths come to Silverhill’s strong sales prospects.

VERDICT: Trading down to a 1,335 sq ft, upgraded, walk-in order home with colourful gardens in as good a location will be no hardship at all.