Starter Homes: Four city and county homes for less than €300,000

Homes to consider in Cobh, Banteer, Douglas and Wilton

Cobh, Co Cork €255,000

From the decked patio at this cute waterfront cottage at No 2 Carrigaloe in Cobh, you can see right across to Passage West and Glenbrook, and you can watch ships and boats sail by.

Selling agents DNG Spillane say you could also go boating or kayaking from the stony beach behind the bungalow.

A three-bed semi detached property dating from the 1950s, it was renovated and upgraded as a holiday home some years back.

“It’s been tastefully done and is charming and cosy with stunning waterfront views,” says auctioneer Donna Ryan-Pender quoting a guide of €255,000.

The front door opens into a narrow kitchen which has modern blue/grey units, painted beams on the ceiling, and river views at the rear through a glass-panelled door and a window. The sitting/dining room alongside it has a high timber-panelled ceiling, a fireplace, and sliding patio doors opening out on to the decking overlooking the water.

Other accommodation includes a bathroom and three bedrooms. Extending along the rear of the property is a garden area which includes a decked patio outside the living room as well as a paved one outside the kitchen.

Situated across the road from Carrigaloe train station, the property is about 4km from Cobh, and an 18-minute train ride from Cork city. Ms Ryan-Pender expects viewing from downsizers, first-time buyers, and holiday home hunters.

VERDICT: Cute and quirky with a garden that doesn’t need mowing and has all-season views.

Banteer, Co Cork €195,000

Country cottages with a bit of land offering the chance to get away from it all — such as Gortmore Cottage in Banteer — are being looked at in a whole new light in the pandemic.

So says John Singleton of Sherry FitzGerald O’Donovan, pointing out that it offers the kind of space people want to work from home, to roam around in, and to garden. An extended two-bed cottage with 1,300 sq ft of living space and a half-acre site and a haggard, it’s new to the market.

Estimated to be around 80 years old, it’s been owned by a few generations of the same family who have upgraded it with double-glazing, and extended it with a sunroom and two attic rooms.

“It’s a traditional cottage full of old-world character which is located three miles from Banteer, eight from Mallow, and just a 35-minute drive from Cork,” says Mr Singleton, noting it has an upgraded D2 BER rating.

Accommodation includes a tiled kitchen dining room with fitted units, a timber-floored lounge with a fireplace as well as a sunroom at the rear. To the side, there’s a bathroom and a utility room. Upstairs are two large bedrooms, one accessed from the kitchen and one from a spiral staircase in the sunroom.

To the rear there’s a large lawned area bounded by trees while across the road at the front is a quarter of an acre haggard which was originally used for cows.

Mr Singleton believes this property is affordable, charming and spacious enough to attract a city buyer.

VERDICT: An old-world cottage in a tranquil location where social distancing shouldn’t prove difficult.

Pinecroft, Douglas, Cork €285,000

Built in the 1980s as a three-bed semi, No 8 Glenside, Pinecroft, Douglas, now has four bedrooms and a much-upgraded B3 BER.

A modernised property with large kitchen extension and ground-floor bedroom, it’s on the market with Glenn O’Connor of DNG Creedon. Ground floor accommodation also includes living room, guest WC, utility closet, and sizable kitchen/dining/living area with high gloss units. Upstairs is a bathroom and three bedrooms.

Mr O’Connor says its size, condition and the sought after Douglas location are all strong selling points.

VERDICT: Unexpectedly large and modern for a property which still has its 1980s façade.

The interior of No 1 Kinsale, The Headlands, on Sarsfield Road in Wilton has been decorated and maintained with greater care than is sometimes seen in apartments.

Wilton, Cork €175,000

“It’s owner-occupied and in super condition” says Mark Gosling of Beehan Irwin & Gosling auctioneers who expects the two-bed, ground floor property, which has a guide of €175,000 to appeal to first time buyers, investors and downsizers.

Situated in a gated complex built in the late 1990s, it’s ideally located within a 10-minute walk from Wilton Shopping Centre.

VERDICT: Affordable, well-located and very well minded.