Blank canvas for Wood-be buyers in Rochestown

Tommy Barker hears this former rental comes as a fully-furnished option: yours for €525,000

No 8 Clarkes Wood, Mount Oval, Rochestown, on the market for €525.000.

Rochestown, Cork
€525,000
Size	154 sq m  (1,655 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	4
BER	B3

MOVING into No 8 Clarkes Wood could be a very easy transition for its next occupants, as there’s even the option to buy it with all of its furniture, and an early ‘close’ date on the sale is held out by its selling agents too.

A former rental property, and now vacated for its sale, this 1,655 sq ft four-bed detached house carries a €525,000 asking price via auctioneers Sherry FitzGerald. They bring it to market in swift succession after selling the neighbouring No 20 Clarkes Wood, a July 2020 market arrival within the same O’Flynn Group-delivered Mount Oval Village development.

Yet, while the upscale and slightly larger No 20 was busy in viewings and much appreciated in its final bidding, it’s likely No 8 will get a different profile of buyer….it’s quite the traditional trade-up family home in comparison to No 20, and is about €50k cheaper.

Despite the fact it’s furnished, and tidily presented (if a bit sparse,) No 8 could be seen as quite the blank canvas if it is to be bought as a family home, needing an injection of personality as the furniture and pictures on the walls are definitely on the ‘generic’ end of the spectrum, and the back garden needs a bit of lawn laid down, and a lot more planting in its low raised bed, and in its higher-up tiered bed too.

An investor, by comparison, will quite happily take it as is, scooping up the furniture at a negotiated price.

It’s a three-storey home with its four bedrooms spread over the top two floors, and two of them are en-suite, making for four bathrooms in all, to include a main family one and a guest WC at ground.

No 8 differs in a few key ways from the deal done and sale sorted already at No 20. That other Clarkes Wood home was slightly larger, at 172 sq m/1,855 sq ft thanks to a Shomera very carefully stitched on to No 20’s side gable as a walk-thru sun room/dining room, with access to twin patios, and heavily landscaped feature gardens.

Spacious rear garden at 8 Clarkes Wood, Mount Oval.

Not only larger, it was superbly styled and finished, with a high-end kitchen. What also set it apart was the amount of quality marble tiled floors inside, including the stairs, landing and some of the bedrooms, in a sort of Provence meets Spain Continental look and aesthetic, as its vendors (with family reared and overseas) had bought it in a shell state and finished it out to their own spec over a decade ago.

It seems families with smaller children were not too enamored with the tiles, afraid perhaps of falls, despite their obvious quality and relatively neutral look.

Acting here with Sherry Fitz Cork MD Sheila O’Flynn, estate agent Stuart O’Grady was involved in the sale of No 20, which sold for just under its €580,000 guide price, and says he reckons he’ll see more family bidders here at No 8, which has freshly recarpeted bedrooms, and a carpeted stairs….and is launched at more affordable €525k also, no mean consideration.

The kitchen/dining room.

It’s a three-storey home with its four bedrooms spread over the top two floors, and two of them are en-suite, making for four bathrooms in all, to include a main family one and a guest WC at ground.

At ground too are two reception rooms, and a kitchen/dining room, with gleaming walnut units in a U-layout, black granite worktops, and an underset white ceramic kitchen sink, while the floor is standard white tiles.

There’s a fireplace in the front reception, plus bay window, and a second fireplace is in the double aspect back family room, down a few steps from the dining area, with garden access via double doors.

Patio and tiered garden at No 8

The back garden has a sandstone patio and room for a small lawn, with side access either side of the house, with a shed behind a lockable gate to the right of the brick-paved front drive.

Set within the now 20-year old Mount Oval Village development of c 800 homes of all sizes and type, detached No 8 has a B3 BER, gas central heating and Sheila O’Flynn describes its condition as excellent.

VERDICT: The Price Register shows No 7 Clarkes Wood selling last year for €521,000, so this seems well pitched pricewise, with little real comparison to the just-sold and more ‘grown up’ family home No 20.