All about timing for €425k upgraded city semi-d called Ashville

Online bids tracking for Dec 17 sale cut-off

Good side and back garden scope at Ashville, on Cork's  Boreenmanna Road being sold by Trevor O'Sullivan of Coldwell Banker

Cork City
€425,000
Size	95 sq m (1,015 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	B3

The time has come right for the sale of Ashville — and its sale outcome will be decided quite precisely, by Friday next, December 17.

The three-bed semi-d is in hot demand, given the desire for homes close to city centres.

Interior upgraded at Ashville

It’s already been upgraded, freshly so, and getting an impressive B3 BER, so home hunters won’t have to fret about runaway construction and build materials costs for a while.

So, not surprisingly, its selling agent Trevor O’Sullivan of Coldwell Banker has almost been camping out here over the past week, with 45 bookings made to view at the start of this week, and growing further in demand ever since.

Ashville's back garden

Plus, Ashville’s sale timing clock is ticking away, as Mr O’Sullivan is one of the growing band of estate agents using a transparent, online service that records registered viewing interest and, more importantly, bids, so all involved can see immediately how the sale is progressing.

In this case, Coldwell Banker is using the tracking site homebid.ie, which by Thursday showed bidding gone over the €425,000 AMV, standing at a then-recorded €431,000, with three bidders active on it at the time.

Living room with stove and bay window

Where it fetches up by the sale cut-off point of December 17 remains to be seen — but its selling agent is confident from the sheer volume of viewings and assertive bidding that it will go very well.

“It’s down to the location, so close to the city centre and the South Infirmary at Boreenmanna Road, plus the fact it’s in walk-in condition now, with a really impressive BER and energy efficiency,” Mr O’Sullivan says.

His vendors are relocating across Cork City, and are leaving their 1,015 sq ft three-bed home in spotless order for its next occupants, while the site is such that it can take a side and rear extension at any stage in the future, when pressure on builders and construction materials eases off once more.

For those looking down the line at enlarging it, the ‘other half’ of this pairing gives an idea of how it can be done as it’s quite been recently extended.

At Ashville, it’s still at its initial mid-1900s first-build size but, other than that, it bears little comparison to what it would have been decades ago.

It’s had an external insulation wraparound job for heat retention, crisply rendered on the outside, while the windows are triple glazed. There’s a new boiler, and a stove in the main, front reception room which has a bay window. There’s no solar (yet) but the house next door has gone that extra retrofit step too.

Gallery-style kitchen

Ashville has a galley-style kitchen off the main living room, via a slender arch, and has new fitted units, while floors also have been redone, and internal decoration is crisp and restrained, in white and black contrasts.

Side garden at Ashville

The aspect is south/west to the front, and externally, there’s scope for scooping out or creating off-street parking in front for a few cars (but the city’s a short walk, so many would-be buyers will one-car families, or car-free) and the mature gardens include large palms and a yew to the front.

Arch links living room and kitchen

Behind, the garden has been cleared back a bit, with a raised section (up four or five wooden steps) currently home to a trampoline and bounded by mature trees, with homes at the adjacent Rockboro Avenue glimpsed beyond.

Bright hall

The site shape will allow, in time, for a side and/or rear extension. The Price Register shows Ashville was sold last back in 2018, when it fetched €200,000-even, as a very different proposition to its late 2021 B3 ‘togging out’ in the market.

VERDICT: Set to grow in time, with its next owners, who’ll be cosy while they bide their time. Or it can just continue exactly as it is, as there’s 1,000 sq ft as-is, with some chic black and white interior style.