Yes, there is such a thing as 'affordable' Schull

Think Schull is out of your price league? One third of sales have been under under €175k, says Tommy Barker

Where else but Schull, and the islands

Schull, West Cork
€165,000
Size	70 sq m (750 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	1
BER	G

DESPITE its reputation as a high-end holiday destination, with lots of second and vacation homes, not everything in West Cork’s Schull is utterly beyond reach in terms of prices.

South Terrace is the location for €165,000 townhouse sale

In fact, a perusal of the Price Register shows as many as 130 property transactions with a Schull address over the past ten or more years selling for €175,000 or less, making up about one-third of the 370 documented sales showing up there.

Eye-catching...but bushy looking 'eyebrows' in roof and gutters at this Schull centre townhouse 

Sure, there are the high-end ones. But, since 2010, only 25 Schull properties have made over €500,000, and nine of them went for over €700,000.

Just a handful topped €1 million, including the clutch of houses on the 153 acres Horse Island, bought during the first pandemic phase by an overseas buyer for c. €5.5 million.

Horse Island Roaringwater Bay West Cork.

Then, there was Cuan Bán, the water-fronting former home of the late businessman Bernie Cahill, on the Colla Road, making €2.1 million three years ago, and now largely rebuilt.

Cuan Bán sold for €2.1m in 2018 thanks to water frontage on the Colla Road

The most valuable by a long shot must be the large home and second waterside building built 20 years back by wealthy philanthropists William and Judith Bollinger, straddling either side of the Colla Road, said to be linked under the road.

Writer Roddy Doyle at the 2019 Schull Fastnet Film Festival, pictured with John Kelleher, Festival Chair. Picture: Andy Gibson.

The couple even bought the former AIB bank branch in Schull’s most prominent setting, on a corner site, and are gifting it to the local community, part of a multi-million euro investment to turn it into an 80-seat cinema associated with the Fastnet Film Festival: a different sort of Fastnet flash of generosity?

Now, into the very varied wealth and property price fray comes this compact village centre townhouse, with a €165,000 AMV.

Schull in sunshine.

You could hardly get anything more central in Schull, as this end-of terraced three-bed home is on the hill from Main Street down to the pier, and its selling agent Andy Donoghue of Hodnett Forde says it’s getting very good initial inquiries, despite the unseasonal time of year he has launched it at.

It’s a project though, and will need more cash than the initial purchase outlay, whatever level that ends up at, and several adjacent homes on this downhill stretch show how just smart such ‘town’ houses can become.

Right now, it has c 750 sq ft in all, and that’s after a rear extension was added on years back, now home to a kitchen and bathroom, with galvanised roof left over the bathroom.

Interior

Other than that, rooms inside are the depth of the compact house, about 12’ from front to back.

Right now, it has two first floor bedrooms, with high ceilings (one has a chimneypiece) and one more, the third, is at ground level, left of the central hallway.

Kitchen/diner in annex

Most windows have been replaced, with wood effect pvc double glazing, and there’s electric heating, with a lowly G BER.

The selling agent describes it as “delightful”’ but that might be more in line with its prospects once refurbished, refreshed and possibly extended.

“It offers huge potential for enhancement both internally and externally and suits first-time buyers, holiday home and downsizers alike,” comments Hodnett Forde MD Andy Donoghue, adding that there’s an enclosed garden/yard, with high block walls and with a southerly aspect.

VERDICT: Huge potential.