Selling Sunset? Stetsons off to €695k East Cork one-off

This Garth Brooks mega-gigs weekend kickoff, we find a new-build within a line-dance of Cork's Old Thatch - and, no, that's not a reference to a Country & Western singer's toupee

Fri, 09 Sep, 2022 - 00:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports Pictures John Finn

Killeagh, East Cork
€695,000
Size	260 sq m (2,790 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	4
BER	A2

GARTH Brooks’ ripples have made it all the way from Croke Park in the capital to a one-off house built in an Irish village where “the new owner will have no unanswered prayers” — it’s a walk-in and hang up your

Stetson job.

Gated access to one of five in a row - all one-offs

Midleton-based estate agent (and closet Garth Brooks fan) James Colbert tips his own country and Eastern Cork hat to the standard of delivery and finish on this high-end home built at Lagile, just off the main road through the pretty Killeagh village.

It’s just a two-minute line-dance to the famed Old Thatch bar — and, no, it’s not called after some fading country and western singer’s toupee: it’s Ireland’s oldest thatched bar, dating to the 1600s.

Bang up to date, by comparison, is this good-sized four-bed family home. It’s just finished construction and interior fit-out by highly-regarded local builder Dónal O’Brien.

This fully finished pad is one of five in a row, four built by O’Brien on sites sold off by an original house at the back end, furthest in off the N25 as it pivots towards Youghal within Killeagh — as opposed to Garth Brooks’ five in a row Irish gigs, culminating on September 17 to an incredible 400,000 punters.

Number crunching here sees this 2,790 sq ft home come for sale with a €695,000 AMV, about €250 per square foot, plus it includes a detached garage all on a site of 0.46 acre, on a par with build costs to this sort of standard. And it includes a whole lot of extras into the relative, eh, bargain, for home-hunter in this sort of price league.

(The strongest price to date in recent years in Killeagh is a Ballyhobart House at €615,000, according to the Property Price Register.)

Show-stopper: fully finished, by builder Donal O'Brien

Here, the village-edge sites/land were sold by the owners of the fifth house at Lagile as individual sites, subject to planning, and the new builds all have their own individuality, while still all being large and luxe.

It’s quite the local East-Cork job too: design is by Anthony Kenneally of Killeagh’s Rochford Kenneally Engineers, and the kitchen too came from up or down the road, via joiners Elke, Killeagh.

Landscaping is by Liam Kelly, with an enclosed site planted all around the perimeter in a mix of laurel, shrubs, and trees, plus there is paddock-like fencing and the site has electric gate access for keeping pests out, and keeping pets, children and (going with the country and western theme still) any livestock.

“The attention to detail is exceptional here,” says selling agent James Colbert, who’s steeped in both the building and selling professions and who collaborated with the builder here previously on several one-offs.

But this showhouse-style, show-stopper is their biggest to date, and he brought on board a trusted colleague, auctioneer Suzanne Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing for interior design and staging advice.

She’s also his wife (both are second generation in the property business, and have two children) and Ms Tyrrell wrote in these pages in January of this year on the increasing importance of property staging for high-end and easier sales, adding it was very common in Dublin for high-end sales.

Then, she cited a report by the House Stagers Association of UK and Ireland saying that staged homes “sell for 6%-20% more and sell 75% more quickly than their unstaged equivalent properties”. She added that “showhouses are invaluable to the selling of new homes. It’s clinically proven that some brains cannot decipher a 2D drawing! Even with computer-generated imagery, some of the more “sceptical” brains need to see and touch the final product!”

So, in a case of the hit TV show Selling Sunset meeting Killeagh Cork heels, and putting her money (or, more correctly the builder’s money) where her words are, and aware how important the “Instagram look” is to today’s buyers, she did this project as a test-case along with a house stager “on the ground” previously used also by by Colbert & Co.

Main bedroom with walk-in robes and en suite

There’s an array of furniture sourced via Chris Keating House of Design, while Killeagh’s Elke did the kitchen and built-ins, including in the boot room/utility, the entertainment unit in the living room and the Scandi-style stairs with concealed storage.

There’s a generous floor area, with nearly 1,500 sq ft alone at ground level, with reception rooms left and right of a central hallway with the feature stairs, and the entrance is set off by a zinc parapet porch screen (they may be Selling Sunset, but practically it rains here too), contrasting with a render and brick finish.

The hall is double height/vaulted, with on-trend black Crittal-style metal and glazed doors to the fully integrated Elke kitchen, with iron mongery handles and Neff appliances. Paints for the stairs and kitchen are another

reognisable brand, Farrow & Ball.

Other walls are in Irish brand Colourtrend’s Ivory Tusk, and light fittings come from Cork Lighting.

Features also include some floor-to-ceiling glazing, with access to an exterior double-sided paved patio, and air-to-water heating with a A2 BER — so low future running costs are signalled.

There’s herringbone flooring from Carpet & Floors Cork, Ballincollig, running throughout the house at ground level, which include a large corner dining room/area off the kitchen, the two reception rooms, utility, and wet room/shower/guest WC.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms (two ensuite) and a main bathroom with a free-standing bath. Sanitary ware is from Irish International Trading Corp Cork and the front-corner main bedroom also has a walk-in robe/dressing room.

The main suite’s bathroom is over-sized: “I’ve sold houses with smaller kitchens,” quips the auctioneer.

“Dónal is a builder who never, ever scrimps on finish.

“He’s renowned for his generosity when it comes to building a home not only with the items he includes but also he accountability after a sale has closed,” says on-message selling agent James Colbert, instancing things like panelling in the downstairs guest WC that wasn’t really needed, but just looks right, and things like fitting a washing machine and dryer in the utility.

“He just believes a finished house should be exactly that. When it was all done we walked through it and we mades some suggestions: He altered things on our feedback, but could have as easily left them for the new owner; nobody would have been aware of the extra work,” he enthuses of a level of involvement many other home builders/buyers might well envy.

VERDICT: Fancy slipping down to this oasis?