Live a life of waterside luxury with €1.1m Caragh Lake House

Stunning Co Kerry home is suitable as a high-end holiday home or investment opportunity

Caragh Lake Sherry FitzGerald Coughlan

Caragh Lake, Co Kerry
€1.1 milliom
Size	310 sq m (3,336 sq ft)
Bedrooms	6
Bathrooms	5
BER	C3

Affluent holiday home hunters could be captivated by the privacy, the luxury and most of all the spectacularly scenic views on offer at Caragh Lake House in South Kerry.

Investors on the other hand could be very taken with the high earning potential of a property, marketed as a luxury holiday rental with “the magic of a wild lake”, which is currently offered online for a €936 a night rental fee in high season.

Michael Coghlan of Sherry FitzGerald Coghlan believes it possible that the lakeside house, which has a guide of €1.1 million, may even suit someone who wants the best of both worlds and have the use of a high-end holiday home for a few weeks of the year and rental income for the rest.

A low slung stone fronted property designed by local architect Harry Wallace – it was purpose built in the 1970s as an upmarket holiday let. Offering mountain as well as lake views, it’s on a sloping wooded site of over an acre and has 70 metres of lake frontage with a boat jetty.

Caragh Lake

Finished and fitted out to the standard you would expect in a high price holiday rental, it’s a six-bed property which has been designed with a south wing and a north wing so that it can, if required, be used as two three-bed ones.

“It has been owned by the same family since it was built and has been continuously upgraded. It has a new slate roof, upgraded bathrooms and more recently both kitchens have been fitted with new units,’’ reveals Mr Coghlan, noting that the BER rating is a C3 The house is laid out so that all the main living areas are at the front overlooking the lake while the bathrooms and the bedrooms, bar one, are at the rear.

In the centre at the front is a large oak floored sitting room which is part of the larger south wing. Through five metre long floor to ceiling sliding glass doors, this looks out onto lawned gardens bordered by pink rhododendron and has west facing views of the lake and the wooded hills which surround it.

The dining room adjoining the sitting room offers similar views through a three metre long picture window while the kitchen diner alongside it, recently upgraded with contemporary brown units, also faces onto the lake. Across the hallway on the opposite side of the south wing are three bedrooms, one en suite and a shower room.

Beyond the central living room at the front, in the north wing, is a smaller kitchen/dining/ living room with white modern units. At this end of the property, there is a bathroom and three additional bedrooms, one at the front and two at the rear including two with en suite.

Running along the full length of the front of the property is a long terrace with a BBQ and seating. The 1.3 acres of gardens includes woodland and lawn and a winding driveway sloping down from a gated entrance. The site extends down through woodlands to the lake shore where there is jetty which can be used for boating or swimming.

Located at Glannagilliagh, six and a half kilometres from Killorglin, Caragh Lake house is 12 km from Rossbeigh beach and eight km from Dooks Golf Club.

“It’s ideally situated for water sports, golf and hiking or simply relaxing in the tranquil gardens” says Mr Coghlan.

Observing that the views of the lake from this side are exceptionally scenic, he says that sunsets seen across the lake from this vantage point are a sight to behold.

This type of high end properties on Caragh Lake with water frontage , a large site and this amount of privacy are, according to Mr Coghlan quite rare to the market There have been two recent high priced sales of nearby houses. Teach an Cuileann, a five- bed property on one acre located a little over a kilometre from this one, sold for €950,000 last December Another five-bed property, Knocktaggert on a 1.5 acre site, recently went sale agreed for €850,000 .Mr Coghlan, who is also the selling agent for this, says it’s been bought by a US buyer who is planning a permanent relocation.

He says that the interest thus far in Caragh Lake House is mostly coming from Irish buyers – including some who are returning from living abroad, some who want a holiday home and others interested in it as investment property. “ It’s already set up as a high end rental property – generating a good income and would make an attractive investment” says Mr Coghlan adding that the rental income is €60,000 to €70,000 a year.

While the Caragh Lake has quite a number of high end properties – many built as holiday homes by foreigners in the 1970s – few have topped the one million euro mark . The Property Price Register records just two sales above this level, both at Glounagilliagh, one for €2.178 million in 2018 and one for €1.293 million in 2014 . Because no house name is given, there is no way of telling whether this involves the same house being sold twice, or the sale of two neighbouring ones.

VERDICT: Scenic and secluded with lake frontage as well as lake views, it should tick a lot of boxes for a holiday home hunting millionaire.