City to Country: Coastal Waterford home or Limerick city living for €550,000

Buyers can choose from spacious homes across Waterford, Kerry, Limerick and Clare, writes Trish Dromey

Tue, 18 Apr, 2023 - 06:00

Trish Dromey

North Circular Road, Limerick city
€550,000
Size	152 sq m
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	D2

Properties in Old Westfields, like this one at No 7, are sought after because of their North Circular Road address and also because of their extra-long back gardens which offer significant scope for expansion.

New to the market with a guide of €550,000, the 1930s-built four-bed semi could, according to Geoffrey de Courcy of Property Partners de Courcy O’Dwyer, be considered a rare find.

“An impressive house with period features, it was bought around 15 years ago by the current owners who converted the attic and added on a modern sunroom/dining room extension,” he reveals.

In addition to 152 sq m of living space, the property has a magnificent 75 sq m long garden at the rear.

Accommodation on offer includes two high-ceilinged sitting rooms with picture rails, coving and ornate fireplaces. To the rear, there’s an extended kitchen dining room with white units and granite worktops and the sunroom section with French doors.

Off the hallway, there’s a guest WC while the upper floor has a bathroom and four bedrooms. In the converted attic there’s also a large room used as a study.

The extremely long lawned garden at the rear has a patio, a raised decked area and a large Steeltech shed.

Situated on the city end of North Circular Road, the house is within a short walk from shops and schools.

VERDICT: A fine period home with a sought-after address and an exceptionally long garden.

Whitegate, Co Clare
€450,000
Size	273 sq m (2,940 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	B2

Situated in the woodlands of east Clare within a few kilometres from Lough Derg at Ballinahinch Whitegate, is a spacious modern stone-faced property which might tempt a Limerick buyer to forsake the city.

Seeking offers of €450,000, Noel Hogan of Brian Tuohy auctioneers says it’s an attractively designed four-bed dormer property with close to 3,000 sq ft of living space and an acre of gardens.

The beech kitchen with granite worktops, which was specially designed for the owners by a friend with woodworking skills, is quite a remarkable feature and the matching furniture looks worthy of The Lord of the Rings.

Built in 2008, the house has achieved a B2 BER rating with solar panels, oil fired heating and both a wood pellet stove and a solid fuel stove.

The property has two living rooms including one with a bespoke oak door with a carved tree.

At the rear is a spacious kitchen-diner with handcrafted beech units and furniture as well as an impressively carved breakfast counter. Off the kitchen is a laundry room, a utility room and a bathroom and there’s also a large ground floor bedroom. The upper floor has a bathroom, a play room and three bedrooms.

Noting that the property has fibre broadband, Mr Hogan says it could suit a remote worker or a buyer from Limerick city which is within an hour’s commute.

Located 3km from Whitegate, it’s 6km from Mountshannon village on Lough Derg.

VERDICT: Country life with space, scenery and quite remarkable timberwork.

Killarney, Co Kerry
€395,000
Size	201 sq m (2,164 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	B3

For its €395,000 guide price, No 2 Old Iron Mills near Killarney could prove an attractive option for a buyer looking for a property with growing space for a young family.

Situated a little less than 7km from the town, it’s a four-bed, five bathroom, dormer property with 201sq m of accommodation and around a third of an acre of gardens.

“It was built in the early 2000s in a quiet, private, safe development of just six houses and will have a lot of appeal to couples with young children,” says Tadgh Gallivan of Property Partners Gallivan.

A well-maintained and well-presented property, it’s been painted quite a distinctive shade of green on the outside.

Accommodation includes a spacious timber-floored front sitting room with a bay window and a fireplace as well as 10m-long kitchen diner with off-white units in the kitchen and a stove in the dining area.

There’s also a utility room, a bathroom with a corner jacuzzi bath, and an en suite bedroom at ground level.

The upper floor has another bathroom as well as three more bedrooms including two with en suites and one which also has a walk-in wardrobe.

The property has an expanse of well maintained lawned gardens at front, side rear and also has a patio at one side.

Because it’s situated off the main Cork Killarney Road, Mr Gallivan thinks it could appeal to someone commuting to Cork for work.

VERDICT: Spacious and modern with a good B3 BER.

Tramore, Co Waterford
€495,000
Size	145 sq m (1,560 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	C3

The influx of Dublin buyers seeking a lifestyle change in the seaside town of Tramore may have slowed but it hasn’t stopped.

That’s according to auctioneer Michael Griffin, who says that several of the people who want to view this detached house at 17 Árd na Groí are ones with “work flexibility’ who are currently living in the Dublin commuter belt. The rest of the interest is coming from Waterford City buyers who want to move to the coast and from local buyers looking to trade up, he adds.

Situated in a cul de sac in an estate of similar detached houses, it’s a well maintained family home which was built in 1998 and has 145 sq m of living space and a C3 BER.

From the upstairs windows at the rear, it offers views of Tramore Racecourse, The Sandhills, and Tramore Bay.

Ground-floor accommodation includes two timber-floored living rooms, including a large one at the front and a smaller one at the rear.