City to Country: €460,000 Dublin 7 mid-terrace or 3-bedroom Carlow tower house

Some unique opportunities are on offer for those seeking them writes Trish Dromey

Tue, 27 Jun, 2023 - 10:45

Trish Dromey

Phibsborough, Dublin
€460,000
Size	73 sq m (785 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	1
BER	C3

Pretty, well-kept terraced properties like 25 Primrose Avenue in Phibsborough, Dublin 7, tend to get snapped up quickly by first-time buyers.

That’s according to Sherry FitzGerald’s Elizabeth Ryan who is seeking offers of €460,000 for the two-bed brick-faced Victorian property. Describing it as well presented and having a wonderful homely feel, she says it’s the location, within walking distance of the city centre, that is likely to prove its main attraction.

“It’s close to Phibsborough and Stoneybatter, Blessington Basin, and the Royal Canal Walk and is also within walking distance of TUD Grangegorman and the Phoenix Park,’’ she says, noting that it’s less than a five-minute walk from the Broadstone Luas stop.

Renovated by current owners around 12 years ago the property has 73 sq m of living space. The ground floor has a front living room with an insert stove and a kitchen diner at the rear with a single-storey kitchen extension with modern cream units. In an extended area beyond the kitchen, there is both a bathroom and a small utility room. The upper floor has two bedrooms with timber flooring and original cast iron fireplaces.

VERDICT: A small but well-kept property in a very popular location.

Liscannor, Co Clare
€475,000
Size	93 sq m (1,001 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	C3

Selling agents DNG O’Sullivan Hurley say that because of its remarkable cliff edge site, this three-bed holiday bungalow has very spectacular views.

Part of a coastal holiday home development built in 1999, around one km from Liscannor village, the property has an AMV of €475,000 and is set to be auctioned online on July 14.

Offering 93 sq metres of accommodation, it’s a well-kept bungalow which has been used as a holiday home by the same family for many years.

Accommodation includes an open plan timber floored living-dining room with a stove and an archway opening into a kitchen with modern units. There’s also a bathroom and three bedrooms including an en suite.

The best views can be seen from the long garden at the rear of the property which has a stone wall located close to the edge of a cliff.

While this property probably hasn’t changed a great deal over the years, some neighbouring ones have been extended and upgraded by buyers who turned them into full-time homes.

Mr O’Sullivan expects viewers for this one to include both holiday home buyers as well as people who like the idea of working from home from a scenic coastal location.

VERDICT: The views will sell it.

Borris, Co Carlow
€395,000
Size	185 sq m (2,000 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	Pending

Few three-bed homes in Ireland are as distinctive as Tower House at Ballinree near Borris in Carlow — a former RIC barracks which has kept its 19th Century granite turret.

Sometime in the 1990s the building was significantly extended, renovated and turned into quite a remarkable residential property with double glazing, oil-fired central heating and modern creature comforts.

REA Sothern, who have just reduced the guide price from €455,000 to €395,000 say it’s an impressive, cleverly laid out home with artistic touches and bespoke features including exposed stonework.

Built-in the 1840s, it is one of six properties in Carlow known as Whiteboys Towers which historians believe were used to transmit flag signals to each other.

Now offering around 2,000 sq ft of living space, Tower House is a quirky, attractive and modern.

Accommodation inside the original stone building includes a dining room as well three en suite bedrooms, one downstairs and two upstairs.

In a lean-to extension at the back, there’s now a modern home office with a vaulted ceiling and roof lights as well as a utility room.

Also at the rear of the property, is a long single-storey extension housing a sitting room, and a spacious modern kitchen dining room with blue shaker style units.

Set on a site of three-quarters of an acre, Tower House is located nine km from Borris and half an hour’s drive from Kilkenny.

VERDICT: A country home with a difference.

Oughterard, Co Galway
€475,000
Size	138 sq m (1,485 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	G

The wow factor of this architect-designed modernist two-storey property located near Lough Corrib in Oughterard has in no way diminished in the 53 years since it was built.

Housed within a rather industrial-looking frame of steel and reinforced concrete is the glass-walled structure of a three-bed home which has full-height windows instead of exterior walls and is fully enclosed by a wraparound balcony.

Called Moylena, it was commissioned by an East Coast businessman as a holiday home but is now a stylish owner-occupied home.

Listing it with a guide of €475,000, Tony Kavanagh of Sherry FitzGerald Galway says it’s a striking property with over two acres of tranquil lawned and woodland gardens as well as a mooring on Lough Corrib.

The ground floor has a WC and a utility space and the majority of the 138 sq metres of living space is on the first floor. Behind the long stretch of windows at the front is a living-dining room opening into a kitchen at the rear. Along the back of the house are three bedrooms with full-height windows instead of exterior walls. Only the bathroom and the en suite, located in the centre of the house, don’t have any walls of glass.