City to Country: Renovated Rialto terrace or €545k contemporary Kerry three-storey 

A mix of old and new around the country, finds Trish Dromey

City Country 46 Reuben Street Rialto Dublin 8

Aghadoe, Co. Kerry
€545,000
Size	125 sq m ( 1,560 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	A2

Contemporary, flat-roofed and stylish with an integral balcony on the top floor, No 1 The Lake District in Aghadoe near Killarney is quite a bit different from the average rural property.

“It’s part of a development of five modern A-rated three-storey detached houses built in 2022,” reveals Michael Coghlan of Sherry FitzGerald Coghlan adding that the second-floor balcony has scenic views of distant mountains.

The €545,000 guide price includes furniture and the house is expected to appeal to a family or possibly a buyer looking for a modern, easy-to-keep holiday home in the Killarney area.

There’s 145 sq m of living space which at ground level includes a sitting room with engineered oak flooring and a tiled kitchen dining room with grey gloss units, quartz worktops and a large island unit. There’s also a guest WC and a small utility room while the first floor has two bedrooms and a bathroom and the second one has two bedrooms with balconies including one en suite.

“It was bought as a holiday home and finished to an exceptionally high standard,’’ says Mr Coghlan noting that the other four houses in The Lake District development were all bought by owner-occupiers.

Overlooking woodland at the front, the property is located six km from Killarney and one km from Fossa village.

The Property Price Register shows the house selling as a new build in November 2022 for €449,999.

VERDICT Stylish, spacious and highly energy-efficient.

Bohergar, Co. Limerick
€370,000
Size	248 sq m ( 2670 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	B3

Darrach Beo at Bohergar in east Limerick has the appearance of an old style cottage but the solar panels and the B3 BER of a modern home.

Features on the interior of the early 2000s built four-bed dormer bungalow include part timber panelled walls and some exposed brick ones, and its sitting room – which has a double height ceiling, exposed beams and a tall brick fireplace with a stove - is very traditional looking.

Bill Hanly of Hanly Donnelan auctioneers says the owners opted for a ‘’ cottage theme,’’ when they built the property and later converted an attached garage into a studio with a second kitchen and a second sitting room.

An archway on one side of the high ceilinged sitting /dining room opens into a kitchen with cream units. There’s also a sunroom/porch, two ground floor bedrooms ( one used as an office) , a utility room and in the studio, a living room and a kitchen with grey units.

The upper level has two en suite bedrooms including one with a walk-in wardrobe and a Juliette balcony.

Darrach Beo has half an acre of mature gardens with several outbuildings, a covered patio and a glasshouse.

Located a little over 14 km from Limerick city and Castletroy, it’s within a short driving distance from local schools.

Just a few days after it went on the market with a guide of €370,000 Darrach Beo, secured a bid of €400,000.

VERDICT: Has all the space and comforts city buyers look for in a country home.

Rialto, Dublin 8
€550,000
Size	106 sq m
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	1
BER	C2

High prices are being paid for renovated Victorian terraced properties on Reuben Street in Rialto, Dublin 8 so the expectation is that this two-bed one at No 46 will sell well.

New to the market with a guide of €550,000 it was renovated and extended by current owners around ten years ago. Alistair Hickey of Felicity Fox Auctioneers says it’s well maintained, has close to 106 sq m of living space and is conveniently located within a short walk from a Red Luas stop and just two km from the city centre.

Accommodation includes two living rooms one at the front with timber flooring and a cast iron fireplace and one at the rear with a stove.

At the rear, there’s a long kitchen extension with cream-fitted units, with timber worktops, an island unit, a Belfast sink and two rooflights in the ceiling. The first-floor return has a bathroom while the upstairs has two timber-floored bedrooms. The redbrick property has kept quite a few original features including fireplaces and flooring but now has gas-fired central heating a C2 BER.

Outside there’s a long back garden with a stepped area at the bottom. Mr Hickey says the steps were built over an old pipe, which, when the house was first built, was used to transport water to Guinness brewery.

The most recent sale in Reuben St was of No 44, a two-bed property which sold in 2022 for €616,000.

VERDICT: Has good space for a terraced house and the location is popular.

Tramore, Co. Waterford
€475,000
Size	137 sq m
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	A3

That’s according to Clodagh McDonald of Lawrence &McDonald auctioneers who says that four-bed detached properties are quite scarce in the town now since most new developments tend to have very few of them.

New to the market with a guide of €475,000, this is an A3-rated house which has been well maintained by the family who bought it new in 2018 but are now relocating.

There’s 137 sq m of living space which at ground level includes a living room with a stove, a guest WC, a utility room and a study used as a gym. Double doors in the sitting room open into a spacious tiled kitchen/diner with handleless cream gloss units with a breakfast counter.

Upstairs the house has a bathroom and four bedrooms including an en suite one at the front Like many modern A-rated houses it has an air-to-water heat pump.

There's a decent-sized parking area at the front and a garden with a patio at the rear.

Located two km from Tramore Beach, the house is around 13 km from Waterford City. “All amenities are within easy reach including primary and secondary schools as well as creches and the town centre, ‘says Ms McDonald.

VERDICT: Spacious, modern and within a few km from the sea, it may well be snapped up by a returning emigrant family.