Semi-detached family home is in the very heart of Cork’s southside
The owners of this Ballinlough home have extended by about 50% and have it walk-in ready, says .
Ballinlough, Cork
€500,000
145 sq m (1,550 ft)
4
3
B1
The auctioneering cliche ‘deceptively spacious’ might well have been coined to describe what lies behind the original 1950s walls, and their cedar-clad additional side wing and the wide rear extension, on No 41, Somerton Park – and that well coined phrase rings true, because it’s the simple fact.
The settled suburban semi-detached family home is in the very heart of Cork’s southside Ballinlough suburb, and it’s where recent years have seen an increasing number of homes come for sale, as part of a natural order and neighbourhood lifecycle.
When they do come for sale, the vast majority of homes in the various grids and necklaces of roads, cul de sacs and estates need varying degrees of doing up, and some are executor sales.
The current family owners of No 41 only bought it back in 2010, in a do-up state, and that’s exactly what they acted upon.
But not only that, they extended it by about 50%, if not more, and many Somerton homes were originally sized under the 100 sq metre level, and typically were three-beds, with one bathroom: simple, expedient, but not spacious and in some, room sizes just feel a bit ‘pinched’ for today’s buyers.
The young family boosted No 41 up to 145 sq m, or 1,550 sq ft now, so it’s a very different home inside, and not even admiring glances of the two-storey wood-clad side wing really given an idea of just how opened out, and utterly accommodating, it has become as a result of adroit internal rebuilding.
The couple, now with a young family, used the services of former RORSA architect Richard Armstrong, who’d done some previous work for other family members, and he made over a one-time three-bed/one bath property to a four-bed/three bath/three reception home, bang up to speed, rewired, replumbed, refinished, and even getting a very hard-to-achieve B1 BER to boot.
They fitted in an open and interconnected rear main area, home to a family space, kitchen with Leicht units and island, and, most clever of all, a dining room off towards the front, in the new side extension, with bifold doors to the shrub-screened front drive, to get a west-facing aspect and exterior access.
The swish doors, as per the rest of the glazing, are by the Scandinavian company Carlson: nice.
Selling agent now is Kevin Barry of Barry Auctioneers, who says it very rare yet for fully-redone, walk-in homes to come to the Ballinlough market: by way of contrast, almost directly across the road, Barry Auctioneers have No 17 Somerton Park for sale, in more original condition, at about 105 sq m, and that one is priced at €290,000.
The Price Register shows most Somerton Park and Somerton Drive resales in the mid to upper €300ks, while a large, one-off house with a Somerton address, Hayfield, shows at €881,000, but when extras were included that sale was actually at the €1m mark, says Kevin Barry who did that headline-making deal back in 2016.
A year or so later, he also sold an extended Ballinlough semi-d, all done up, at 24 Sundrive Park for €520,000, and that was for a c 2,000 sq ft fully upgraded home.
No 41 Somerton Park is pitched at the €500k mark three years after 24 Sundrive’s success.
Its vendors are buying brand new, determined to stay in the superbly-serviced Ballinlough/Ballintemple area, and leave behind them a walk-in order home, done with pride, and not a small measure of panache.
Mr Barry reckons traders up will love it, with schools all around, but also feels it could catch the eye of a trader down, given the amenities and the suburban conveniences on the doorstep.
Deceptive, indeed.
