BUYING a house is rarely a snap decision given the significant financial commitment and lifestyle implications involved. Who wants to be held up as a cautionary tale for the folly of buying in haste, only to repent at leisure? That said, the proverb doesn’t always hold true.
The couple who made a swift decision to buy No 18 Brookfield Park, the Lough, trusted their gut instincts — and it turned out to be the right move.
“We were living in Salt Hill, Galway, at the time, and we were relocating to Cork for a combination of work and family reasons. I was in a hurry to move as I was starting a new job in UCC,” says one of the owners.
Striking blue doorway at No 18
They packed as many house-viewing appointments as they could into a single day in an effort to minimise the need for multiple trips in their search for a home.
“I remember we came to Cork on June 27, 2014. Any houses we were looking at had to be seen that day. Fortunately, from the moment we saw the house in Brookfield Park, we both loved it,” the owner says.
She arrived down to Cork with no knowledge of the city. Her partner had studied in UCC, and had a better grasp of the lay of the land. They soon discovered that the centrality of their location meant they could walk and cycle everywhere.
“We arrived down from Galway with two cars, but we quickly realised that it was silly to have one permanently parked outside, so we got rid of it” she says.
south facing back garden
Their choice of Brookfield Park was also influenced by how quiet the neighbourhood is. The south-facing back garden was an ideal spot to enjoy the peace and tranquility.
“It’s a decent sized back garden with hedging on both sides, so it feels very private.
“The patio gets loads of sun, and we ate out a lot during the summer months.”
Brookfield Park is a well-settled estate, built in the mid-to-late 1950s. Like many similar-era housing schemes, it has bigger gardens than the kind of pocket-sized lawns you often see in contemporary developments.
Homes in these older estates also tend to have adjoining garages, and such is the case at Brookfield Park.
It means owners who wish to expand have the capacity to extend sideways into the garage, or to build up over it, or even replace it with a two-storey extension.
The couple living at No 18 didn’t need that extra space, but they did do a substantial re-jig of the downstairs layout. The kitchen had already undergone a modest extension prior to them moving in, and they subsequently made the sensible decision to knock the wall between it and the dining room to create a more practical, open plan, L-shaped living space.
“The house was in OK shape when we bought it, we were able to move in and live in it, but we love to entertain, so the first year we knocked the wall separating the dining room from the kitchen. We also put in a new kitchen and redid the whole space,” the owner says.
Opening up the two south-facing rooms upped the exposure to natural light.
So did the installation of a narrow window to replace the doorway between the dark back hallway and dining room.
Carpet was taken up to expose original warm timber floors, and that warmth is picked up in the solid beech of the kitchen countertops, oiled, meticulously, every few months.
It’s a comfortable, inviting layout with some practical touches such as integrated bins to save on floor space and soft under-counter lighting to add a warm glow come evening time.
They blocked off a fireplace in the dining room, but kept one in the front living room, another cosy space with a bay window overlooking the front garden.
Slate grey chalk paint gave a new lease of life to the fireplace.
Other improvements included a new bathroom and attic insulation.
While the energy rating is an E1, anyone looking to retrofit should find it more affordable under recent changes to the national retrofitting scheme, which will allow homeowners take a step-by-step approach.
After a dozen years in Brookfield Park — and innumerable enjoyable visits to the nearby Lough Nature Reserve — the semi-retired couple are planning their next move east to Dungarvan. They’ll miss living in Cork City, but are looking forward to trying out their electric bikes on the Waterford greenway.
The Lough Nature Reserve
“We’ll miss the neighbourhood, it’s a lovely park to live in,” the owner says, adding that they were surprised at the level of owner-occupiers when they first arrived, given the demand for student digs so close to UCC. It’s very convenient too to a large SuperValu shop, which is just around the corner.
Darragh Taaffe, of Keane Mahony Smith, is selling 101sq m No 18, and he says there’s been a “fabulous reaction” to it.
“It’s a great house as is and there’s a lovely extension, but new owners would also have the option to convert the garage and/or the attic. It’s a hand cut roof so an attic conversion would be a very simple job,” Mr Taaffe says.
He currently has an offer of €520,000 — the guide price is €550,000.
“These houses don’t come up very often, and when they do, they perform well,” he says.
Early viewers include families looking to trade into the city from outlying commuter towns, as well as young families looking to move out of terraced homes into a semi-D.
VERDICT: Very inviting home in highly convenient location. Should prove attractive to young families given proximity to the Lough/schools/public transport/retail/city centre.
Has room to grow.