The Close for comfort and lots of space in Mount Merrion

The Close in Mount Merrion is a cedar-lined cul-de-sac located around the corner from a handy strip of neighbourhood shops, a cafe, florist and a beauty salon.

Number 4 is a four-bed semi with an as yet unconverted garage, off-street parking and a sunny orientation.

The well-proportioned house with 158sq m/1700sq ft has large windows throughout, although the dark, coloured carpets in the two reception rooms and the front bedroom absorb much of that light. The house opens into a front hall, with a large guest bathroom, to the front on the left.

The internal hall is a lovely square space with two reception rooms leading off to the right. These are well proportioned with the living room to the front and a formal dining room to the rear. An option might be to open the two rooms up, but for a buyer with growing kids these rooms might be better utilised as separate spaces – to accommodate all tastes.

A breakfast room to the rear overlooks the garden. Off it is the kitchen. The next owner will probably open up these two rooms to make a contemporary eat-in space taking in all the warmth and light of the southerly aspect.

Set on a wide plot the south-facing garden is 12m wide and 21m long. There are a couple of outhouses also, providing another 24 sq m of space, including an outdoor toilet and a storage shed.

The house retains an internal garage of 13.5sq m/145sq ft, offering scope here to create a third room to the front – a possible den for kids.

Upstairs, there are four bedrooms: two single rooms – the one to the front is dual aspect – and two doubles. There is pedestrian side access and off-street parking for up to two cars.

The lawned rear garden is sunny, private and of a manageable size.

The property is for sale for €975,000 through agent DNG.

These houses are sizeable enough to have the potential for each’s next owner to enjoy an income bonus of €14,000 per annum under the rent-a-room scheme. While the banks will not entertain this income strand in a mortgage application, the monies could help pay for a renovation job in a couple of years.

Based on a down-payment of 10 per cent the figures below are calculated on a full capital and interest basis (not interest only) over a 20-year term using a variable rate ranging from 3.5 per cent (APR=3.57 per cent) to 4.6 per cent (APR=4.50 per cent) by David Crowley, director at Independent Financial Consultants. ifcfinance.com

14 THE CLOSE

€895,500 mortgage sum

Repayments of € 5,194 – €5,669 (depending on lender)

3 THORNHILL ROAD

€715,500 mortgage sum

Repayments of €4,150 – €4,529 (depending on lender)