VINCENT BROWNE must be one relieved man having sold his house in Dalkey, a large Victorian semi fronting onto the sea at Coliemore Road.

The broadcaster put it up for sale last September through another Vincent, Vincent Finnegan with an asking price of €3.25 million but that quickly dropped to €2.95 million earlier this year. It’s a fine three-story house though in need of refurbishment and so the price had to drop again before a buyer emerged.

Now it’s sold, the parish pump says at around €2.7 million, and Browne can rest easy. Many a sale at this level collapses at the eleventh hour due to lack of finance but the SOLD board is well and truly up over Atlanta.

The Brownes had been reluctant sellers according to an interview Browne gave Propertylast September, "We've no choice but to sell. We need the money, although we could wait another few years. The money's needed to pay debts from Villagemagazine, to buy another house, and to supply some kind of pension because I don't have one," the broadcaster said.

Browne was the founding editor of Villagemagazine in 2004. It ceased publishing in 2008 but was later revived with a new editor.