Buyer wanted for this €70k tiny Ballycotton boathouse dream. Or, dreamer wanted for this buy?
IT’S small, it’s not perfectly formed, and it’s either imperfectly or perfectly placed — but boy, this could be a beauty?Up for sale as an oddity, as a challenge, and as a chance to do something special (but, just what is the question?) is The Old Boathouse, located just above the water and the waves, at Ballycotton Harbour in East Cork.Boats for your boathouse...It’s listed this week with estate agent Adrianna Hegarty, of Hegarty Properties, it has a €70,000 price guide, but valuing this one-off is nigh impossible?In one way, it’s only a heap of stones with an outline and arch left on a tiny footprint of around 120sq m — that plot is about the size of a bungalow? — and with a history going back Ms Hegarty reckons to the 1830s.However, it has clearly seen better and more productive days here on the water’s edge in the pretty seaside village with boats and fishing in its blood.It other ways, it’s got that ineffable aura of “potential” either for some accommodation use, as a guest pad of character, weekend getaway, or as a commercial operation — such as a coffee house or café — or some marine-related use.Ms Hegarty says she’s getting almost random initial inquiries, as well as from those who love the sea and who would perhaps restore it to some boat or fishing use.It could be an Airbnb moneyspinner and a winner on Instagram with such a love out there for “tiny homes”.On that score alone, it certainly scores.Access point, down stepsIt’s got right of way access from Main Street, no services to hand to talk about, no roof, little more than a view, but “is more than a building — it’s a gateway to something extraordinary in one of East Cork’s most beloved coastal communities,” says its selling agentVERDICT: A wooden 20sq m beach hut near Christchurch, at Mudeford Sandbank in Dorset, England, sold last autumn for £485,000, within 48 hours of going to market — with two previous hut sales there also in excess of £400,000.Sail of the century at €70k?So, clearly if the location is hot enough and the sea close enough, there’s a buyer for every dream…Or is that a dreamer for every buy?
Comments (0)