Cheap Irish Homes Season 6 Episode 3

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Transcript

00:00I'm Maggie Malloy and I'm back on the hunt for Ireland's best value properties.

00:05You have a really, really solid house that's stood for so long.

00:08I'm going to be using all my skills to match house hunters on a budget with fixer uppers,

00:14hidden gems and undiscovered bargains.

00:16Can you see my face?

00:18It's not just a lick of paint.

00:21There's fear in those eyes.

00:23This time I'm joined on my search by building expert and architect Ty Casey.

00:28I just think there's magic about that fireplace and there's magic about this building.

00:32Together, we'll show you that even in a tough housing market,

00:35it's still possible to find your ideal cheap Irish home.

00:44This week, I'm meeting Graham O'Brien and his fiancée, Ilenia de Mauro.

00:49Ilenia is originally from Italy and works as a dance teacher,

00:53while Graham is a plumber and a Dublin native.

00:56The couple currently live in Kells County, Meath, but would love to move west, to Galway,

01:01and find a home they can renovate.

01:03The further west I go, the more relaxed I feel.

01:06The west, they make me feel free and wild, exactly how the land is, yeah.

01:13Basically, we're trying to find a half an acre site minimum, the more the better.

01:17Within one hour of Galway City, we're looking for a property that qualifies for the

01:22derelict home or vacant home grant. So we want to put a mobile home, most likely would be the

01:27first thing to go onto the site. And then we'd like to take on most of the renovation work,

01:32myself being a plumber and in the construction trade.

01:36Our budget is 150,000. The budget isn't entirely for the property,

01:42we will need to buy a mobile home to put on the site immediately while we carry out the renovations.

01:49We're really looking forward and excited to take this journey with Maggie.

01:53So we can move finally on the wild west. Yeah.

02:05Graeme and Elenia are looking for a doer-upper within one hour of Galway City,

02:09that they can renovate over time while living on site in a mobile home.

02:14They're not scared of taking on a big project and would like a property that will qualify for grants.

02:19I'm starting my search in Belcare County Galway, about an eight-minute drive from Tune, where the

02:25average property price is around €245,000. The couple's budget might seem on the low side,

02:33but their modest wish list gives me a good chance of finding something that works.

02:38This cottage sits in the middle of the countryside, on a plot of half an acre with the remains of an

02:43out building. It has a guide price of €120,000. I'm meeting up with Taig to take a look before our

02:50couple arrive. So first up we have this cute cottage in a lovely setting, lots of room for a mobile.

02:57What do you think? It's quite charming. So we have a cottage maybe early 1900s, potentially asbestos slates,

03:04a leak there through the chimney. It does need a lot of work, but I think it has a lot going for it.

03:09Yeah, I feel like it looks quite robust still, considering the age of it.

03:12Will we have a look and see what's going on inside this place? So Taig, what do you make of this?

03:19On the plus side, I think it's a lovely proportioned room. Light from both sides,

03:23look around, it's a lovely landscape. There is a small bit of an issue with that chimney,

03:29but there's a solution to every problem. So is that a kind of a strip it down, rebuild it?

03:33There would be potentially work like that. The issue is that water's gone in, the soot that has gone up

03:40in the last 100 years, has been driven outwards into the room. But other than that?

03:45I think it's the basis of a lovely living room. So I'm going to call this the kitchen, but I mean,

03:51there's really no kitchen to speak of here. It's an interesting room, right? By modern standards,

03:56it's not a kitchen, but this would have been the heart of the house. And there is a lot of character

04:01here that maybe can be brought out. If that range was taken away, you'd be able to reveal

04:06the original fireplace. Yeah. Repoint it, clean it, make a feature of it. That's your anchor in the

04:12new room. And combined with the really generous ceiling height here, it has the basis of being

04:16a really nice space. Looking at this from the outside, some people mightn't even realise that

04:24there's an upstairs. A good size and a great surprise. Yeah. So we have a really big room here that spans

04:29almost two thirds of the floor space. And then we have another bedroom then off to the left,

04:34just at the end. You could probably use it in a modern way, couldn't you? I think the first stop

04:40is checking the structure, take those boards off, investigate those cracks. Then your second stop is

04:46how can you improve it thermally? But you have loads of options up here. It's a great starting point.

04:51There's work to be done here, but this house has potential. And that's what Graeme and Eleni want.

04:56They're here to take a look for themselves. What kind of a feel are you getting off it?

05:01Nice. Very close to Galway. So please make me happy. More structurally sound than actually we were

05:08kind of expecting. It feels like a proper house, you know, it's not a massive renovation project.

05:13For the moment, we're quite impressed. There is potentially a good bit of work here,

05:17especially the slates maybe, water coming through the chimney. But the basis of something good here to

05:22work with, definitely. So it has a guide price at the moment of 120,000, which leaves you a good

05:28chunk of change for your mobile home. And it also should qualify for the vacant grant at 50,000 euro.

05:35And maybe even the derelict grant? Yeah, I'd be very hopeful it would, yeah. Okay,

05:40so that's another 20,000. Oh yeah, that would be very, very useful. Okay, so notebook. We go, we go.

05:46Are you ready? Yes. We're ready. We're ready. We go, we go. Have fun.

05:52It just looks like the old sitting room. I suppose. It is the chimney even. In decent condition. Well,

05:58except for the part of the chimney there, it looks like there's some kind of issue. What do you think?

06:04Enough space, yeah. Plenty of light between the window at each end of the room. Yes,

06:10this makes me very happy, yes. Nice even the wood, the wood panelling, but we'll probably take that away.

06:18Looks like it was the old kitchen. Yeah, I would say so. Nice with the old stove. A little bit of work

06:24needed here, but it's not just a lick of paint. No. Even the deep windows that you love. Yes. To sit in and read.

06:32Yeah, a beautiful cushion and ding. Good space and even, there's even another bit of a room off the kitchen here.

06:39Yeah, maybe then we can open the wall there and communicate it with the living room. At least the bathroom is indoors.

06:47Yeah, and it's decent space. Yeah, you need to do, oh, again. Oh, oh, look at this. We have double house here.

06:58Oh my god, this is amazing. The roof finishes nice, the floors, the sand and a polish keep it natural.

07:04I love it. I can see my walking wardrobe here. I can see myself here. I can picture myself here with you.

07:13Okay, well, the weather's took a bit of a turn for the worse. Yeah, we are in Ireland.

07:17Yeah, so how did you feel about the house though? Yeah. Tell me, tell me everything then.

07:22Well, the big surprise of the attic, it's a lot of potential. I love it. It's a big surprise to have

07:28the high roof and actually the conversion upstairs, yeah. So how was your list?

07:33Of the window upstairs to some cracking, is that structural or is that... Potentially,

07:38it shouldn't be a big fix but you'd have to get your surveyor in, do a full structural check and that's

07:44your first port call before you'd even buy it. Yeah. The main room was the point you referenced

07:48earlier about the chimney. Take off the plaster, see what you're actually dealing with and then make

07:54a plan to fix it. So would there be any way of opening the two rooms downstairs or connecting them

07:59together? Definitely, yeah. Say where the built-in dresser is, go through there and then make it all

08:05linked on the two sides and have the old stone fireplace conserved and repaired as a feature

08:11in the middle of the space. Yeah, picture sounds really, really nice. I can see myself there,

08:18definitely. You've also got a lovely stone out building, the remains of a stone out building,

08:24but there's plenty room for a mobile home here. It should work well. Are you going to just move

08:28straight in? That's the idea, yeah. Yeah, immediately. Okay, well we have more houses to see.

08:34We hit the road? Okay.

08:38For the next property, we're heading to Kiltormor, about 15 kilometres from Lough Ray. This secluded,

08:44derelict cottage is well under budget with a guide price of €95,000. It sits at the end of a long

08:53private track on a plot of 0.8 of an acre and is surrounded by outbuildings. Myself and Tyg are going

09:00to join Graeme and Alenia to view this one. So what we have here is a traditional Irish farmstead.

09:06It's a little vernacular three room cottage. We have the yards, we've all of the outbuildings surrounding

09:13us and around 0.8 of an acre of land. So what do you think? Does it sound interesting?

09:18Well, yeah, take a look. Yeah, we like it. There's a lot to take in for us. Definitely over 200 years old.

09:25Would have been attached originally. I think the real attraction for me is it's coming as part of a

09:30package. This setting is just amazing. And for me, we're very into conservation and to rebuild and to

09:38have something special. The thing about this that makes it quite rare is the fact that it's all still

09:43together. You're not getting the cottage without the outbuildings and someone's going to be in with

09:47a tractor in your yard. Like this is how these houses are meant to be lived in. They're small houses,

09:53but they have a lot of ancillary buildings around them that support the house. It can be like our

09:58village, our private village. So we go and look at the first building? Absolutely.

10:06Okay, so we're right into the living room. We have lovely hearth. This is basically kitchen,

10:11living room, everything. We have a big parlour or like a sitting room there off to the left.

10:17And then what would have been the only bedroom into the right? So what do you think?

10:22Small. We have a lot of stuff and we need space. Yeah, space. So Taig, talk us through some of the

10:29possibilities in here. Like, is there anything you could do to make it feel a little bit more spacious?

10:33Yeah, you definitely need an extension maybe under the 40 meter squared exempt to the rear.

10:37You can put your en suite, you could put your bathroom, maybe utility or store. Then you start

10:43working here. I think about taking the ceiling and the joists off, which are not original. If you look

10:49up, you can see that the tatch is there, which you'd take off and re-roof. However, the original timbers,

10:54which are branches of trees, are there. So think about this space vaulted with the original timbers,

11:00expose the original fireplace, start layering up the textures and the materials that are already here.

11:06A lot of work, a lot of love to go into it, right? I'm not getting away from that. But you'd have

11:10something really special. Yeah, but there is potential there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

11:13There's space as well with the outbuildings to use them for utility rooms and stuff like that.

11:18And you will have your grant. I mean, I'm assuming we're getting both grants for this.

11:22Safe assumption, Maggie, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

11:25Okay, so we are in the parlour, or the good sitting room. Lots of character. Does it scare you?

11:33I actually like this room more. In general, there are issues here definitely to solve. But once you get

11:39into it and you get into it and you enjoy the conservation projects, it's a really great room

11:43and it has the character of the original building. There's nothing in front of us is a toilet.

11:51No, yeah, no, there is no inside toilet. Very typical of houses this age. So you need that extension

11:57or you need to get the wellies on with the night truss and make a dash out of one of the shelves.

12:05So let's get on to this price. It's on the market for £95,000. But they're very open to negotiation on that.

12:13So you'd have a lot of money left over for a very fancy mobile.

12:19If they're home to negotiation and then you get your top-up derelict grant as well, £70,000,

12:25you've been rewarded for saving the building, really. Saving the village.

12:32It's very interesting. It's a lot to consider, yeah. Okay, we have one more house to see.

12:38Will we hit the road? Yeah, let's go.

12:44Graeme and Elenia have now seen two of the properties on my list and I've had positive

12:49reactions to both. Plus, I still have one more chance to impress them with my final house.

12:55Have you seen any toilet here? No.

13:03I'm searching for a home with Graeme O'Brien and his fiancée Elenia de Mauro.

13:08With a budget of €150,000, they're looking for a house within one hour of Galway City that they

13:14can renovate by living on site in a mobile home. So far, I've shown them two properties.

13:20This two-storey cottage on half an acre for €120,000. Big surprise of the attic. It's a lot of potential.

13:28And this secluded farmstead on 0.8 of an acre for €95,000. It can be like our village, our private village.

13:38Before we get to our last house, I've made my way to Burr, County Offaly. I'm meeting Kenneth and Danny Rice,

13:44who have renovated and extended two derelict cottages to create a family home.

13:49What kind of condition was this in when you got it? They were very rough. They were used by the pub next

13:54door for stores, basically. Sheds. Yeah, sheds, essentially. Sheds. So, what kind of work have

14:00you done on the outside of it? We actually haven't done too much on the outside, partly for planning.

14:05We didn't want to really go for planning. Most of the work was done to the rear, so it still looks

14:10quite traditional to the front. So, what was your aim for the interior? So, we really wanted to bring in a lot

14:14of light, make it nice and warm and cosy, and just utilise the space, put as much as we could in

14:19without making it crowded. Well, I'm dying to see inside. Will we go have a look? Yeah. Okay, lead the way.

14:28As soon as you step in here, you can tell there's been so much work done. How on earth

14:32did you go about it? The first step was just to gut the place fully, get it back to the bare bones,

14:37and then we kind of started to rebuild from there. I really couldn't picture it, so we used planks of

14:42wood on the ground, and we moved them around to see the room sizes and what we could and couldn't

14:47have. Okay, okay. Well, that worked well. I love this utility room in here. That's a bit of a luxury

14:51in a house this size. It's something that I really wanted, and the pocket door really closes it off

14:57nicely. So, rooms-wise, we have three bedrooms down here, which is essentially the second house.

15:04I can tell that the little window openings are all different sizes. Is that because it's the two

15:08different cottages? Yeah. The second cottage was at a slightly lower floor level. We kind of just kept

15:14the openings, put in triple-lays windows. Obviously, there's traffic outside. It helps with the noise.

15:18Of course. It gives a bit of character to the house. No, it does. It keeps the character. Exactly.

15:21It's already there. Yeah. Okay, so you've upgraded the windows. What else have you spent money on that I

15:27can't really see? The majority of the money was probably spent on stuff you can't see. Um, insulation,

15:33insulation, insulation. So, we upgraded the heating system. We got heat pumping, which is very

15:38comfortable. Okay, so I'm assuming when you came in here, you had a BERZ. What are you at now? We did

15:46manage to bring it up to an A2 rating. Wow. Who decided they wanted the big bathroom?

15:55This is stunning. This is huge. The shower was the main thing that took up a lot of room, actually. So,

16:02what was this room originally? So, there was a big old fireplace here. Um,

16:07there's actually a lot of the yellow brick in the fireplace, so we're able to sell that. Um,

16:11Danny spent a lot of time cleaning it off. Really? Um, yeah, we sold it. We made actually

16:16about €1,000 from the brick that we sold, yeah. But that, we did that with everywhere in the house.

16:20We tried to sell as much as we could to help fund it. So, I think we made around €5,000 between

16:25everything we sold. That's amazing. So many people would just send that to landfill. Yeah,

16:28and that costs money. It does cost money. It does, 100%. So, we're in the kitchen now. Lovely living

16:35space to the left. So, this was the extension, just under 40 square meters, so we could be planning

16:40exempt. We were able to have higher ceilings in this space because the floor space was still under

16:4640 square meters. So, we got more volume from the house. It feels like you've almost doubled the size

16:51of one of those little cottages. I think it's actually bigger. Is it? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so you

16:57bought two cottages. What year? 2018. How much did they cost you? We got them for 60. What? Two? Yeah.

17:06I have a number in my head that I think you've spent on this and it's huge. We spent about 60 on it.

17:10Seriously? Yeah. That's all? Now, we had a lot of help from family. Okay. And this was us every evening,

17:17every weekend for like two years. Okay. So, all in all, 120,000. You must just be so delighted,

17:24are you? Yeah. Very, very happy. It's an amazing house and you should be so proud of it. Thanks.

17:32Kenneth and Danny's hard work and smart decisions have really paid off here. What was once two

17:37derelict cottages is now a modern, efficient family home. They should be really proud of their achievement.

17:43For Graham and Alenia's final property, I'm heading to Capa Hughes in County Roscommon,

17:50which, thanks to the M6 motorway, is around 50 minutes to Galway City. This part thatched cottage

17:57sits on a plot of half an acre with a good size outbuilding. Like the other two houses, it needs

18:02work and comes with a guide price of 105,000 euro. Let's see what Teig makes of this one.

18:09The first thing that strikes me is probably not a very typical vernacular cottage. The

18:14tree bays we're used to, it was built in different generations, built different pieces,

18:19and you see the height change there as well, maybe potentially a room in the loft there. There

18:24is issues, the thatch needs work obviously, a few other little bits, but it's a lovely starting point.

18:30Definitely looks good from the outside. There's a lot of care gone into keeping it looking nice,

18:34isn't there? Yeah, if you keep things dry, a little bit of care goes a long way. It extends to life.

18:39Right, we have a look inside.

18:43So straight into the living area, lovely big space, great double height as well.

18:48Yeah, and I'd hope the space can get nicer by removing that flat section, which isn't original,

18:53because you can see it cuts off the door up here to the loft. I did think that looked kind of strange.

18:57All right, yeah. So you want to pair that back, get access up there, and you saw the window and the

19:02gable, which means that's a usable space with a bit of work. And the room behind us is a good size

19:07as well. Like even the fireplace, the fact that it was never covered is very, very unusual. And it's

19:12good for the building, the air going through it, you know, but even the colours. It's just really nicely,

19:18simply kept, but nicely, yeah. So another nice tidy room. I can't get over this, I think it just makes a

19:25house so much easier to sell when it's tidy. They can see what the space could be easier,

19:31yeah. Now Graham won't be idle at the same time, so once he gets into it, but no, it's a good sign.

19:38I feel like we've been very shocked with this one though, that they're not going to look as terrified

19:41when they see it. This is an unusual little cottage, isn't it?

19:48A bit of a structural mishmash. Yeah, it is a curiosity, but there is issues,

19:53the thatch has seen better days, but do you know, you have a good, very good basis to start here.

19:57So we have a lovely big yard out here, and if you look just behind the roses here over this wall,

20:03there's actually a big hard standing that you could put a mobile home on. I know I'm harping on

20:08about this mobile home thing, but look, it is a lifeline when you're trying to get into a house of your

20:12own and you don't have the money necessarily, or you don't want to waste money renting, you know, when you're doing

20:17exactly the point. Yeah, so let's get on to this price. Yeah, this is another handy one for you now,

20:23it's on the market at 105, guide price. A bit of money left over. Looks in a good condition. Yeah,

20:31we're still hoping for grant money as well on top of that, aren't we Ty? I think there's a very good

20:35case even for the higher grant, the £70,000. Yeah. Okay, yeah. We are happy. Are you ready to have a look?

20:41Certainly are. Okay, on you.

20:45Big fireplace, yeah. Very nice, very nice. Cottage with character, it's, yeah, you enter with... Fireplace for a castle,

20:53yeah, but at least the high ceilings and the openness of it all. Yeah, space and yeah,

21:00it's even in good condition. Yeah. And then a surprise up there, what that would be. Cool.

21:10There is a room and a window for plenty of light. Good surprise there in there. Yeah, nice bedroom.

21:18Wow, pretty good. It's big, plenty of light. Very nice condition with this place, yes. Another

21:26fireplace frame. And, like, I love it, it's amazing, but have you seen any toilet here? No.

21:36So what did you think? It's very, very nice, very well preserved. Yeah, it's really in good

21:41condition inside. I just had an important question for a first time, I think. Yeah, we are missing a

21:47toilet. Minor detail, yeah. You do need to extend to put the toilet in, I think. Consider extension to the

21:55rear of the taller piece of the building. Yeah. Get your toilet, more accommodation in there.

21:59Sound good? Good idea, yeah. So overall a positive? Once again, a lot of, a lot of boxes ticked. Okay,

22:06okay. You've a lot to think about, don't you? Yeah, some tough decisions. Yeah. Okay, we're going to split

22:11up for a while and I'll meet back up with you later and you have a good think and I'll see where you land

22:16later. Sound good? Sounds good. Yep.

22:21I've now shown Graeme and Elenia all three properties on my list. First, we saw this two-storey

22:27cottage on half an acre in Belcare County Galway for 120,000 euro. Staying in Galway, I found this

22:35little farmstead on 0.8 of an acre for 95,000 euro. And last, we moved to County Roscommon to see this

22:43part-thatched cottage on half an acre with a guide price of 105,000 euro. As you can see, we're all

22:51waiting with bated breath to hear which house came out on top. How'd you get on? I think we have a split

22:57decision. Oh really? Yeah, I am more for the first one, but I love even the second one. Okay. And I'd be

23:04the reverse. The first one is nice, the space I like, I like the position, 35 minutes from Galway.

23:11You? The second is the perfect plan for Ely, but it's a bit more long-term and drawn out. But I like

23:18the zone. Yeah. The layout and... Yeah. Yeah, that is amazing, the location. So you need to call some

23:23estate agents and organise some second viewings? Yes. Definitely. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, best of

23:29luck. You're going to let me know how you got on? Of course we will. Absolutely. Okay, here we go. Here we go.

23:34Graeme and Alenia have taken the adventurous decision to find a house they can make their own

23:42while living on site in a mobile home. Whatever choice they make, they'll have challenges ahead of

23:47them. But it's great to see and I'm sure that they'll reap the rewards in the end.

23:52If you'd like to be on Cheap Irish Homes to search for a great value property, contact us at casting at ab3.ie.

24:12Can you?

24:13That's all.

24:14What happens for us?

24:15Melody?

24:16Yes.

24:17Where we got that.

24:18What happens when you do that?

24:19What happens when you do it?

24:20Hey!

24:21We're good.

24:22We're good.

24:23This is how you get it.

24:24We're good.

24:25We'll see your time.

24:26Take care.

24:27Take care.

24:28Like, we'll see.

24:29We'll see you next time.

24:30See you next time.

24:31Close out.

24:32Catch you next time.

24:33Bye.

24:34I'll see you next time.

24:35Bye.

24:36Bye.

24:37Bye.

24:38All right.

24:39Bye.

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