The two double bedroom mid-terrace property opposite leafy green comes with low-maintenance garden
Asking price: €425,000
Agent: Move Home Estate Agents (01) 8844690
Is there ever a right time to buy or sell a house? It’s a question many Irish people are currently pondering given the uncertainty about the future of the economy, following tariffs imposed by the Trump administration in the US.
It’s something that was on the mind of Sunday Independent Life magazine editor Leslie Ann Horgan in 2015 when she bought her first home, having recently taken up the role at the newspaper.
Leslie Ann Horgan with her husband Kevin Burke and daughter Juliette, at their home in Dublin 9. Photo: Bryan Meade
“I’d literally just completed my mortgage application and got it in a week or two before the rules around lending and deposits changed and you needed 20pc of the price of the house, which I didn’t have at the time,” says Horgan. “I panicked and thought I wouldn’t get a mortgage as a result.”
She rang the bank, thinking there was no chance of her application going through, but luckily she’d got it in just in time.
She not only qualified for a mortgage, but the change in rules worked to her advantage.
“I’d started to view places, but I felt like a single-income person was not that desirable to estate agents,” she says. “But once the rules changed, I went from the bottom to the top of the list as I was going to viewings, but I’d nothing to sell.”
Horgan, who grew up in nearby Marino, wanted to stay in north Dublin city. She was immediately smitten when she came to view 17 Glendun Road – a two bedroom mid-terrace home on a quiet road that fronts on to a leafy green, in Whitehall.
The exterior of the property
“The day I came to view it, the fire was lit and the sun was shining through the windows. The house seemed very bright and welcoming. I’d viewed hundreds of houses at that stage, but this one stood out. I got a lovely feeling from the moment I walked in the door,” she says.
Although she bought the 990 sq ft house in 2015, it was January 2016 by the time she moved in and started to make it her own. She repainted all of the walls in neutral tones and added pops of colour with the furnishings, ornaments and art work.
The rear of the property
Built in the 1950s, it was originally a council house and was in good condition. These types are houses are particularly well built, and still sought after as a result.
It would have had an outhouse originally, but an inside bathroom had been added and the kitchen at the back had been extended.
On entering, there is a reception room to the left, currently used as an office and playroom, which has floor to ceiling shelves on one side.
The living room, and office/play room
Double doors here lead to the main sitting room, the walls of which have been painted cream. Here, a 1950s-style marble mantel piece has a round mirror hanging above it. Another set of double doors lead into the kitchen at the back.
This is spacious, light-filled room with an elevated roof that has two skylights. The cupboards have recently been repainted sage green, and there are grey tiles underfoot.
The kitchen
Glass doors lead outside to a decked patio, which is part of the south-facing back garden and is typically flooded with light all day.
The doors to the three downstairs rooms can be opened to flow into each other, but it’s not open-plan.
“I know Dermot Bannon is a big fan of open-plan living, but I like that the sitting room can be closed off from time to time,” says Horgan. “It’s a very cosy space in the winter, especially when the fire is lit.”
One of the two double bedrooms
Upstairs, there are two comfortable double bedrooms. There’s also a bathroom with a shower, an electric towel rail and a skylight in the roof.
From the moment she moved in, Horgan felt content living in No 17. In April 2016, she met Kevin Burke, a primary school teacher from Malahide, and they started dating.
He moved in shortly after and they got engaged in 2019, just before the pandemic. They married in 2021 and now have a two-year-old daughter called Juliette.
The green opposite the house
The house has served them well, as there are three leafy parks close by, as well as the grounds of DCU.
“We spent a lot of time walking there during Covid when there were no students around,” says Horgan.
Although the back garden was quite neglected when she moved in, Horgan did some work on it during the pandemic.
There’s now a decked patio with a step down to a space that has gravel and plants, including cherry blossom and apple trees in pots, and a shed at the back.
The back garden
The building backs on to a primary school and is not overlooked, affording privacy. “Despite being close to the city, it’s a quiet location. Especially in summer when the school is closed,” she says.
Whitehall is well located for accessing Dublin city centre, which can be reached in approximately 15 minutes by bus.
“When the Metro North line is built, it will be even more accessible. It’s also close to the Omniplex in Santry, and you can be at the Dublin Airport in just nine minutes.”
Horgan is selling the house now as she and her husband plan to buy a home together. “We’d like to buy a forever home that we can make our own, and hopefully stay in the Whitehall area,” she says.
She acknowledges that a lot has happened for her in the last 10 years, and the house has been part of that. “I bought the house, I met my now husband shortly afterwards and I had a baby,” she says.
Having had these milestone experiences whilst living in the house, she’s feeling nostalgic about leaving it. “I feel it’s the right time to sell nonetheless,” she says. “The house has served me well and I’ve been happy here. But now it’s time to let it go to the next owner.”
Number 17 Glendun Road has an asking price of €425,000 with Move Home.