How a Ranelagh mews buyer beat the bidding wars of the Celtic Tiger era

Asking Price: €650,000

Agent: Keller Williams (01) 4900700

With Ireland experiencing the greatest shortage of property for sale in memory, alongside some of the highest prices relative to income; you could be forgiven for thinking that buyers had it easier in times past.

But today’s weary home hunters could have things even worse, not least the prospect of being subjected to the once hated best and final offer (BAFO) system popular in the pre-crash era.

Back in the late 1990s into the early 2000s, shortage was also a big factor as the Celtic Tiger began to rear its head and incomes increased faster than new homes were being provided.

Competition got particularly ferocious, especially in those locations where everyone wanted to live.

In these addresses, house prices between 1997 to 2001 often leapt up by 20pc per annum or more, in turn causing bidders to fear that they’d be priced out unless they nailed something fast.

There was a panic, and soon it was not unusual to find up to a dozen sets of serious bidders competing seriously over a single property.

When too many bidders looked like they would drag the sale process out in incremental bids beyond what was reasonable to the vendors, the dreaded BAFO was deployed.

If six parties remained bidding after two months, each was asked to put their best and final offer in a sealed envelope. On the allotted day and at a set time, all six would be opened and the party with the highest offer took the keys, instantly wiping out the prospects of the other five.

In 2000, when Dun Laoghaire-born tech industry sales executive Gerry Power returned with his wife from a stint living in the United States (New York and Colorado) to buy a house in Dublin, this was the fraught market they waded into.

But the Powers added a double challenge to their quest by virtue of being hell-bent on living in Ranelagh.

An article published at this time in The Sunday Times, based on numbers of bids presenting per property in different locations, revealed that Ranelagh was, in fact, the “most fought after” suburb in Dublin at that time, followed closely by nearby Portobello.

Centrally located, perhaps only Malahide has the same village credentials and range of amenities with so many different coffee shops, fine restaurants of all types, delicatessens, wine shops and various amenities.

Today, Ranelagh also has the Luas, the Stella cinema and a range of the capital’s top schools on its doorstep, as well as the characteristic Victorian and Edwardian architecture of the pre-Irish State era. And it is almost equidistant and close to the country’s top universities: UCD and TCD.

“It was awful. Over a year and a half, we had to compete in 15 different best and final offer bidding sessions. Every one of them required a fair bit of work on our part,” says Gerry.

“And we weren’t just being beaten by a few grand; people were throwing the kitchen sink at it. They were going much higher than they needed to be. All going 30 grand over the asking price. We weren’t even getting close.”

Beginning to lose heart, the Powers started looking at homes in other areas close to their preferred location.

“But one day as we had been looking at a house in Ballsbridge, I got a call from a friend who told me a sign had just literally gone up outside a home in Ranelagh’s Dunville Avenue.”

The couple went straight over to check out the sign put up outside The Mews at No9. “There was a mobile number on the sign and I rang it. The developer answered and told me he was inside painting and to come on in.

“It was a mews house which he had built behind a shop property he had bought in Beechwood Avenue. The developer had bought a shop and built a house beside it. The shop had then been taken over by a top wine store. At the back, on the site of an old shed, he built the mews."

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Constructed a few years previous, the developer had lived in the property himself. While looking regular enough from the outside, indoors it took a design lead from the loft apartments of the USA, where the Powers had been living for many years.

At 722 sq ft, somewhere between the floor space of a two-bedroom apartment and a three-bedroom house, the two-bed mews came with its own patio garden, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

But the big selling point was the double-height living room space with its open apex ceiling and contemporary railed suspended staircase.

“We walked into this amazing space, that double-height open plan room just floored us. We haggled and shook hands then and there. That’s how we ended up buying it.”

The Powers sought to improve it further. “We got the builders in and we put down a walnut floor and replaced the red brick fireplace with something a bit more contemporary.

"The developer had that alpine chalet thing going on with a lot of pine everywhere so we painted it all, again to look more modern.

"And we put in the two big Velux windows on either side in the ceiling, and that made a massive difference. Since then the sun moves through the house through the whole day.”

Showing just how versatile the property was, the Powers first lived there as a young, partying couple. “That room is just perfect for entertaining.” Later, they started their family there.

“There’s Gaelscoil Lios Na nOg on Oakley Road and a load of brilliant creches. We have Palmerston Park and Belgrave Square with playgrounds. Also for a central locale, it’s just so quiet at night.”

Then when the couple had their second child, they decided to move to a larger house in Ranelagh on nearby Moyne Road. That’s when The Mews offered them some additional income when they let it out. “It’s perfect for students and young professionals given the location near the city centre and the colleges.”

Now the Powers have another house in mind (also in Ranelagh, of course) and they’re investing both properties in it. The Mews has just been placed for sale, having seen them through three phases of their lives.

Upon entering through the remote-controlled gateway, you are greeted by a courtyard. Once over the threshold, the entrance hall has porcelain floor tiling and steps leading up to the main reception area.

This double-height room has a central chimney breast housing a remote-controlled ‘hole in the wall’ gas fire. There’s the aforementioned polished walnut floor and French doors to a private decked terrace.

The contemporary kitchen is adjacent, with high gloss laminate units and quality integrated electrical appliances. Bedroom two is at this level – a double room with fitted wardrobes, with a shower room adjacent.

Upstairs, at the mezzanine level, the master bedroom is also a double with wall-to-wall wardrobes, a timber panelled ceiling and a shower room ensuite.

The Mews is beside the Beechwood Luas stop (12 minutes to Stephen’s Green, 10 minutes from Dundrum) and two minutes from the bars and restaurants of Ranelagh village.

Dunville Avenue itself is also host to an array of boutique shops, including the famous Morton’s supermarket and cafe.

Agent Keller Williams seeks €650,000. Plain, old-fashioned bidding will suffice.