‘We expect to buy for around same price as we get for our own home’
A couple of empty nesters relocating in the same neighbourhood: ESTATE agent Janet Carroll started a boutique agency in south Dublin soon after the property crash. She and her husband Luke, an international business manager, have raised four children in their large detached house in Blackrock. Soon to be empty nesters, they plan to sell up and find something more manageable — but just as dreamy — in their local neighbourhood.
The couple have clear ideas already about what their future home should offer. “It must be close to town and amenities, be low maintenance, secure, and have three bedrooms, compared with the current five,” says Janet. But don’t call them downsizers! Unlike regular downsizers, they plan to spend all of the proceeds of the sale on their new property. “I don’t see it in terms of downsizing and upsizing,” says the estate agent. “To me it’s all about right-sizing, finding a property that meets our needs. We’re trading across, moving within the area to a property that will be a better fit for our lifestyle.
“With children and grandchildren in Boston, Dubai and Ireland, we’ll have visitors of course; but we don’t need five bedrooms. Three would be fine — one luxurious bedroom, a spare room that could also be used as a storeroom, and a guest room. There’s a penthouse in Carysfort Park that I’ve had my eye on for a while. It’s a lock-upand-go duplex, which would be perfect. We expect to buy for around the same price we get for our own house, which would be benchmarked at around €1.3m.”
They’ll have to wait a while as their second youngest son
Michael and his family are currently living with them while their own house in Dalkey is being renovated, but as soon as they move out Janet and Luke are set to put 23 Lindenvale, Proby Square, on the market. At 2,152 sq ft, the gated property has five bedrooms and two attic rooms currently used as a study and home office.
“It’s too big for us,” says Janet. “It was fine when the kids were growing up, but now we’re in our fifties, we want a more sizeappropriate place that will be a good fit for us and can adapt to our needs as we get older.
“Nobody knows what the empty nest syndrome is like until you experience it. Once filled with noise and laughter, rooms fall silent, and there’s a kind of loneliness for the life you no longer have. This is our time to move and in doing so, we’ll free up a family home that will serve another growing family. It’s walking distance of Carysfort National School and on the bus and Dart routes.”