DUBLIN 6 €2.65M:SOME ESTATE agents use the line "my neighbour's house is for sale" on their signs and for people who bought in the past three years or so, that cute line means one thing: they're about to get a horrible shock when they realise how much their property has fallen, writes BERNICE HARRISON

Take Park Drive in Ranelagh. It’s one of Dublin 6’s most attractive roads and it doesn’t have the problems that many roads in the area have.

It’s a cul-de-sac, so no rat run traffic issues and the large family houses have off-street car-parking.

One side of Park Drive was developed as a showcase for building techniques and design for the 1907 International Exhibition and these houses are probably the most interesting and sought after in Ranelagh.

In February 2007 one of the houses, number 24 Park Drive, came on the market for the first time in over half a century. It was guiding €3.75 million, withdrawn at €3.9 million and sold later for over €4 million. Local rumours have it at €4.3 million.

It was an executor’s sale, and the house needed complete renovation.

Fast forward to today, and the neighbouring house, number 23, is for sale. The price that the joint agents Lisney and Douglas Newman Good are hoping for is in the region of €2.65 million.

It too is a detached four-bedroom house but the difference is that it is much larger and, more crucially, it is in walk-in condition, made over in recent years with considerable style while keeping its Edwardian charm.

New owners could be decorating their Christmas tree in its large livingroom without ever having lifted a paint brush.

The current owners bought 12 years ago and by then number 23 had already been extended.

There are four good-sized double bedrooms, two with en suites, one with a dressing area and all with original fireplaces.

Downstairs, a lobby opens into an L-shaped hallway and there are three large reception rooms plus a shelf-lined study.

One of the livingrooms was an addition by previous owners who must have done a great deal of entertaining because they also built on a butler’s pantry off this new room. The bright kitchen is now family-friendly with modern units and a good-sized dining area.

The extension ate into the back garden which is now on the small side relative to the size of the house.

There is a large decked terrace built over the livingroom, accessed from the landing and looking out over Gonzaga’s playing fields.

For its builder William Pickering in 1907, the house was an opportunity to showcase the best of the best, so the proportions are good, it’s bright as most rooms have dual aspect and there is unusual Edwardian plasterwork and several decorative stained glass windows in the hallways and landing. The price difference in just over two years won’t come as too much of a surprise to Ranelagh property watchers where the significant rises at the peak have been followed by large drops.

In 2006 even small terraced redbricks were going for over €1 million but now, of the 46 Ranelagh houses for sale on myhome.ie, only 11 are asking over €1 million and most are looking for just over that.

At the height of auction fever in October 2006 a three-bed on Lower Beechwood Avenue went for €2 million – a feverish €500,000 over the guide.

Now it’s rear neighbour on the road is for sale for €925,000.

• 24 Park Drive, Ranelagh, Dublin 6
• Spacious period house with a large decked terrace overlooking playing fields
• Agents:Lisney Douglas Newman Good