Pearl...We lived and cruised the East Coast and Bahamas for 2 years in our Irwin44 which is a very similar boat and had lots of room and ameneties and good (not great) sailing performance and great performance under power with the Yanmar44 which is a very reliable engine. She is NOT built for long bluewater passages but does very nicely in short offshore (3-4 days) passages in reasonable weather.
Irwins have a reputation for inconsistency in build quality. Most well cared for boats have had any problems (like deck voids or blisters) taken care of by now and you should have no worries on that score, but getting yourself a good surveyor and mechanical guy will be worthwhile as these are all 20 year + old boats and you need to know what you are getting in to. They are excellent values if you don't have circumnavigation type goals.
We've since stepped up in size and my 44 is for sale @ $129k (without a broker) in case you want to take a look...
here.