Real life doesn’t imitate the art of reality TV. While the popular Netflix series, Selling Sunset, features flawlessly manicured agents in Los Angeles showing off telephone-number-priced homes and competing against other realtors, here in Ireland, the ins and outs of selling a home are rather different. And, needless to say, they don’t involve an agent rocking up to a viewing in a swanky car, swinging a bunch of keys, poised to woo a prospective buyer with some outlandish purple property prose.
Behind the scenes, estate agents can be called upon to be all manner of things from counsellor, to accountant, to divorce lawyer. They’re glorified cleaners too as one agent, who didn’t want to be named, explains. “If you have a fox problem, that’s an issue that people ignore,” she says, recalling several occasions where she had to arrive early to viewings to remove a fox’s droppings from the back garden before opening the front door.
Suzanne Hawe, associate director of DNG Bray in Co Wicklow, an estate agent with more than 30 years in the business, sees her job as more of a vocation. She’s a fan of the Sydney-set Luxe Listings but says that selling homes, particularly those that are vacant, is a very different proposition to the one that’s presented on the screen.
Would you buy from those guys? she asks. “What you see on TV is a whole other world. We are sole agents and act for the vendor. We have to be on time, presented well and knowledgeable. You have to be very present, so phones are off,” she says.
“You have to get there a half an hour early to take post off the hallway floor, check that no one has broken in or that a bird hasn’t flown down the chimney and deposited droppings all over the furnishings and furniture,” says Hawe.
The Irish market is controlled by those aged 40 to 80 years of age, and they expect a trusted agent to dress in a certain way
That’s all in a day’s work, she says, and while 90 per cent of vendors will go the proverbial extra mile to find a buyer for their home, she still likes to add her own decorative touches. “A bowl of fruit or a bunch of fresh flowers does make a difference to vacant properties. I often bring along bunches of flowers and have vases for them in the boot of my Seat Ibiza.”
Smart attire is the professional dress code, she says. “I wear trousers with high shoes but also have wellies in my boot. I have a property in Enniskerry on a lot of land that I’m selling and there’s no way I’m walking around it in my stilettos.”
“There are parts of the job that I find glamorous: selling unique properties and meeting their owners,” says Owen Reilly of Dublin-based Owen Reilly Estate Agents. The main differences between real-life selling in Ireland and the shows we watch on TV is that the fees here are a lot lower and the average prices there are a lot higher.”
He has had some on-screen experience himself, having appeared on the RTÉ show, Selling Ireland’s Most Exclusive Homes. As with its more exotically located counterparts, the show is professionally scripted. At one property, however, it wasn’t enough for Reilly to deliver his lines to camera. “The vendor’s son was off-camera interrupting and trying to control what I said. That was a bit uncomfortable.”
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Buyers now expect magazine levels of curation, he says. Ten years ago, to ready a home for sale he weeded gardens and washed windows. Now it’s all about staging. He estimates that about 50 per cent of the homes on his books are staged to some degree for sale. “Costs range from €4,000 to €40,000, depending on the size of the property. This staging can extend right down to the bed linen and judiciously placed dressing gowns, slippers and even laptops and books. Viewers think the vendors live there.”
Reilly is a firm believer in the importance of presentation. “One new member of the team rocked up in a suit and a pair of white runners. I’m a suit-and-tie guy. The Irish market is controlled by those aged 40 to 80 years of age, and they expect a trusted agent to dress in a certain way.”
Guy Doherty, a director at Sherry FitzGerald’s Sutton branch in Dublin, cannot bring himself to watch the Netflix series. “It’s not real and you’re talking about the one per cent of buyers. In real life it is anything but glamorous,” he says. “It’s hard graft, and it isn’t nine-to-five.”
As for looking the part, he drives a Lexus. “While there is a bit of a cultural shift, if I showed up in a Nissan Micra or a Ferrari, I wouldn’t get the business as I’m [being seen as] either not doing well or doing too well.”
There’s an element of psychology to it too, he says. “We’re dealing with people. A marriage break-up can be very difficult. It doesn’t mean one wants to sell. Communication can be tricky. It can be complicated if one is still living in the house.
“You have to be highly organised and adaptable too,” he says. “Things get delayed and people are late. You have to get there ahead of everybody. If you arrive on time, you’re late. It is stressful.” Even after all these years, the thought of arriving to a viewing with the wrong set of keys is enough to wake him up in the middle of the night.
He says 50 per cent of the work happens after the sale has been agreed, chasing up the various parties to see that contracts are signed to ensure that a sale is completed. “There’s a lot of calls to both the vendor and the buyer’s solicitors involved,” he says.
“In these programmes it’s always plain sailing. They show the house and the buyers are fabulous”, says Louise Kenny, divisional director at Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty. “There is nothing about why a house is for sale, or if a sale falls through,” she notes.
Behind the scenes Kenny often has had to make beds, clean kitchens, plump cushions and tie back curtains so that the house she is showing is presentable. She also likes to light a scented candle, with Jo Malone’s Pomegranate Noir being her go-to scent.
At Saturday morning viewings there tends to be a lot of traffic, with families with children who’ve just come off playing fields posing a particular challenge. She asks all her house viewers to don blue plastic shoe covers to keep the floors clean, and leads by example by wearing them over her own high heels.
It’s not just a sales job, she says, explaining that people sell houses for all kinds of reasons. “You can be dealing with very delicate situations. You don’t see the emotions behind the sales. It could be the death of a spouse, and you sit down to listen to them and discuss whether they sell or stay. They might not sell for two years.
“Families can be tricky and complicated, and you have to give them time and patience and the right advice. A lot of the groundwork is done before. It’s not just a sales job. It’s about building the relationship before the sale. There’s a lot more to it than opening the door and lighting candles.”
