HOW WELL DO you know your local estate agent? They play a crucial role in big moments in our lives, fulfilling their purpose perfectly, before stepping back from the limelight once more. During their career, they’ll touch innumerable lives through their practice, even if it’s for a month, a week or just one day. John FitzGerald, an estate agent since the 1980s who currently operates in Clonmel, Co Tipperary agrees.
[As an estate agent] you’re entering into the life of a person that could have been only looking at you from the sidelines for 25 years and suddenly they need you for a job. It’s a great privilege when that job comes about that they choose you. It goes back to the old line ‘favoured with instructions’,” John said.
The idea of becoming an estate agent was suggested to him by a career guidance counsellor at Rockwell College, where John went to school. However, the cogs had been turning in his mind since well before that meeting. The source of inspiration came from John’s father, who was a farmer by trade.
“My father had an auctioneer’s licence and was doing some small sales around our locality. He was selling little bits of land, selling houses, selling different-sized properties around and renting out grazing for people. And I was watching what he was doing. And I thought that’s a job I wouldn’t mind doing myself if I could someday,” John confessed.
John began his career with Dublin estate agents Sherry FitzGerald. As the most junior person in what was the sole Sherry FitzGerald office at the time, he began to learn the trade before moving down to Limerick to continue his apprenticeship.
After getting some years under his belt in Limerick, John set up his own practice in Clonmel with the help of a fellow agent from a nearby office, Donagh Dougan, who was also a Clonmel man. The pair started Dougan FitzGerald and have served the area for the last 30 years from an office in the heart of the town.
Dougan FitzGerald are one of the leading auctioneers in Co Tipperary, specialising in house and land sales, letting, valuation and commercial services. For a town like Clonmel, having an estate agent with the experience of John is invaluable. He provides a service to the locality, working inside the town and beyond.
We’re a mixed practice in what we do. We sell farmland, we sell all kinds of houses. We do a lot of valuation work for private clients and for banks. We hold public auctions for people that desire to sell their property that way,” John says.
John’s approach, which he describes as ‘old-fashioned’, is all about being approachable, engaging with those who might only need one question answered. For those who sell or buy with him, a big aspect of his role is talking them through the process and making it as easy to digest as possible for them Like most folks involved in selling property, John names Daft.ie, Ireland’s number one listing site, as an integral part of his operation.
Daft.ie is a household name in terms of being a property platform in terms of this country and beyond,” he said.
A common question John is asked about a property is if it will appear on Daft. For many, Daft is the home of property in Ireland, and they understand that the home they want to buy is more than likely on Daft.
It [Daft] is I think, the first port of call for an awful lot of would-be buyers in Ireland and beyond,” John adds.
Over time, John has come across all kinds of buyers and sellers. The most enjoyable aspect of the job is showing a property that’s landed on the market to a prospective buyer, and observing them take it in. Sometimes, he can even see the decision being made there and then to purchase it, even if they don’t know it themselves.
If you show [potential buyers] a dwelling that they can see themselves living in, and you can see it in the whites of their eyes. You can relay to the owner that this is a genuine person, that they want to buy this house, and that I feel they have a plan with their money in place. They’re putting their two hands on the table and explaining their best case for buying it. It’s a great thrill. When you can ring that person back and say, ‘Hey, you got it.’ That’s a wonderful thrill. It’s a great privilege,” John said.
Along with many towns across the country, Clonmel was left with what John calls ‘scars’ after the recession. Many properties in the main thoroughfare became vacant, caught in liquidation, which took some of the life away from some of Ireland’s bustling towns.
The Clonmel Arms Hotel was one of these cases. It occupied a position across three different streets in Clonmel, including the whole side of one street. Residents described it as an eyesore and the waste of such central property was a source of frustration for many. The building was on sale for many years, with angry shouts of dereliction becoming louder and louder. Finally, John was able to announce the sale of the site to new buyers last November.
The Clonmel Arms Hotel was sold to new buyers, who are now going to demolish it straightaway, take it down, take away the eyesore that was that site. They’ve come back to the planners for an amended hotel that they are going to build,” John says.
Alongside his day job as an estate agent, John was co-opted as a Member of Tipperary County Council in 2020. His work often crosses over, such as with the Clonmel Arms Hotel sale. Both roles share similarities, going back to what John said about being ‘favoured with instructions’. “Now my office is also a place where members of the public can meet me to get public representation on their issues as they arise. Because I’m always approachable or available, it’s no hardship to me to continue to give that to the general public as well, because I think public service is an honourable thing,” John said.
I do like being Councillor John FitzGerald as well, because I think I can help people,” he added.
Without a doubt, John helps the people of Clonmel and district on a daily basis, whether that’s through lending an ear for matters of public concern or being the go-to place for finding a home. Through the crossover of both his real estate work and public representation, he has become a vital element of the south Tipperary town. John FitzGerald runs Dougan FitzGerald from Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Visit their site to learn more.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say