Sherryfitz.ie is re-newed

Sherry FitzGerald has launched a new website. Have a look and let us know what you think (anonymously if you wish, of course).

For the occasion, Mark FitzGerald has written a new overview of the company, from which:

"In a Sherry FitzGerald business, the culture isn't what one finds in the yogurt in the fridge in our offices, rather it's the standards by how we conduct our business day in and day out."

"We don't deny that like all businesses we need to make a profit, but we believe in the mantra as echoed by the late Bill Hewlett of Hewlett Packard "Profits are like oxygen and blood, you need them but they are not an end in themselves"."

"Uneducated opportunists" please remove yourselves

Asked recently by Irish Construction,What do you think are the main challenges facing your sector in the future?

Alan Cooke of the IAVI had this to say:

"For properly educated estate agents to seize the opportunity and recover ground lost to uneducated opportunists who entered the business to take advantage of the State's heretofore lax approach to the need for estate agents to study law, valuation methodology, town planning, building construction etc.

This, coupled with the fact that most uneducated estate agents have never experienced a difficult market, presents an ideal opportunity to those for whom real estate was always a first choice career, for which they secured relevant third level qualifications, to effectively reclaim the market."

We just hope he didn't actually say that out loud, cause it's quite a mouthful.

Great agents' blog in Longford

Well worth checking out and keepting an eye on is the local property blog for Longford by Brendan Harte of RE/MAX Premier Services: http://countylongford.blogspot.com/

Restrictions on the market

"Twenty-three agencies in rural Ireland are pulling in the welcome mat with locals-only laws that require potential house builders to have jobs in their areas or even to be fluent in Gaelic, according to the European Commission. Opponents of the rules say they unfairly deny people like McGoldrick the chance to enjoy the fruits of successes achieved elsewhere.

The commission, the European Union's executive agency, is examining the restrictions to determine whether they breach an EU treaty that grants citizens of member nations the right to settle anywhere in the region."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/08/business/land.php

Noticed a few things ...

Keating Somers are no longer with ERA. (Since when, I'm not sure.)

Justin Kinsella has left GPK Properties & set up on his own just down the road: www.justinkinsella.com.

Derek Brawn is no longer with Savills research department - not sure since when, or where he's gone.

Lowe & Associates have redesigned their website.

Watching the watchers

These sites are well worth keeping up with - offering an insight into the way the online world spin the property market:

• A Random Walk
• Daft Watch
• Irish Property Watch
• The Property Pin

And since MyHome.ie's change of format, the Irish Property Watch is now using Daft and operating from a blog called, Trees Don't Grow to the Sky: http://www.treesdontgrowtothesky.blogspot.com/