A slower market will soon test agents' sales skills, writes Edel Morgan

While predictions of a slowdown in the market continue - and there's evidence on the ground that it might be happening - it looks as if Irish estate agents might have to brush up on their selling and negotiating skills, which, let's face it, have been on the back burner since the start of the boom years.

Over the past decade, when property practically sold itself, it appeared that estate agents were being reduced to mere congenial, if highly paid, hosts who'd open up a property, greet prospective buyers, look dapper and hold brochures until someone viewing the property approached them with a question.

Some firms became so complacent that they'd dispatch an agent to a viewing on a Saturday morning who could fulfil the criteria of looking good - if a bit bleary eyed and unhappy to be there. Yes, they could hold brochures, but they couldn't stretch to answering questions about the property mainly because they'd never set eyes on it before but were the only ones available on the day.

Although it might be premature to declare the start of a downturn, this week's auction results showed that more than eighty per cent of homes under the hammer in Dublin were withdrawn due to lack of interest. The market is swimming with second-hand homes and, with that kind of supply, it looks as if agents are going to have to sharpen their skill set and dig deep to find their inner Sir Alan Sugar.

But after over 10 years of the good life, will Irish estate agents be able to step out of their comfort zone and start throwing some serious shapes?

While Alan Cooke, chief executive of the IAVI, believes that "we are some way off a quiet market", he agrees that "different skills" would be needed if the worst happened. He says during the boom years an agent's task became more focused "on managing the almost inevitable transaction for the benefit of his or her client rather than seeking out the elusive buyer, as might be the case in a less frenetic market".

But will agents have to become more like their London counterparts who've had to employ cut-throat tactics in a slowing market to get a sale? In some London companies, agents working on a commission-only basis have had to fight, not only rival companies, but each other, to bag a sale.

"We've had the hard sell before in this country and no doubt it will, at some stage, arise in the future," says Cooke. "Some agents already work on a commission-only basis, which is not something the IAVI supports as it undermines professionalism and makes estate agency in Ireland more akin to that in the US where it is very much a second choice career for later life."

So what skills are actually needed to capture the elusive buyer in a slow market? A real pro may not be able to produce a buyer out of an empty hat - "they are not magicians" - but will know how to handle a buyer once they emerge.

"Selling in that type of environment requires much greater patience and perseverance is the order of the day when buyers are few on the ground." Desperate measures may be required to draw attention to a property like the case in England where an agent published an ad slating the property he was selling in order to attract attention.

Quite a few young agents have never experienced the last long recession, from 1982-1987, when property prices stagnated. "Younger agents may have difficulty in switching from the mode of managing sales to selling when there is limited demand," admits Cooke. "It's not something they can formally retrain for, it's something one assimilates from experienced older colleagues who have survived previous quiet markets."

He says that during the 1980s recession unemployment was "a real factor" and only skilled practitioners survived. He believes that if there's another downturn, the first agents to suffer are likely to be unqualified ones "who secured licences in very recent times in response to the property boom. With less fees coming in, they are likely to find the business less attractive than those for whom it was and remains a first career choice".

Will we see a situation where agents will start to refuse to take difficult properties onto their books? While he says he can't see this happening, he says it's ultimately a business decision. "The agent must weigh up all factors in making that decision. These include the amount of time likely to be required to effect a sale."

* Last week I pondered whether the people advertising transport, cleaning and catering services to anyone renting their home for the Ryder Cup were offering more than they could realistically provide. John Colclough of tour operating company Adams & Butler emailed me to tell the other side of the story: the visitors expecting "far more than was offered" like the lady who offered to do a lunch box, "and instead found the clients returning to the house every day expecting a full lunch - linen tablecloths and all - not quite the apple and Nutrigrain bar she was intending! Another owner offered transport, but did not expect to be called out of bed at 3am to collect her guests from a night club!"