Dreaming of Irish Country Living? Insider Tips for Your Perfect Home
Get the inside story on Irish country house purchases in this week’s podcast as we look at the transaction from inside out with Philip Guckian, SCSI, Associate Director of Sherry Fitz, Country Homes and Estates
You might have seen Philip making lots of sense and being a brilliant agent on the recent RTE series of Selling Ireland’s Dream Homes?
If there’s one thing that becomes crystal clear during my conversation with Philip it’s that buying a country home is a marathon, not a sprint.
Join us as we talk about:
What distinguishes a country home from the many homes that are currently for sale in this country
Who are the main buyers of these houses and are they cash buyers or borrowers?
Why do estate agents like to feel that viewers have done a bit of homework before arranging to view a property
Is there one nationality more than another who is buying these properties?
The advisability of doing a survey before going sale agreed especially if the property is particularly old or rambling
Where the delays can occur in the buying process.
Philip’s contact details are:
Tel: 01 237 6309
About Breffnie O Kelly Buyer’s Agent.
I’m Breffnie, a licensed property-buying agent practising in Dublin, Ireland, where I was born and bred.
I love the process of assessing neighbourhoods and properties, looking for the features that will enhance the lives of my clients as well as the resale value of the property.
I'm a graduate of the Institute of Technology Tallaght (winning the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers Prize for Leadership) and a prize-winning (Sheehy Skeffington Prize in French) graduate of Trinity College Dublin. I'm also an external examiner on the newly launched National Auctioneering and Property Services Apprenticeship programme.
I love what I do.
I know that finding and agreeing terms on a property can be stressful, and I relish the fact that I can offer you a road map of the journey ahead, expert knowledge and a guiding hand until you have keys to your new property in your hand.
Thank you.
Book a call with Breffnie
Transcript of Video
Breffnie O'Kelly
Hello there. If you've been looking at country houses in Ireland, you might have become a little bit curious about what is the agent's life like? who is selling these fncy homes? is it all about having tea and scones and kitchen and nice chats and looking at beautiful properties? Or what's it like? Well, if you've ever had that question in your mind, you must be very interested in today's chat with Philip Guckian. Philip is Associate Director of country homes, Sherry Fitzgerald and he's kindly taken some time to share a day in the life with me. And during our chat we look at who is buying all of the country homes in Ireland? And typically, what are the issues involved when buying a country home? What are the key deal breakers or the things to look out for? And generally, how much of his time does he spend having tea versus paperwork and chasing? So that's what we're talking about today. I hope you join me. And thank you very much to Philp for joinuing us. Firstly, we're saying thank you so much for taking the time, it's eight o'clock on a very rainy Thursday morning here. So I appreciate it. Philip, you're an associate director of Sherry Fitzgerald, country homes, farms and estates. And we might just talk about what defines a country home in a minute. But I also want to compliment you on your appearance in Ireland's selling dream homes, because I just appreciated your ease on camera. And it makes it much easier to watch some programmes like that, and the people who are on it actually can be themselves. So thanks for that. Whatever skill you have, you can do it. And it's a useful one
Philip Guckian
getting old, I think probably the experience. That's the only good thing about getting old, you probably have a little bit of experience along the way. So
Breffnie O'Kelly
That's true. Philip what I want to do is talk to you today just about the general, we've looked at this whole business of buying country homes from a few different perspectives over the last couple of episodes, the buyer, the surveyor, the solicitor and what today I'd like to do is talk to you about the person you're the person in the suit, or the person in the cord jacket or the barbour jacket and the wellies, who, who has the task of selling this country home. And to start with I suppose so we just define what is a country home because there are lots of country homes, there lots of homes in the country in Ireland, but we wouldn't classify them all as country homes. So what for you would be the distinction?
Philip Guckian
Em I suppose country homes is very much a niche market. It is the niche market, there's you know, there's different sections of property throughout Ireland, but in commercial new homes, residential, but country homes has its own really we call it that niche market. So it could be anything from properties looking over the West of Ireland coast, you know, or Donegal, or, you know, the Atlantic ocean or the wild Atlantic way down right down to the south Kerry and Cork and places like that. It could be cottages, you know, with the stunning views, it could be farms on 30-40 acres outside of Dublin, it could be a house, you know, period style houses, modern houses, unique properties that have been built with architectural wisdom behind it in special locations, could be on a half an acre, an acre, but it also goes right up to larger states on three, four or 500 acre plus. So it's really there's a broad spectrum and we look at case by case basis and to define a country home it's very difficult because there's so many permutations there's so many people who are looking for different things throughout the market different locations you know, being close to an airport want to see a sea view or water view possibly they don't want to Lake View they want to see view or vice versa. They want more land for different reasons whether it be farming whether it be equine reasons, hobby reasons, you know a new thing coming into the market now is you know the amenity value of of land and stuff like that, which we'll talk about later. So to define a country home is difficult because there's huge broad spectrum of people's wants and needs and we often look at that niche market. A lot of our buyers will come from international so they would have different reasons for buying in Ireland also. Okay, so and I understand so it could be a stud farm or it could be a country cottage but one thing that seems to me to have to be a common denominator throughout the whole swathe is that they have, as you say, a unique factor, but there is something. It's not your average bungalow on a half acre site, there is something unique, as you say. And usually, if you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I would say it has a some kind of a value, you're unlikely I'm unlikely to see Sherry Fitz country homes, dealing with something that has, that's €300,000. If I were to put a figure on it, I put maybe 800 900 over that kind of threshold, or would you not even do that? Yeah, it depends. Again, it depends that you mentioned that uniqueness of the property. And sometimes, you know, if you take a certain location or take certain, as you said something different about that house that might, you know, entice that international buyer. So we're affiliated to Christie's International, real estate. And so, you know, it's, it's, it's, I suppose, from our point of view, it's going out to a property, and looking at all the aspects of it, and deciding, okay, well, is there an international side of things that may appeal to people. So it's not just the price point is not the most important thing, it's about that uniqueness, and finding that aspect that actually might benefit from having that international approach. You know, being close to an international airport, and having some sort of uniqueness to the property might be beneficial to have it up on a platform such as Christie's, so we market it all over the world. And ultimately, it's about achieving the best possible price for the vendor. So, you know, I think from our point of view, valuing something, it's about going well, do we find that actually marketing and internationally might benefit and might get more money for the client? Well, then, you know, that's often the important factor there.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Okay, excellent. That's interesting, the international dimension? Well, that leads us on to who are your clients? And maybe to some extent, who are my clients? So from your point of view, when you have something that's unique, and you feel it has international appeal, and is worth putting an international marketing effort behind? Who would you typically see? Or is there such a thing? as well? Firstly, we've defined it's not necessarily likely to be Irish. So the buyer is likely to be perhaps someone from out of the country, maybe it's an Irish abroad, but could you see in general, do you see one nation more than another coming to buy in Ireland?
Philip Guckian
Well, your your, your main nation would be domestically, like, you know, Ireland is still looking for those country homes but, you know, if we take our over a year, for that, if we look at the last 10 years, probably your average buyer 30-40, sometimes 50% of buyers, on a country home with our sales would be from outside of the country, though you're, you're talking 50% of the Irish and then the rest, you know, your breakup, or sometimes it changes during the year on year, who's your typical buyer, probably your US, because there's such affinity towards Ireland. And you know, it's interesting over the last couple of years, how it's changed, I suppose the why they're looking or why people are looking in Ireland. So it was always got to do with that, you know, the safe country, Ireland was always seen as, you know, good way into Europe from a business perspective. Now, it's sort of changing little things are starting to come back in as in, look, it's a really safe place to live. In terms of crime rates, the educational system is really good. The network theroughout is very good. It's quite an easy country to live in. It's very communal base, which is important to people as well, and generally is quite easy to get around. It's quite a small country in some ways, and your access into Europe and London is key as well. Environmental factors thats started to come into it. So we've noticed that people say in California that where the wildfires are, they're tending to go well, we want to get out of California summertime and move so you're probably saying that as well with your clients that there's a huge number of factors there. At why they're looking at Ireland, I suppose it's not just a US parties. It's it's from all over the world all seem to be picking those factors as being, you know, really, but ultimately, Ireland. Definitely seen as that safe place to live. Yeah, that's really still key to it.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah. I completely agree. It seems like it's geopolitical. That seems to be driving it a little bit at the moment. More than you might have expected or that I'm seeing kind of it pushed that way myself.
Philip Guckian
I agree.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah. So in general, are people who are buying country homes? Do they tend to be paying for it in cash in your experience? Or in? Are they borrowing ever? Again, it's changed a little bit. It used to be sort of when suppose the markets were a lot better. It used to be cash. Yeah, a lot of them would be cash buyers. But what we're seeing in the market now is that, albeit they might be cash buyers, a lot of them would tend to say, well, you know, we've been advised maybe to get part mortgage, so that they're not spending all their cash, because then they're keeping cash. So say they have a million or a million a half cash, you'd often see that they might get a 50-60% mortgage loan on top of that, and to keep the cash. That's good advice. So what we're seeing is when an offer comes in, we see proof of funds out there saying, Well, look, we'd like to, we're buying in with a mortgage, we have cash there. So you often, you know, see that but that that's, that's acceptable. It seems to be what people are doing. And it's good advice and a good financial advice, because they want to keep that cash in the bank, I suppose. And if you were to offer some tips, if you were to be given a broadcast platform, and you are accessing people who are thinking of buying an Ireland, and based on all the people you've seen coming into you and in general, you can find, I think that we all when we're new to something, we there's a bit of a learning curve. And if you were to try and help them speed up this learning curve and get to the top of it quicker, are there any thoughts you share with them, if they're listening and thinking about buying in Ireland.
Philip Guckian
I think I never was one for academic and school and stuff like that. I always hated homework. But I have to say the homework in this case would be really the most important bit, there's so many varying things that a country home can offer. So as I said, it could be a cottage looking over the west coast of Ireland, or could be a three 400 acre estate with a big massive period house on it. So what your buyer, I think is certainly worth doing. And I find that especially when it's an international buyer, or even domestically, when time is so precious to them, really spending that time and knuckling down and what actually we really want. So do we want so if you take land, for instance, that's often a big thing, you know, we got a call and we said, well, we want 3040 acres of land, an acre is around a football pitch. So it's actually quite a good amount. And so what's the reason that you need land? Now often it's a case where we just want land to enjoy, or we want land just for an amenity value. They don't need 30, 40 acres to do that. Because managing that is quite hard. And it's always an upkeep for it. So often five or six acres might be enough. So really, it's about you know, finding a homework. And you know, if you take the house, the physical house itself. Again, if you look from an international point of view, or domestic, what size of a house do you need? So do you need 5000 square foot house? Or do you need 2000? square foot house? Is there going to be family living there? How often are you going to be living? When are you going to be coming? Who's going to manage the house. So all of these permutations can lead to okay, we're coming, spend a week or two in Ireland, looking for a house. And rather than coming up and looking at 10 to 15 houses, that was never going to be an option, you look at five to six houses because you really concentrated on and that's where I suppose Breffnie you and your expertise come in that you can sort of manage there. So okay, what is the main things that you are looking for? Is it a holiday home is a home that you want to be close to towns, for schools, for kids, and things like that? So all of these factors are key. And I think that's really the most important thing?
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yes, I completely agree with you that, that it can be an, If you're half thinking about buying a property in Ireland, that can be an impulse to pick up the phone and start arranging things or inquiring. But merely picking up the phone is one of the last things to be doing. I think a question I often ask clients at the start is, you know, imagine you've bought it, and it's working really well for you. How often are you coming here? And as you say, Who's coming with you? Are you renting it out in the short term when you're not here? What's making you when you're in your own country, pick up your phone and book a flight to come here? What is it about it that's drawing you? And sometimes I think when we're looking at properties, we can position ourselves so much at the start of the search, that we just are sort of transfixed by the search. Whereas if we just fast forward to the end of the search and imagine that it's done, sometimes you get more information at the end of that, it just forget all the uncertainty of is it available and you really love it and is it protected and all this kind of thing? Just imagine you own this darn thing. Sometimes it's a little bit like, imagine you have buyer's remorse for buying it. Yeah about it that you regret you. Why do right, you've bought it? Or why are you so glad you have?
Philip Guckian
And I think there's a sort of, you know, tendency, because I suppose, country homes, they're, they're quite pretty looking, you know, they're often presented very, very well, the photographs are very professionally done, and it's videos. And there is that excitement level of when someone is searching. I mean, most of our queries come in sort of around Friday evening, Saturday evening, when people are relaxed and looking at stuff and going wow wouldn't that be amazing, as you said, they don't really look at the end factor they go the searches, wow, that's actually really special property looks beautiful. And look at the views and look at this. But the practicality is all of it come nearly after the viewing. So I think yeah, you're very much right in terms of saying that the practicality side of things should be coming in on that search.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah, yes. And that it's sort of searching with the certainty that you will be buying something and you're going to be happy with it? Is this the thing that's going to make you happy? And when you look at it, then then you might be thinking, Okay, well, am I happy been that close to the road? And what kind of a road is that anyway. And there's so much information we can get when we look online at properties, because to some extent in the chain, there's you with the property to sell, sometimes there's me who's another filter, you're selling it, I'm a filter between someone else who's looking at it, and you who are selling it. But it's that filtering process that either you can do yourself if you're not using the likes of me. But if you are the way I'll be filtering it on your behalf, for starters, is looking at how it lies on its land, you know, does it sit too close to the sea? Are we seeing too much see supporting walls there? Is it red flagged straightaway, when we look at it online? Then when we look at it on its site? Yes, the photographs nicely taken from this angle. But if we go up to it on satellite view, we can see actually, there's another darn big house right beside it that isn't appearing in the photograph. And just even looking at it one degree more with a view to seriously is this going to work for me can eliminate quite a lot. And looking at the type of road it's on, we can see on Google is the road a national road, a regional road or a local road. And that's going to give you a sense of the volume of traffic on it national being the most well motorway being the busiest, but we're not going to be buying on that. Then national second business then regional, then local. So just even also filtering it by that.
Philip Guckian
Yeah, I agree and do know what with COVID. I thought that COVID opened up a different avenue for agents in terms of even yourself that we can have a zoom call with people all over the world. And really sort of pin down get up the video and and nearly do virtual viewings before people come over and really go well. You know, I suppose from our point of view, even even yours, you don't want to waste your time, like we are all busy. And so I feel that there is no point in us wasting someone's time to come look at a property, you're wasting the vendors time to prepare the house, we're wasting people's time. So I think it's really important that when we're even looking at getting viewing parties that we're not wasting people's time. And that's often the sort of thing is I Oh, we'll just get the viewing and get it in and you know what, it's not going to suit well then spending three to four hours of the day. And often it could take a half a day to view a property for the good bit away. And there's no point. And it's really important because yeah, they might have said a few things. And that said well look that's a that's a no no. So bring them to a property that's a no no well then to waste the time so zoom calls can often I think it's just valuable now to us in having that really knuckling down as I said on that key factor.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah, and also the lie of the land as well is you can figure that one out even as well from the photographs. I remember actually, it was Colleen the client who's on this series and we went to look at a property and we thought it might be in a bit of a hollow when we went but we went anyway because it had separate accommodation and we were interested in the piece of separate accommodation but we really should have believed our research because when we got in the research showed it's in a hollow is in a hollow and you kind of think well maybe it won't be that bad of a hollow but but sometimes just believe your research, it is in a hollow and it's not going to suit
Philip Guckian
And different parts of Ireland like if you take land from an agricultrual point of view land, this is just, it's a science on itself. You know, you've got good counties or bad counties, within the bad counties, you've got mazing land within certain areas, you know, people looking for farms and productive reasons behind, you know, say if we take the equine world, you know, Ireland is, is I'm going to guys here is the best place to breed horses and to have horses there's such a history of, of equestrian Ireland. So, you know, often that's the case, we find that some people well, we've horses, and we, you know, we want land for that purposes. So, you know, there's certain areas that are good and bad and wet and dry. And you know, so yeah, the lie of the land actually is really important as well, and knowing, knowing what to look for in terms of land and stuff like that, as well.
Breffnie O'Kelly
So let's say you've got your buyer, and it's a fit. Where have you seen deals with country homes fall apart? Where have you seen the deal breakers or the or the stumbling blocks, you've done the deal, everyone's happy. But now some something is making this deal shaky. Now, what have you seen?
Philip Guckian
Em I suppose it's, it's, it's the other side of it, it's the homework from I suppose, vendor side in preparing the houses preparing the documents preparing, you know, this, this is when it gets into, I suppose, the legal side. So, you know, going through so someone makes an offer, the offer is accepted. What happens then is we share solicitors details, take a book and deposit, a vendor's solicitor will send contracts out. And there could be loads of things, huge amount of things in those contracts, I suppose it's having the vendor prepared, and getting making sure that they're solicitors prepared to send those contracts, because they take a lot of time, and especially with the country home, but certainly larger country homes, ones that have not been sold in a while, there's a lot of documents to get. So it's a huge amount of documents between maps, you know, loads of different legal things that need to be got on what I would say from a vendor's point of view is start getting them immediately, like have that all prepared. Because time is a big thing for buying a house, I think people were okay, we want to get this done as soon as possible. And so time is, is I think the key factor.
Breffnie O'Kelly
I think that's true. And especially from an American point of view, I was on a call with clients yesterday, they're going to be buying in Ireland and they're from America. And they just said, Let's just give you an idea of the timing, when we bought our house, there was a notice up on there on the house, they were interested in seeing coming soon. That went up on Friday, the house went up for viewing the following Thursday, they went in and saw it on Friday, they bid on it, bought it on Monday went in to do the paperwork the following Friday, so that it was a two week process from the house saying we're going to be for sale and then buying it so I find especially with my American clients, that it is an education that needs to be in advance to let them know how this process works and also that we don't know exactly how long it's going to take because we don't know what's going to be in that pile of documents that goes to the buyer solicitor from the sellers solicitor we can estimate but until we see what's in there, we really just don't know.
Philip Guckian
Yeah, look you've hit the nail on the head there we don't and and there's a lot of factors into play there. I think from a purchaser certainly from outside of the country, they again it goes back to the homework, so ring a solicitor before you comb or a lawyer before you come to Ireland. And so what do I need as a buyer? You know, do I need to get an Irish passport? Do I need to get all of those documents? You know, what happens if I'm using it as a second home? Theres so many questions. So talk to a good solicitor that used to dealing with international buyers and is able to guide them through and that is before you even step foot on Ireland because then you're prepared as well. And so you might find that the vendors actually are prepared. Contracts go out, oh, I need to go and get stuff so it works both ways. Yeah. The legal system Ireland look, it's it is what it is. And you know, there's there's amazing solicitors out there and you know, they try and do it as quick as possible. And the next thing probably the most important one is a survey to get a survey on a house. When you go sale agreed. And always, always, I would recommend getting a survey on the house, no matter if it looks like the perfect house, always get a survey on the house. And it's really important that you get probably an experienced surveyor, especially dealing with the larger older country homes, you're dealing with a period house, you probably should get an experienced conservation architect maybe to look at it that used to dealing with older houses that can see the sort of signs of of things that might be let's keep an eye on that thing. Experience means a lot in terms of the older houses, because I suppose there's factors in period houses that people see and go, Oh, god, look at that. And that's actually not an issue at all. And that's really important, people assume the worst. But actually, it might be a problem at all. And normal things with older houses are just the everyday thing. And often, yeah, that's really important, too. You know, I came across an international buyer, getting a survey on the house, and they're going to have a zoom call with the surveyor before he goes out. Yes, good. Cause, whilst we looking forward to explain this, explain that. And it's expensive time to get a survey. So you need to be sure about if I'm going to spend 5,6,7,8 10,000 on a surveyor, that you know, you're really knuckling down what we want, are you going to do work on the house after it. So explain to the survey, well, look, we're buying this, but we're going to do a lot of work. So we're going to probably rip up the floor. So actually, the floor has already mattered to us, you know. So there's, there's loads of different things like that. And again, it's about saving time. And the next step is then when you get that survey out of the way, communication, that is ultimately an estate agents goal is and and your goal is communication, keeping in touch with everybody, keeping in touch with your solicitor, your estate agent, what's happening, our job really is to keep the whole process moving. So this job of estate agents, people think that especially with country homes, that were always out just looking at fancy homes and walking around and having tea and crumpets and all that. That's not most of the time we spend on the phone,
Breffnie O'Kelly
Chasing a solicitor! being a collie dog chasing up....
Philip Guckian
just making the process as smooth as possible. That's the most important thing for an estate agent, keeping in touch with you and saying, Do you think there's anything down the line do we need to get on top of this? We haven't heard back from him, somebody or her and maybe we give them a call or give them a text, give them an email. There's a certain formality to it. You know, there's dates put in place. So make sure that when we get to that date that things are done all the process, keeping it moving.
Breffnie O'Kelly
And, you know, the survey goes back to that for a second. There are definitely times when we have gone back to renegotiate after a survey. It's not anything I like to do. But there are certainly times where it has happened because of some unforeseen thing with the property. You know, an infestation in the attic of dry rot or woodworm are something that we just physically didn't see with our eyes. Where have you seen those kinds of things happening?
Philip Guckian
Yeah, I personally, I suppose I look at it from the vendor's point of view. And I do you know, I don't like that. I know, if you're sure about a house. And you are interested in get a survey done before we make a bid. I think that's really key or say, look, it's it's something we want to get out of the way before you enter into the process. So from a vendor's point of view, I suppose it's frustrating that, you know, it's renegotiation. So it's very important that if someone has a buying buyer in the market, and they're unsure about something, that's when you say to the surveyor, I want to get this out of the way, but it's very important that you say to the estate agent, or your buying agent, well, hold on a second. We want to check these things before we are committing to a price. And I think that's the thing that happens is that ultimately you agree your price, and that's changed that often leads to a bit of a negative vibe on your process.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah, I totally agree. It's something I hate doing. And I hate to see as a survey come back, and it's something I rarely do I have to say, because like you once that happens, it's like some negative things. And I think that's a good point to make that it also comes back to how serious are you about buying because if you're approaching something that it has, is potentially going to do a tricky enough survey. Maybe a country house with a lot of whatever you know something about this property is indicating to you that it may do a tricky survey or there may be issues here. And sometimes the agent comes to you upfront and says, Look, we'll be clear, there was a bit of subsidence here. It was underpinned, that's where it is we've got the certs for it, or whatever there is, sometimes it's coming. It's also communication.
Philip Guckian
It's your right absolutely, it comes down to communication. If you're unsure about something, ask say to the estate agent, we're all not. We're all not bad people. We're here to facilitate, I think, more communication at that point. Yes, that's really the biggest The crucial point is getting all those things clear. before you go sale agreed. Once your sale agreed? There's often I mean, I think sale agreed I unfortunately, I don't get excited when you go sale agreed anymore, because there's a whole different thing. But before the few days before, and often we country homes, we don't rush things. We take our time. It's a process. And so, you know, if someone makes a bid, is it subject to survey? Or do we want to get the survey out of the way before you go sale agreed, because then I think at that point, and it's really Breffnie about the the especially with the older houses, because a newer house is quite sound. You know, there's new maps, there's this, that and the other. So the older houses, though, you know, there is a point that sometimes you don't actually know that there's an issue. And so often, because the vendor themselves hasn't gone poking around. Yeah, yeah. So I think I think if it's a real interest to you? now, there's, there's there's factors, I suppose if that there's a bidding process going on. So you have may have one party that's got a survey and is bidding, and you have another party that hasn't done a survey, and it's bidding. And so often it's a case from, you know, advising a buyer. Okay, well, maybe it might be a good idea to go get your survey out of the way, but it depends on if they're interested, or how interested? are they willing, as you said, to pay to get a survey done, because it's quite an expensive thing to get. So there's a huge amount of factors, but it just goes back to just communication and letting the estate agent know, I have a concern about this, would it be okay, if we go get this checked out? Absolutely. 99% of the time, it's actually a really beneficial thing, because what we're going back as an estate agent, but we're going back to the vendor with the saying, Wow these guys are really serious. Yes, they're going to go invest money in getting a survey done. Let's wait and see and let him do that. I think that's a really positive thing to get before.
Breffnie O'Kelly
I agree. And I think if it's a bidding situation, and one party has a survey done, and there are two other parties who don't, I know if I was a selling agent, I imagine you'd feel the same Philip, that if you are going to be slightly thinking I want to sell if the person's got the survey done, because I know that's one hurdle that's out of the way they've seen this survey. And they know, they know, they know at least this much information we may not have the title yet, but at least we know we don't have a survey hurdle to cross now we may have
Philip Guckian
Yeah, exactly. Look at the analogy of that hurdle race. Like if there's 10 hurdles in front of you, and you've got to hurdle out of the way you've only got nine and someone has got tansy, you're sort of going on, I think we'll go with the one with nine. So it is it's it's often as well, you know, all be it, you know, as an estate agent, it's those the experience of knowing it's not all about money either. So there could be a higher bid, but they have to get a survey done. They might be subject to financing, they might be subjected to x, y, and z. They might be longer closing that might be so different factors. And people don't understand that if they're in a bidding process as well. I'm the highest bidder or why it's not about it sometimes.
Breffnie O'Kelly
And I had a good example of that yesterday with a client we had, I just taken them on. We've just signed a contract and we were looking at five houses. That's how I work. I short his five houses just to go through just to get the gut response, they roughly the roof, but one of the houses had been sale agreed already, and when I phoned them, I just phoned about it. And they said actually it was sale agreed it fell through. And now it's just back on the market. So I did show that property to my client yesterday in the Zoom call thinking, well, they've told me it's now it fell through it's now back on the market. And then what happened was that the people who were one of the under bidders had been I was talking to the receptionist, but the agent in the meanwhile had contacted the under bidders to say look, if you're still interested, even though you've approved a property to sell we'll do a deal with you, so that's the kind of limbo it was in. It wasn't sale agreed and it wasn't not sale agreed. and the reason I'm saying this is because sometimes people think if I just throw money at it. But if i just put the higher bid there. Off you go pussy cat
Philip Guckian
I didn't know what that was?!
Breffnie O'Kelly
But it's like, yes, it's money. That's true. But it's also timing. Is it the right timing, we were just entering this property too late, it seems that there was just too many significant conversations been had. So it isn't just about the money, I guess, is what we're saying,
Philip Guckian
No, and it's a really good point, prayerfully. Because, you know, if you take from the international side of things, as well, we got a lot, and you probably see it is that they're planning to come in two to three months time. So often, January, February, March, we're going to be arriving in Ireland, in May, or April or June. Sometimes the properties are gone. And we can't wait, it's a big decision for a vendor to say, I'm going to wait three months for someone to come. Because most of the time, they're not just looking at that property, they're looking at 10 other properties. So it's a calculated risk. Look, if it's there, it's there. But at the same time, they're going to be replaced with other properties. You know, so, you know, it works both ways, I suppose.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Absolutely. And that's the point I get out of, I definitely make sure that we're talking because honestly, to me, if a client comes to me and says we're going to be here in two months time, and we want to see some properties to me that's nearly a warning sign that this isn't necessarily about the buying, this is about the looking and the lining up, it's more, I will always be clear, do you need to physically see this property before you buy it? Or are you prepared to buy it without having physically seen it? And we have to get clear on that? Absolutely.
Philip Guckian
Absolutely. We, we sort of know the policy is you have to physically see it, because there's just COVID Look COVID. Again, COVID brought that into play, when of course, no one could travel and they want to buy and it did happen where people did take that chance. 100% of the time, 99.99% of time, or else is completely different factor that they've they know the property or are very much aware of the property. It's a no no, because as you said there while back photos and everything like that from an estate agent, they're going to be nice photos, they're going to be they're not going to show the bad things most of the time. So you go through a property and, and three sides of it are absolutely stunning. And you have a pig farm the other side of it, and you don't know so you're gonna. Yeah, or a quarry or something. Exactly. So and also the town like, you know, and you know, where is the property? Is the town nice beside it? Is there sharps is there this is that I so it's not just about the property, location as well. So yeah, that's, that's probably something that usually what happens is it falls through. Or they say, Well subject to a viewing, you get into three, four weeks of legal things, and they come and what is that? its a waste of time, it's a waste of money for everybody.
Breffnie O'Kelly
And that's to some extent, I'm really glad you mentioned that, that that's nearly a policy or emerging into sort of a way of operating, which is that the person has to see. And that part of my job, then when I'm going to do something on behalf of a client who is prepared to buy it without seeing it, is to make sure that the estate agent knows there are enough strands holding this property to my client, that they really understand what they're buying. They know what the town is, they're buying it for this reason. They know what the fishing is. They know what the commute is. They know what the rentability is, if they're not if they know everything, and I need to make sure that the selling agent knows that so as that and that the survey is done and that they know exactly what it is. And that very often actually Philip just to bridge that gap of you haven't seen it. What I would do is a whatsapp walkthrough video with my clients and with the selling agent and the selling agent in the sense, right. They're not actually meeting the client, but they can see that there's John, and there's Mary over there, and that they are asking the questions and is completely right makes the connection real. And it builds faith and trust with the agent that we're going to do it.
Philip Guckian
I think there's, you know, certainly from a buying agent and you know, it key to us as well because often it's the case with estate agents, it's not physical, physical interaction with people so you know, you've done your due diligence. You've done your homework, you've sort of seen them face to face and going well, this is what they want. This is how we're going to do it. You're not wasting your time.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah, and you know that they're serious, too. And if they've engaged me, I've got their proof of funds on file. They have paid me a substantial briefing fee already. So they are already invested in the process. So it sounds we've at least clear the hurdle of are we going to be important?
Philip Guckian
That's, that's the most important thing, roughly what you just said, because it's a little bit, isn't it? Like them getting the survey done? Because they've invested money now before they started the process. And that is really the key thing. Is that okay, they're serious now. You know, and often it's, it's the, it's a process of actually, they've started to can't get over straightaway, but they've actually started that process. And that's, that's a good sign for us. Certainly requires
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah, yeah. And for I always, I know, I've said this before, but I have to make it clear to them. Are you going to have to get a clear between us? Are you going to buy this without having seen it? Because when it's a case of we'll do all this stuff, but then we have to see it? That's often a timing. That can be a deal breaker, they need to be fully decided in their heads? Can they do it virtually entirely? And usually, the the I find the people are super savvy online, they'll be coming to me telling me there's a walkway up behind the house that they tell them yes. You know, they can find that so many things. So so that's really good.
Philip Guckian
Oh, it's scary. It's scary what you can.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah, it is scary. That's true. So I asked you what advice you'd give just before we finish, Philip. And I think what I'm hearing the advice from you is really think it through and know why you're doing it. And be clear how it's going to work for you and be prepared to put the money upfront in slicing and dicing it each which way with a drain survey with an architectural survey with the ground truth survey with the whatever historical architect or whatever else you need to do, but get get your questions answered before getting in.
Philip Guckian
Yeah, and you know, there's a multitude of things to look at. But a good surveyor should be able to do that all in one go. So you don't need to get 10 surveyors to look, a good surveyor, with experience, knows what they're looking for. And I think it's been specific sort of like that we want to check the whole house goes back to even a period is an older house, we want the whole thing checked, everything checked and that sort of covers all bases, boundaries, you know, our battle, can you walk the land? Can you walk the boundary, and make sure you see no issues? And, you know, that's really important that you don't arrive and, you know, the hedge is one side and your fences the other? And you're going well, which is which is at the boundary? Is it the hedge or the fence? All of those things? Because that leads then to uncertainty and it leads to problems. So yeah, getting that survey done. And, you know, often it's a case 99% of time is something was going to come up in the survey. You know, that, that that isn't right. Again, it goes back to communication, it goes back to okay, something's come up. Can you find out that about is ring the vendor ring us and whatever. And often it's the case, there's an easy solution to it. So it's, don't be expecting it to be perfect.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Exactly. And also, as I say to them, the chances are the house you're living in at the moment, if a surveyor was to come into it there's likely to have something or other wrong with it. So, you know, no house, they're dynamic things. They, they they have a lifecycle.
Philip Guckian
I wish it was perfect. It'd be great.
Breffnie O'Kelly
And, yeah, so I think just on that survey note, because it's probably one of the more important things. I every time I there's a transaction, I learned something. And when I do learn that, sorry, this cat is determined to join us. But when I do learn that thing, I put it into my template. So when I have buyers, I have a standard email that I send about surveys that includes a survey in it, a sample survey so they get this broad scope of it. And I see what usually isn't included what they need to pay more for if they want included and but now, you've already added another few things in there that I'm going to change my template and put in because you just can't have enough information up front.
Philip Guckian
No, no, no, no. Spend time like you know, if an estate agent is running through a viewing I mean our viewing sometimes take an hour and a half, two hours, two and a half hours. If an estate agent is running through viewings, and you don't have enough time, you say, sorry, I really want to spend a bit of time at the house here, especially if you're over and you've two weeks, you know, make sure and that's why it's important to do your homework on have time at a property, because that could be the one time that you're actually they're.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Physically there. Yeah, you can look at those windows and you can smell the air and you can look into the sounds. What can you hear in this property.
Philip Guckian
Breffnie, you probably see it. They're like, Oh, we got we got to get to the next house. We've got six houses to see today. We've got to get some next house. And often it's a case of oh, we like that property. What was what was this? And what was that? And I think if you have six properties, especially country homes, if you have five to six properties in a day, and it's all over the place, you will not you will not see the best one. forget everything. if you have two to three properties to see. And you say to your estate agent, before you go, we want to take a time here. We're only over for a week. We want to take time at this house. Is that okay with you? So the estate agent can say right, we're gonna be here for two hours. Yeah, you know, they could bring their laptop with them, they can do a little bit of work, they can make calls so what I often do is we show the property spend time with them ask the questions. It's not a rush, not a rush if an estate agent Estate agent is probably going to kill me saying what the hell is he saying? Take your time and say we want to spend a bit of time here the big investment for us spend time, because as you said, going into the room sitting down what's it like to be sitting down? what's the view like? what what's the sounds? exactly and smells and all that sort of stuff and then you'll find out very quickly what property is the best one.
Breffnie O'Kelly
Yeah. Great. Well, Philip, I think we have hopefully helped someone who's sitting abroad maybe looking at it or looking at it and use favourite thinking what would it be like that looks nice. So yes, a phone call may be in order but beforehand maybe a good old think to how it would work for you and what might make it work so well for you that you'd be delighted you bought it.
Philip Guckian
Absolutely, absolutely.
Breffnie O'Kelly
I appreciate you so much. And we'll have your contact details in the show notes and thank you Philip!