A woman's place is selling homes: Colliers Jackson-Stops staff
Diana Humphreys, Clodagh Barry, Elaine Torpey and Gillian Ryan

Sisters are doing it for themselves to boost ailing estate agencies, says property editor, John O'Keeffe. As the property market goes into neutral it would seem implausible that in the current climate a new estate agency should open, let alone one entirely populated by females. But Samantha Flavin, Sinead McCarthy and Miriam Walsh have just done exactly that in Waterford, launching under the banner Flavin McCarthy Walsh two weeks ago.

As auctioneers and estate agents shed staff by the dozen, what prompted three women to set up an agency in this current housing climate? Miriam Walsh takes a business-like approach to the current market.

"Lots of businesses have rough rides and currently everyone is feeling the pinch in some way but this is not the first time or the last time that we will experience difficult times," she told the Sunday Independent. "Although it might seem strange to start up a new business in a downturn we very much have a long-term view of our business."

What was the logic behind an all-female company? Was this intentional? "Initially it wasn't intentional but, to be honest, when we sat down to work on our marketing strategy we quickly realised that an all-female team would set us apart from our competitors," said Sinead McCarthy.

"With an all-female company we can use our female intuition to connect with the customer," Samantha Flavin remarked. As the housing downturn tightens its grip, females in the capital are also making a serious dent in the upper ranks of leading estate agents.

In that most blue-blooded of agents, Knight Frank, the internationally acclaimed firm are more than happy in hard times for their female staff to take centre stage. Their names trip off the tongue as easily as a thoroughbred horse might glide across a paddock - Roseanne De Vere-Hunt, Harriet Grant and Audrey Strong sound like the type of women who would find you a jolly fine house and then have an even jollier fine glass of sherry with you after to celebrate.

These women have no doubt that they have an advantage over their male counterparts in the market. "Dealing with residential and country property, there is a distinct advantage in having a majority of female negotiators. At the end of the day, it is always the lady of the partnership who ultimately chooses the house and we believe females are far better at pointing out the important parts of a house that will appeal," Audrey Strong told the Sunday Independent.

Ganly Walters, which has now merged with Knight Frank, has been in existence since 1840 and the pair began life selling cattle, making their transition to a top-heavy female team all the more unusual. They even managed to arrange the first inter-office marriage when Audrey Strong from the residential team married Mark Smyth from their development land section and "not an introductory commission in sight", according to Robert Ganly.

Colliers Jackson-Stops boasts four women in its senior ranks, who have memories of both the good and the bad old days. Elaine Torpey (the firm's first female director) and Gillian Ryan, associate director, work in a company that has a record of selling some of the country's finest homes. In a profession traditionally dominated by men, female staff at Colliers now account for 40 per cent of the total staff and their average age is a mere 32.

As the property market endures further turbulence, expect to see more female auctioneers at the forefront issuing tough love to vendors up and down the country.