THERE is a perception that estate agents have done well in the boom for very little work and of course some agents have done well, but most are just making a living. It's a strange phenomenon; estate agents are one of the most misunderstood professions and at the same time we're also one of the most necessary.

Twenty years ago people would sell their home themselves, but not in today's busy market. That's a vote of con"dence in the profession; there are very few homes sold without an estate agent in Ireland these days. You have to go to a solicitor, but you don't have to go to an estate agent. Vendors know we're working on their behalf and fees are decided on an individual basis between "rm and clients. Prior to this, say pre-1990, there was a guideline fee of about 3.5% in place, but that couldn't even exist now as it would fall foul of the competition authority.

The Conference of European Estate Agents pointed out that fees in Ireland are the lowest in the EU. In some EU countries agents fees can be as high as 6%. I mentioned this survey and my remarks were taken out of context. But I think that because of competition among agents during the boom, some people have been undercutting fees and this may not be possible going forward as agents are going to have to work harder.

There has been a lot of vili"cation of agents in the media recently following programmes exposing sharp practices in terms of fees and service and the stories about hikes in fees. I feel that this is unfair representation. If you look at the EU survey, you see that Irish estate agents give good value for money.

When you think about it, the work estate agents do, it's really very specialised. It's not a job that anybody can do. If that was the case, then you'd see more people selling their own homes, whereas most Irish people choose to use an estate agent.

Your home is a major investment; for most people it's the largest investment they'll make in their entire lives. They say the three most stressful things in life are bereavement, divorce and moving house.

People are nervous when selling their house, especially when they're trading up. Estate agents guide people through one of the most stressful experiences in their lives. They provide experience and knowledge of the best way to market a property. It's a huge service when you consider the level of "uctuation that can occur in the property market. Then the process of selling a house becomes even more hazardous, particularly in relation to decisions such as house valuations, which offers to accept or reliability of offer and so on.

After all, the property market is cyclical and before the recent boom we had a series of booms and slumps. After the boom of the late '70s we had a slump in the '80s when interest rates made property almost prohibitive. Then house prices were hit by the currency crisis in 1992 followed by Foot and Mouth in 2002. Estate agents have a feel for handling the cyclical nature of the market and can be the voice of reason for vendors who are uncertain of how to handle these cyclical changes.