Changing Face of Estate Agents in North Cyprus

To be an estate agent on this fair and lovely isle is like a curse I think...it seems to be something that most people are tempted to try out at least once, encouraged by the lure of loadsamoney that mysteriously always fails to materialise.

And then comes the period of nagging frustration, you’re selling houses (or maybe you’re not) you’re being treated like a slave and not being appreciated by your customers or your bosses and finally you make the big brave decision to kick it into touch and go out and do something less boring instead and you leave...only to find that you’ll now never get paid for all the work you did, your ex-bosses hate you and all your customers spit at you in the street.

Okay, it’s not quite that bad - I haven’t heard of any spitting going on!  And anyway what would I know, I’ve never been an estate agent.  But all I can really tell you is the three North Cyprus estate agents that I know are now estate agents no more and are SO much happier in themselves.  Such cheery fellows they are nowadays that they aren’t pursued by the thoughts of commissions they should be making, customers they should be meeting and bosses they should be afraid of.

Daniel Bond - the very first estate agent we met when he worked for Unwins and who showed us round some lovely places and some not so lovely places was a blooming good salesman actually, and I think if he’d been encouraged to stay he would’ve remained selling homes for a bit longer at least - well, anyway, he went and set up a company with a friend to rescue olive trees. 

No, I kid you not. 

You see all the developers and road builders and house builders were in need of someone to relocate misplaced olive trees - trees that had been growing for some 300 years quite happily but were now right where a swimming pool needed to be.  So Daniel and his friend now zoom up on a digger, bish bash bosh, pop out the tree, relocate it either to their nursery somewhere up near Bogaz or simply replant it elsewhere for the developer.  What a brave and wonderful pursuit I say - saving the changing face of North Cyprus from being spoilt forever. 

And when he’s not rescuing olive trees he’s being a DJ on a Thursday night at C’est la Vie - Shola’s underground club.  Shola was never an estate agent, Shola was a footballer, a price, a ruler of a nation somewhere far away...and now he’s doing a mighty fine job of C’est la Vie.  Mind you, in direct competition with him is another former estate agent Scott Ravioli - not his real name obviously.  Anyway, he also went to work for Unwins, then for Amaranta I think and now he is happily running Cherinnis Gardens which is a bar near the castle.  He and his mate Vikki are doing a good job too.  They open all day for the passing lunch trade then transform the place a few nights a week into an open air party/dance venue.  All good stuff.

And last (but by no means least) on the list is lovely and very clever Mike Armstrong.  He too was a successful and GOOD estate agent in North Cyprus and happily beavered away for a while at Fraser and Beyler (ooops, sorry, Donaghy and Beyler) but then he got very, very poorly indeed and had to leave for a while.  I’m happy to say he is fast on the way to feeling better, and will be back soon in hot pursuit of another exciting adventure in North Cyprus...in fact last time I saw him he was having some sparkling and innovative ideas but I shan’t share them with you in case you decide to nick them from him!  Just watch this space for the next exciting instalment of the adventures of the former estate agents in Northern Cyprus.