Agents in Ireland are busy.

Not in a vague, general sense. Specifically busy. Managing sellers who have timelines, expectations, plans built around a sale completing. Coordinating viewings, managing solicitors, updating people who are waiting on news.

In that environment, a buyer who is unclear costs everyone time.

And a buyer who lingers costs themselves something more important.

What most buyers think is strategy

There's a version of buying behaviour that looks like caution but is actually something else.

The buyer who views a property, likes it, says nothing definitive. Who asks questions without really listening to the answers. Who follows up vaguely and waits to see what happens next.

They think they're being measured.

The agent reads them as uncertain.

And uncertain buyers don't get the same attention as clear ones. Not because agents are punishing them. Because agents are working with the information they actually have. And vague signals are not useful information.

What clarity actually looks like

It doesn't mean showing all your cards immediately.

It means being direct enough that the agent knows exactly where you stand, what you need to know, and what happens next if the answers are right.

Three questions do most of the work.

Does this seller's situation align with mine? Timeline, chain complexity, circumstances. A motivated seller in a clean sale is a very different conversation to someone who hasn't fully decided to move. Knowing which one you're dealing with changes everything.

Is there anything I need to know? It sounds simple. It's actually the most powerful question you can ask. It gives the agent room to tell you something they couldn't lead with. Planning history. A previous sale that fell through. Something about the title. Agents remember buyers who ask it well.

And the third question isn't for the agent at all.

What is my honest gut reaction?

Not what you think you should feel. Not what the spreadsheet says. What do you actually feel?

People override this constantly in property. They've been searching long enough that they start rationalising houses into fit. Adjusting their reaction to match their effort. Telling themselves the location will grow on them, the layout will work, the thing that bothered them on the viewing probably isn't a big deal.

It usually is.

Your gut is processing things your rational mind hasn't caught up with yet. The sense that something feels off about a house, even when you can't name it, is real data. Much like meeting someone and feeling something isn't right, before you know why. That feeling is usually pointing at something.

Trust it before you override it.

Step in quickly. Step away quickly.

If the three questions land well and your gut is quiet, move. Clearly, directly, without manufacturing drama.

If they don't, say so and walk away cleanly.

What you should not do is linger.

Languishing in a process that isn't right doesn't just waste time. It drains the decision-making energy you need for the property that actually fits. It signals to the agent that you're not serious. And it builds a kind of low-grade fatigue that makes the next decision harder, not easier.

The Irish market moves on buyers who are clear.

Not aggressive. Not loud. Clear.

A simple rule

Go in with three questions. Come out with a decision.

Either it works and you move, or it doesn't and you don't.

The space in between is where good buyers lose ground.