Pioneering estate agent with a flair for fringe Dublin markets

Felicity Fox, who has died aged 49, was a gifted Dublin estate agent who came to dominate city neighbourhoods such as Portobello, Kilmainham and the South Circular Road during the property boom, and whose loyal customer base helped her boutique business survive the downturn that followed.

The businesswoman, who was born in Belfast and raised in Donegal, built her reputation as a negotiator and manager at Douglas Newman Good (now DNG) before branching out on her own in the early 2000s with a mainly female team. Fox had an innate sense of the Dublin property scene and was quick to see the potential of fringe neighbourhoods along the canal where period homes were undervalued and likely to be snapped up by younger buyers with flair and foresight.Fox carved out a niche in the avenues by the canal in Dublin 8, where her clients included architects and designers and those in the fashion and art world. Her focus on this area contributed to its rapid gentrification; these days Dublin 8 is one of the most-sought-after areas of the capital.

If there was a typical Felicity Fox house it was this: a handsome redbrick terraced home, beautifully renovated inside. Welcoming viewers with a wide smile and one of her lavishly illustrated fold-out brochures (at a time when some agents still relied on photocopied sheets and blurred images) she made viewers feel as if they were arriving at a party.

Enjoy yourself

“Come in, look around and enjoy yourself” was her mantra. The rooms were often “staged” for their arrival with fires burning and candles flickering. Her houses sold quickly, often achieving a record price for the road. Those who bought from her frequently gave her the sale of their existing home. In many cases clients became friends.

Fox’s sales style was chatty but informed. She knew her streets, what had sold before and what might come on the market in the future. Before the existence of the Property Price Register punters – and the media – had little information to draw on, beyond what could be gleaned from auction results. Fox was a trustworthy source with a wide network of associates and friends in the business. She worked long hours and was always available.

Her sky-blue boards appeared first in 2003, after she left Douglas Newman Good, where she had run its Trinity Street branch, and where she had met Ed Douglas, a seasoned commercial property agent whom she would later marry.

2003 wasn’t a great time to set up an estate agency. The business had seen many smaller agencies consolidate with large agencies, particularly Sherry FitzGerald and HOK, now Savills. Douglas Newman Good was also growing, opening branches in the wider Dublin area. But after a burst of prosperity that ran from the mid-1990s, business ground to a halt after 9/11.

Fox didn’t move far, setting up in a handsome building around the corner on St Andrew Street. It was a time when auctions ruled the property market. Auction rooms tended to be grim: often light-deprived spaces that overheated quickly. By contrast Fox’s first-floor auction room was airy and bright, decorated with orchids and a vast circular mirror.

Fox’s big break came in 2004 when she was appointed by property developer Gerry Barrett – who had built the G Hotel in Galway – to sell an upscale scheme of townhouses and apartments on Edward Square, the site of a Quaker hospital in Donnybrook, Dublin 4. The homes sold rapidly: seven of 15 large stucco-fronted houses priced at up to €4 million apiece were reserved before a sod was turned. Fox was well on her way.

Donegal childhood

She was born in Belfast in 1967 to Maie (nee McGovern) and Gerry Fox, a dentist, the youngest of their three children. Gerry died when Felicity was seven. Maie moved her daughter and two sons, Michael and Paul, briefly to Ballycastle, and then back to her own hometown, Bundoran. There she purchased an old building and converted it to a hotel which, became locally known as the the Fox’s Lair. Felicity was educated at St Louis junior school and later in Ard Lughaidh secondary school, all the while helping out in the business, serving behind the bar from an early age. On leaving school she moved to Dublin to study property economics at Bolton Street and on graduating began working for a small agency on Clanbrassil Street before moving to Douglas Newman Good.

The agency was a sociable environment; Friday night drinks in the Old Stand and Davy Byrnes were a regular fixture. While colleagues wondered at Felicity’s single status, she had already quietly begun a relationship with Ed Douglas, who was separated with two sons, Donny and Davey. Their romance eventually came out into the open and they married on New Year’s Eve 2004. The couple set up home on Herbert Avenue and were regularly to be found on Thursday evenings having supper at Bianconi’s, a nearby Italian restaurant. Every December she held a regular party for her female friends that necessitated Ed moving to a hotel for the night to escape the decibel level.

Fox had suffered from endometriosis from an early age but her health suddenly deteriorated in 2015 and despite treatments in both Dublin and the US, her condition worsened and became extremely painful. She downplayed her condition and handled the pain with great composure, relying on a close circle of friends, on her husband and on her mother, who made the journey thrice weekly from Donegal to be with her daughter. The wider property community knew that Fox was not well, but had not guessed the seriousness of her condition, which had developed into a rare aggressive type of endometrial carcinoma. She found comfort in the believe that one day soon she would be be reunited with her father, Gerry.

She is survived her husband, Ed Douglas.