Michael Creedon has been in the Auctioneering and Mortgage business for the past 10 years, having previously worked in banking in Boston. Recently he took full control of an Auctioneering and Mortgage Brokerage in the heart of Douglas, but it is through the businesses letting agency that he is finding the most success of late.

By his own admission the Auctioneering side of his Brokerage, DMG Michael Creedon, has experienced a slow-down in recent months. It is, he says, indicative of the current finical climate here in Ireland. The housing market has been subjected to much hearsay, according to Michael, as evidence of an economic downturn both here and on the international front mounts.

"Thankfully, Michael says, "the downturn in sales has been offset by the upturn in the rental market. Investors may have stopped buying properties to rent two years ago, but the lack of supply has created an increase in demand and rent has gone up by as much as 33% in recent years. Diversifying into the rental market turned out to be a good move as there's always a demand for rental properties. And with the number of Eastern Europeans coming to Ireland that demand is higher then ever."

While some continue to question the state of Irelands current economic health, the steady influx of nationalities from an assortment of developing European countries to our shores attests to the changes this country has undergone for the better. The once robust Celtic Tiger may have initially enticed our own emigrants back with the promise of a better lifestyle and increased employment opportunities, but, even wounded, it still continues to provide an attractive alternative to residents from other nations.

Indeed Michael himself, having spent some years living abroad, was one of those who returned home as Irelands economy began to roar. Born and raised in Bishopstown, Michael says he spent most of the 90s living away from Ireland, his first excursion being the traditional teenage rite of the gap-year break to Australia back in 1990, before heading off to America "illegally" he says. After completing a marketing course in the College of Commerce, he returned to America legally in 1994 where he worked in Banking. When he did eventually return to Ireland in 1997, he found that things had changed significantly.

"I began working with ICS Building Society, which I did for a year," he says. "Then, in 2000 I joined Joe Harris at DMG in Douglas. I didn't realise it at the time but I was about to start my career in property. I really just came across it having worked in mortgaging prior to this." Douglas Newman Good chose Michael to take up their franchise in the lucrative south side of Cork City and surrounds, after fierce competition from other Auctioneers after Joe Harris decided to sell up.