Phil was born and raised in Dublin, moving from Clonskeagh to Churchtown when aged 12 to attend Wesley College, where his father had been a rugby player on the first team. He didn’t take to the scrummaging and did a Forrest Gump going running instead, eventually becoming a founder member of the Irish Hill Running Association and representing Ireland. He was also on the international orienteering panel and the mapping team for Curracloe which was used for the 1984 Irish Orienteering Championships. He completed four Dublin City Marathons.
After graduating from TU Dublin as a land surveyor in the mid 1980’s Phil progressed to writing and designing software for land surveyors and civil engineers. He patented a system for designing and maintaining overhead power lines which is now in widespread use across the world.
In 1990 he married Shirley who had come to Ireland from the USA. Following the birth of their second daughter in 1993 they sold their home and moved to America. The process of selling their home in Dublin did not go smoothly. In the end Phil took his own photos, wrote his own brochure and gave it to the agent. It sold shortly afterwards and Phil was able to follow the rest of his family to California. This piqued his interest in the estate agency business.
In Los Angeles, Phil went on to earn straight “A”s in his Master’s Degree in Communication, while working alongside Shirley as house parents in a foster home looking after six troubled teenage girls at a time. Over a two year period they helped twenty four teenagers get their lives back on track. Upon graduation Phil went into commission sales, where he received extensive training from such highly regarded programs as the Consultative Value Selling course with JD Power, which he passed with distinction. Over the years Phil has successfully completed six sales training courses, earning top grades every time. He is consistently in the top rank in customer service with many glowing testimonials from both happy clients and from buyers who felt they received exceptional service. He believes in treating both buyers and sellers with the respect due to people making significant life decisions.
Their third daughter was born in 2000, shortly after they returned to Dublin. In 2006 Phil joined the RE/MAX franchise based in Rathfarnham. In his first full year with them he won their Executive Club Award. As the market slowed he continued to sell properties, while many other agents were struggling. One of his most outstanding successes was the sale of his parent’s home in Blackrock in November 2008. In December 2008, in a rapidly deteriorating market, he successfully completed a €5m sale. In that year he went on to win the 100% Club Award as one of the top RE/MAX agents in Ireland. In 2009 he moved on to set up his own company “Classic Home Sales” based in Dundrum. Between 2008 and 2010 he was the top selling agent in Ballinteer.
In January 2011 he joined with Des Lalor to found Lalor Estate Agents, based in Mount Merrion, where he worked until moving to a larger city centre agency in 2019. Between 2011 and 2019 he sold an impressive 90% of his listings, with an average sale price €8,500 above asking, even though 40% of his listings had previously failed to sell with other agencies. In one case he was the 9th agent to handle a property, achieving over €800,000 for it, even though the previous agent had listed it for €650,000 without getting any offers. One of his most outstanding results was the sale of 2 Vico Terrace, a semi-detached period house on the sea front in Dalkey which sold for over €1.5m in 2012.
Phil was appointed Sales Director with Casey Kennedy Estate Agents in September 2020, to bring a fresh focus and depth of experience to their sales division. He joined Shane O’Callaghan (MD) and the team, with founders Pat and Eileen Casey continuing their involvement in the background. They got off to a flying start successfully selling all ten of their listings in Autumn 2020 after an average of just 38 days on the market, achieving sale prices up to €48,000 above asking. This success has continued through 2021 with some truly outstanding results of up to 25% above asking price in a very buoyant market and an impressive 100% success rate. They have built on this momentum in 2022 consistently achieving exceptionally strong prices, getting very positive reviews, rapidly moving up market and continuing to gain market share. Phil and Casey-Kennedy Estate Agents are now getting noticed, not just for their outstanding results, but also the professional quality of their work.